Law Enforcement

LAPD highlights drop in crime rates for 11th straight year
Crime rates are down across the city of Los Angeles and murders citywide are at their lowest level since 1966, Mayor Eric Garcetti and LAPD Chief Charlie Beck announced Monday. In 2013, the total number of citywide Part 1 crimes - which include homicide, rape, burglary and other crimes - was down 5.2 percent to 100,521, according to Garcetti's office. Citywide violent crime also fell about 12 percent, while gang crime dropped 17.6 percent, officials said.
CBS LA

Garcetti says he will seek overtime pay for LAPD, help restore ranks
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Monday that he would seek to restore overtime pay in the Los Angeles Police Department, saying it "will be a priority in the coming year." "I do expect in the next few years to restore overtime, to what level I can't speak to today," he said in a news conference with LAPD Chief Charlie Beck about the LAPD's crime rate. Garcetti said he also would seek to restore the LAPD to its authorized force of 10,000 officers.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD officers to be equipped with lapel cameras by the summer
The Los Angeles Police Department has secured funding for about 600 on-body cameras it hopes to deploy by the summer. The department raised about $1.3 million, which will cover the cost of the cameras - including maintenance, usage, storage and technology upgrades - for about 2.5 years. It took only 58 days to raise the funds. "I thought it would take 9 months," Steve Soboroff, president of the L.A. Police Commission, told KPCC.
Southern California Public Radio

Van Nuys strip mall fire may have been caused by marijuana-growing operation
Firefighters notified police on Monday after putting out a fire in what appeared to be a pot-growing operation in a Van Nuys strip mall. The fire, reported in the 7300 block of North Fulton Avenue about 8:50 a.m., caused about $10,000 damage to the building and was put out in about 20 minutes, Katherine Main of the Los Angeles Fire Department said. Firefighters notified police that a marijuana-growing operation was found at the site, Main said.
City News Service

Two former officers found not guilty in death of Kelly Thomas
Two former Fullerton police officers were found not guilty on all charges Monday afternoon in the death of Kelly Thomas, a schizophrenic man they beat into unconsciousness as he cried out for help on a summer night more than two years ago. The Orange County jury's swift verdict came after just two days of deliberations, ending a case that generated national debate about how police deal with the mentally ill and homeless.
Los Angeles Times

Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell to run for L.A. County Sheriff
Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell announced Monday evening that he will join the race for Los Angeles County sheriff. McDonnell had declared repeatedly that he would not run against Sheriff Lee Baca in a June 3 primary, but that changed Tuesday when Baca said he would not seek re-election. McDonnell will continue to serve as Long Beach's top cop while he runs for the sheriff's seat, but plans to take some time off to campaign.
Long Beach Press-Telegram

Pacifics' Hale retires to join LAPD
San Rafael Pacifics shortstop Darrick Hale has retired from professional baseball after six seasons after being accepted into the Los Angeles Police Department academy. Hale initially signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds in 2008. He then went on to play for seven affiliated and independent league franchises including the Pacifics with a career batting average of .276 and 119 RBIs.
Marin Independent Journal

Legislation

'Ghost gun' regulations pushed in California bill
The "ghost guns" that can slip through metal detectors and be assembled at home without safeguards are spurring efforts in California and elsewhere to bring these weapons and their owners out of the shadows. A state lawmaker proposed legislation Monday to make background checks and gun registrations requirements for anyone who builds plastic firearms on a 3-D printer at home. The bill by state Sen. Kevin de Leon also would apply to anyone who buys parts that can be assembled into a gun.
Associated Press

Prisons

No agreement expected in prison overcrowding talks, judges say
A panel of three federal judges indicated Monday that it expects negotiations aimed at settling California's prison overcrowding issue to fail and that a final order in the long-running matter will come within 30 days. The judges issued an order Monday that extends the April deadline for California to reduce its inmate population to 137.5 percent of design capacity. That order was issued in 2009 and gave the state two years to pare the number of inmates to the required level, but the deadline has been extended by the judges.
Sacramento Bee

Pensions

CalPERS says it will kill pension database project
A controversial project to put hundreds of thousands of government retirees' pension data on the Internet is virtually dead. CalPERS spokesman Brad Pacheco said Monday that the fund's staff, which came up with the idea in July, would recommend killing the plan at the retirement fund's February board meeting. "After many discussions with our stakeholders and partners," Pacheco said in an emailed response a Bee inquiry about the pension database, "we have come to better understand their concerns about posting this public information in a secure database on the CalPERS website."
Sacramento Bee

CalPERS reports higher investment gains
CalPERS reported its best annual investment gains in a decade Monday, a development that could alter the political climate as another fight looms over pension reform. The California Public Employees' Retirement System said its portfolio grew by 16.2 percent in 2013, boosted by a whopping 25 percent run-up in stock prices. The performance was substantially better than CalPERS' official forecast of 7.5 percent, and marked an improvement over the 13.3 percent the pension fund earned in 2012.
Sacramento Bee

Economy

L.A. County poised for full economic recovery, study says
The economy of Los Angeles County is rebounding with signs pointing to a full recovery, according to one report. That is good news for California as a whole, since L.A. County alone contributes more than a quarter of the state's total economic output, or gross domestic product, according to a report by the National Assn. of Counties. The study took a look at local economies around the nation on a county level by tracking the performance of some 3,069 counties through four indicators - economic output, employment, the jobless rate and home prices.
Los Angeles Times