Law Enforcement

Condolences pour In for LAPD officer who died in crash
Condolences began pouring in Friday for an LAPD veteran who died in a crash. Training Officer Nicholas Choung Lee, 40, died when the patrol vehicle he was in collided with a dump truck at Loma Vista Driver near Doheny Road in Beverly Hills. "RIP officer Nicholas Lee," wrote Kanary Diamonds on Twitter. "Prayers for your family." LAPD Chief Charlie Beck posted a tribute to Lee on Instagram and Twitter. "A man of greatness and selflessness," Beck called him. "Nick was a great cop. May he rest in peace."
NBC4

LAPD Beverly Hills crash: Injured officer released from hospital, Lee memorial planned
The Los Angeles police officer who was injured in a Beverly Hills crash that killed her partner has been released from the hospital. Officials with the Hollywood Division confirm the officer was released from Cedars Sinai on Saturday night. The officer, whose name has not been released, was undergoing tests at the hospital. She was listed in stable condition. She is a rookie just four months out of the police academy.
ABC7

1 dead, 1 injured in Los Angeles drive-by shooting
One man has died and another was seriously injured after a drive-by shooting in the Country Club Park neighborhood early Saturday. Both men were shot on the sidewalk of the 3900 block of Country Club Drive at 1:30 a.m., Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Lonnie Tiano said. An 18-year-old victim died from his wounds in a hospital, Tiano said. The second, aged 20-25, ran several hundred yards to his home before he was also hospitalized.
City News Service

Trouble-plagued South L.A. liquor store has license revoked
As part of a crackdown on nuisance businesses, city officials revoked the liquor license of a South Los Angeles liquor store Friday that they say had become a hot spot for crime and violence. Law enforcement officials said that 125 arrests had been made directly related to alcohol purchased at Time Square Liquor over the last two years, including for public intoxication and selling alcohol to minors. Additionally, the business had been cited twice for violating its conditional use permit by selling alcohol without a license. "This is a long time coming," said LAPD Capt. Ed Prokop.
Los Angeles Times

Ramona Gardens' Girl Scouts learn the value of serving their community
The pursuit of achieving the core qualities of a Girl Scout: self-esteem and serving the community, has a special meaning for a group of 16 girls from Ramona Gardens in Boyle Heights. The troop was launched more than a year and a half ago with the sponsorship of the Los Angeles Police Department under its Ramona Gardens Community Safety Partnership, a collaborative program with the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, and the Mayor's Gang Intervention and Youth Development office than aims to improve the relationship between the residents of public housing communities and the police.
Boyle Heights Beat

NFL says no guns for off-duty cops
Commissioner Roger Goodell of the National Football League passed a new rule that bans off-duty police officers from bringing guns inside stadiums. An NFL memo further declares that off-duty officers who attempt to bring firearms into an NFL facility will be denied entry. In some stadiums around the country, the NFL policy only allows law enforcement officers “specifically assigned to work security at the games, or private security officers contracted for stadium protection” to carry a firearm.
PubSecAlliance

Legislation

Bipartisan effort would create task force to combat metal theft
California lawmakers for years have been battling ravenous metal thieves, who pull copper wires out of street lights, grab rebar from construction sites, and steal pumps and other costly equipment from farmers' fields. Now, a bipartisan group of legislators led by Assemblyman Brian Nestande (R-Palm Desert), is trying to put more manpower and money into the fight. Nestande's bill, AB 2313, would create a metal theft task force within the attorney general's office that would provide grants to local police and prosecutors.
Los Angeles Times

Massage parlors create friction as critics claim they are fronts for prostitution, human trafficking
City officials throughout California who are fighting for control over massage parlors see opportunity in the future as a controversial state law that regulates and protects the businesses is about to go off the books. Several believe the law has encouraged illegal activities such as human trafficking and prostitution. The League of California Cities has a list of changes it hopes to make to the law. League representative Kirstin Kolpitcke said the group wants a state agency to be given regulatory authority and that cities be permitted to impose unique restrictions on massage businesses.
Pasadena Star-News

Driver's Licenses

Immigrant-rights advocates call for vehicle impound moratorium
As the Department of Motor Vehicles makes preparations leading up to issuing driver's licenses to those in the country without documents, immigrant-rights advocates here say the state agency should move quickly to provide the licenses. Advocates are also calling on cities up and down the state to establish a moratorium on the impounding of undocumented immigrants' vehicles.
I nland Valley Daily Bulletin

Early Prisoner Release

System would change how L.A. County inmates get early release
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is considering a new system for deciding which jail inmates get released early by making predictions about who is most likely to commit new crimes. The proposal calls for a significant shift for the nation's largest jail system, which currently determines when inmates get released by looking at the seriousness of their most recent offense and the percentage of their sentence they have already served.
Los Angeles Times

Prisons

Record second felony convictions undermine California prison goals
California counties are confounding the state's court-ordered efforts to sharply reduce its inmate population by sending state prisons far more convicts than anticipated, including a record number of people with second felony convictions. The surge in offenders requiring state prison sentences is undermining a nearly 3-year-old law pushed by Gov. Jerry Brown.
Associated Press