Law Enforcement

LAPD training to use combat-style trauma kits
Los Angeles police officers are being trained to use combat-style trauma kits to help victims of gunshot wounds and other emergencies. Training is underway this month using gear borrowed from the Fire Department, but 8,000 trauma kits are on the way to officers, said Police Foundation Executive Director Cecilia Glassman. The not-for-profit foundation raised more than $350,000 to pay for them, and all officers will receive them once they've completed training.
Associated Press

Man suspected of molesting girls in quinceañera videos
Los Angeles police Monday night were looking for a 53-year-old man suspected of molesting teenage girls during quinceañera video and photo shoots. Gilardo Vallida Nunez is suspected of molesting at least four victims, all of them younger than 15, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Police said the victims' families had hired Nunez's Hollywood Photos for the quinceañeras, or coming-of-age celebrations for girls who turn 15. Police said Nunez would video himself touching the girls inside his yellow Humvee.
Los Angeles Times

Reputed gang member charged in Venice boardwalk beating
A reputed gang member has been charged in connection with the brutal beating of a homeless man on the Venice boardwalk, authorities said Monday. Apolinar Celestino Lopez, 30, is charged with using a folding chair and a pipe during the attack, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said. The Dec. 13 incident took place in the 1300 block of Ocean Front Walk and was captured on videotape, the Los Angeles Police Department said.
Los Angeles Times

Lavish Grammy afterparty in Hollywood Hills prompts police response
Some 1,000 partygoers attended a post-Grammy bash in the Hollywood Hills that brought in CHP and police officers to help tow parked cars from the area's curving streets early Monday, authorities said. Los Angeles Police Department and California Highway Patrol officers responded to a home that was hosting approximately 1,000 guests, LAPD Officer Norma Eisenman said. Vehicles were parked on both sides of the street, creating gridlock outside the party, Eisenman said.
KTLA

The cop of the future: Will crooks have a chance against smart bullets, crowd-stun cannons and eyes everywhere?
Police departments around the country are already testing technologies like Google Glass, lapel cameras and tracking devices that allow safer pursuit of fleeing suspects. But this is merely a glimpse of what's to come, according to experts contacted by FoxNews.com. LAPD Police Chief Charlie Beck has said the addition of lapel cameras - currently being tested in the field for a three-month period - will aid investigators and provide an additional degree of accountability.
Fox News

Op-Ed: To reform the Sheriff's Dept., look to the LAPD
The recent resignation of Sheriff Lee Baca presents a much-needed opportunity for meaningful, lasting and long-overdue reform of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The federal indictments in December of 18 former and current sheriff's deputies are the latest and most dramatic indication of a department in desperate need of change. In charting the road for reform - with the multifaceted aims of transforming a troubling culture, institutionalizing internal structural changes and rebuilding public confidence - much can be learned from the experiences that propelled reform of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Erwin Chemerinsky & Miriam Aroni Krinsky/Los Angeles Times

Jury finds that L.A. officer used excessive force in fatal shooting
A jury has found that a Los Angeles Police Department officer used excessive force in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man and awarded $750,000 in damages to the man's son. The Los Angeles County Superior Court jury decided last week that Officer Daniel Bunch used unreasonable force when he fatally shot Dontaze Storey Jr., 47, in November 2008 in front of the man's pregnant fiancee. Jurors acquitted a second officer, Oliver Malabuya.
Los Angeles Times

Prison Realignment

Hope meets reality
Advocates were wishing and hoping that California's high recidivism rate - the percentage of inmates who commit new crimes soon after release from prison - would decline when prison realignment took hold. Skeptics ( we were and are among them ) understood that limited jail space for parole violators meant that counties would end up releasing inmates early and that already overloaded probation officers would have difficulty monitoring with an increased workload. We were also concerned that the program was underfunded. We are now getting a clearer picture of what is happening in the real world.
LAPPL Blog

City Government

Minors may face energy drink ban
Just how far should government go to control what people consume? When it comes to energy drinks, pretty far -- at least according to one LA City Council member who is seeking what may be the nation's first ban of minors buying the high-octane beverages. The Los Angeles Police Department was asked to lead the effort on the possible ban and is expected to give a final report in about a month. Also up for discussion is providing nutritional information to city workers about energy drinks.
NBC4

Los Angeles city panel seeks closer review of union group's challenge
In an unusual move, a key Los Angeles panel postponed a decision Monday over a union group's challenge of city pensions, saying a report that recommended throwing out the case was incomplete. The Employee Relations Board, which oversees labor disputes, voted unanimously to seek more information in the case, which centers on whether pension plans can be changed without union consent. At stake is more than $4 billion in city money. Currently at issue is whether the L.A. Coalition of City Unions filed its challenge within the proper 90-day window.
Los Angeles Daily News