Law Enforcement

Police look for clues in Van Nuys drive-by murder
Police are asking for the public's help with the investigation into the drive-by shooting death of 32-year-old Derrick Patton in Van Nuys Thursday night. Patton was waiting in his car to meet a friend in the 6800 block of Hazeltine Avenue around 7:35 p.m. when a four-door sedan pulled up alongside him and opened fire. He was struck multiple times in the torso and the car drove away northbound on Hazeltine. Patton was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Los Angeles Daily News

Police union head in collision with unlicensed driver
The president of the Los Angeles police union, which has been outspoken on issues involving unlicensed drivers, was himself the victim of a collision involving an unlicensed, undocumented driver this week, he said. Tyler Izen, head of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, said he was driving home at about 7:15 p.m., Thursday in the Elysian Valley area when a driver turned left into his driver's side door as he went through an intersection, totaling his Scion TD.
Los Angeles Daily News

Rep. Maxine Waters calls for improved security at LAX
In the wake of last month's deadly shooting at Los Angeles International Airport, a local congresswoman has called for improvements to airport security, including the permanent assignment of armed police officers near passenger screening checkpoints. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) also urged law enforcement officials to allow airport police to have access to all airport security cameras.
Los Angeles Times

Man threatens Denny's customers, steals Santa hat and leads North Hollywood police on pursuit
A man who entered a Denny's restaurant in North Hollywood was taken into custody Sunday after he threatened patrons with a chair, grabbed a Santa hat off an employee's head and then led police on a freeway pursuit before he was arrested in the city, police said Sunday. The man, who was acting "really bizarre" and appeared to be about 40 years old, entered the restaurant at Burbank and Lankershim boulevards when he picked up a chair and shook it at people, said LAPD's Lt. Brian Wendling and Sgt. Larry Poehls of the North Hollywood Division.
Los Angeles Daily News

Detectives looking into recent spate of home-invasion robberies in Los Angeles County
Detectives throughout Los Angeles County are comparing notes and looking for links following a spate of home-invasion robberies in recent months. More than half a dozen home-invasion robberies have been reported in the San Gabriel Valley since October, including one in which a man and his 4-year-old daughter were shot in Diamond Bar earlier this month. Additionally, Joseph Gatto, the father of Assembly Mike Gatto, was fatally shot in his Silver Lake home following an apparent home-invasion robbery last month, as was "America's Next Top Model" director James Marcus Howe at his home in Eagle Rock.
San Gabriel Valley Tribune

City Attorney seeks to curb gang activity, files lawsuit against South LA motel
City Attorney Mike Feuer Friday announced a lawsuit has been filed against the owner of a south Los Angeles motel known as a popular place for criminal gang activity. Feuer's office is seeking an injunction and court-ordered improvements to the Las Palmas Motel, located at 7913 South Main Street, aiming to curb alleged rampant narcotics sales and gang activity, authorities said.
CBS LA

Annual holiday drunk driving crackdown nets 926 arrests in Los Angeles County
The annual Avoid the 100 winter holiday crackdown on intoxicated driving in Los Angeles County has resulted in the arrests of 926 suspected drunken drivers, authorities said today. The arrests were made between 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 13 and midnight Saturday. During the same eight-day period a year ago, there were 846 DUI arrests made by Avoid the 100, authorities said. The Avoid the 100 campaign will include dozens of sobriety/driver's license checkpoints and more than 200 "roving DUI saturation patrols" in various areas of the county, and will continue through New Year's Day.
City News Service

Fire department asks for help in finding suspected Van Nuys arsonist
Arson investigators are asking for help in locating a man caught on surveillance video setting a fire Sept. 29 in Van Nuys that damaged a commercial building. In the video, the man walked down a sidewalk near the building at 14601 Aetna St. and stumbled upon two discarded couches on the street. He moves the couch toward the base of a palm tree near the building and lights it on fire with a match or lighter before walking away down the street.
Los Angeles Daily News

Reseda shooter ID'd as war veteran with PTSD
The man arrested for killing one man and critically wounding a woman in a Reseda shooting is an Iraq war veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, police said Saturday. Ricardo Javier Tapia, 32, was arrested on suspicion of murder Friday night after police say he opened fire at an apartment complex in the 7500 block of Canby Avenue. "He suffers from PTSD as a result of multiple deployments to the Middle East," said Officer Norma Eisenman of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Los Angeles Daily News

Economy

L.A. jobless rate falls to 9.5 percent
L.A. County's unemployment rate dropped to 9.5 percent in November, its lowest point in five years, according to state figures released Friday. The county also created 33,000 payroll jobs, many of those in seasonal retail hires. The unemployment rate was down from 9.7 percent in October and 10.4 percent a year ago, according to the figures from the state Employment Development Department. The drop in the jobless rate came largely as a result of 18,000 people giving up looking for jobs and leaving the workforce.
Los Angeles Business Journal

City Government

City gang head leaves Los Angeles anti-gang post
Guillermo Cespedes, who has headed the city's efforts to reduce gang crime, is leaving his post Jan. 2 to work for Creative Associates International. He will be leading the company's international crime- and violence-prevention efforts. Cespedes was credited with developing programs over the past seven years dealing with training anti-gang workers and helping to control rumors surrounding incidents of gang violence.
Los Angeles Daily News