Law Enforcement

LAPD officer in stable condition after motorcycle crash
A Los Angeles Police Department motorcycle officer has been hospitalized with a suspected lower limb fracture after a collision with a vehicle Saturday. The officer, a 15-year veteran, was part of a DUI enforcement task force that had been working in the area when his motorcycle collided with a vehicle at the intersection of Sepulveda Boulevard and Raymer Street just after midnight, LAPD Sgt. Richard Brunson said.
City News Service

Police arrest man suspected in string of San Fernando Valley burglaries
Police in the northeast San Fernando Valley have arrested a 30-year-old South Los Angeles man in connection with a string of residential burglaries, after connecting him to a phone number used to call the targeted homes before the break-ins. Investigators say Aramis Williams broke into 18 area homes, checking first to see if the residents were home by calling their listed land-line phone numbers from his cellphone.
Los Angeles Daily News

Two men shot, woman detained in Hollywood shooting
Police detained a woman for questioning Friday evening after two men were shot and wounded in a Hollywood apartment building. Shortly before 5 p.m., police were called to the building in the 1600 block of North Fuller Avenue just south of Hollywood Boulevard. Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Richard Gabaldon said one man suffered a graze wound to the head and the other was shot three times in the leg and torso.
Los Angeles Times

Arrest in stabbing death of Venice restaurant worker
A 23-year-old man has been arrested in the stabbing death of a Venice restaurant employee who was attacked in November after walking from work. Jorge Nolasco, of Los Angeles, was arrested in connection with the slaying of Guillermo Carmona-Perez, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Nolasco was booked Thursday on suspicion of murder. Bond was set at $1 million. The attack occurred Nov. 18 near Pacific Avenue and Washington Boulevard.
NBC4

Number of killings surges in some California communities
In a year in which the number of homicides plummeted across California, a few communities were outliers in 2013, leaving crime experts puzzled and some residents on edge. In Pomona, a city of 150,000 people on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, killings jumped from 17 to 29, a 70% increase, according to records released Thursday. Communities patrolled by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department recorded a homicide increase of more than 40%.
Los Angeles Times

Legislation

Bill would ban sale of license-plate reader data
Those who collect data with automatic license-plate readers would be prohibited from selling or sharing it except among law enforcement agencies, under a bill introduced Friday by a Bay Area state Senator. "Automatic license plate reader technology is a useful tool for law enforcement," state Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, said in a news release. "But use of this technology must be balanced with personal privacy."
Inside Bay Area

Immigration

Budget details costs for immigrants' licenses
Providing up to 1.4 million driver's licenses to illegal immigrants will cost $65 million for the Department of Motor Vehicles during the first six months after the law takes effect Jan. 1, 2015, according to Gov. Jerry Brown's newly proposed budget. Lawmakers had debated the issue of whether illegal immigrants should have licenses for 20 years prior to approving legislation to do so in September. When he ran for governor in 2010, Brown said he opposed such a measure as "piecemeal" but last year reversed himself.
Capitol Weekly

Prisons

Growing prison population spurs calls for change
With renewed growth in the state prison population undercutting efforts to reduce overcrowding, the Democratic leader of the state Senate is calling for fundamental changes to prison sentences and rehabilitation in California. State estimates produced in late December show another 3,700 inmates are expected this year, and 6,400 more over the next five years. That equals growth rates forecast before Gov. Jerry Brown launched a major shift sending low-level felons to county jails instead of state prisons.
Los Angeles Times

City Government

L.A. Council agrees with many, but not all, points in 2020 report
Los Angeles City Council members responded Friday to a lacerating report on the city's economic health, calling it a much needed assessment while arguing that it failed to fully acknowledge the progress made so far in carving away a staggering budget deficit. Two days after the 13-member Los Angeles 2020 Commission released a report saying the city is experiencing "continued economic decline" and a crisis of leadership, council members voiced their own frustration about their efforts to combat poverty, attract jobs and deliver basic services.
Los Angeles Times

DWP union boss subpoenaed over nonprofit spending of ratepayer money
Los Angeles police served the leader of the biggest union at the city Department of Water and Power with a subpoena on Friday for records on the spending of millions of dollars in ratepayer money by two secretive nonprofits that he co-manages. At the same time, Mayor Eric Garcetti took exception to union leader Brian D'Arcy's reported threat that he would sue the DWP's general manager personally if he disclosed the nonprofits' spending records.
Los Angeles Times