Law Enforcement

Police commission leader says LAPD, Missouri slayings not comparable
The president of the Los Angeles Police Commission added to calls Thursday for the LAPD to move quickly as it works to piece together what led to this week's shooting of a mentally ill man in South Los Angeles, but he dismissed comparisons between the killing and a police shooting that has sparked protests in Missouri. Steve Soboroff said he expected the LAPD to prioritize its inquiry and conduct a thorough investigation of Monday evening's shooting of Ezell Ford, 25. He said his talks with LAPD officials about the incident have led him to believe that the department was taking the matter seriously.
Los Angeles Times

LAPPL statement on Ezell Ford incident
Los Angeles Police Protective League President Tyler Izen issued the following statement regarding the Ezell Ford incident: "Increasingly, in the immediate aftermath of any police shooting, unvetted statements by persons claiming to be witnesses are given prominent play. While a factual investigation unfolds at a deliberate and slower pace, an inaccurate narrative can be created before the actual facts are determined. The Ezell Ford incident on August 11, 2014, in Newton Area is no exception, as we have read and viewed some inaccurate reports of what occurred."
LAPPL Media Statement

Veteran LAPD officer wouldn't let amputation keep him from getting back on patrol
Less than a year ago, LAPD Officer Marcial Cruz agonized he'd never be on patrol again. Doctors had removed a tumor on the bottom of his left foot. When it turned out to be cancer they were forced to amputate. Six months after losing his left foot, Officer Cruz was handed a certificate showing he had passed the department's physical tests with flying colors. And he was immediately reinstated back to full-duty.
CBS LA

Homeless man charged with 19 counts in Westside crime spree
A homeless man faces more than a dozen charges related to a Pacific Palisades crime spree earlier this week that included multiple carjackings and crashes, authorities said. The man, 44-year-old Brian Thomas Cruz, was charged Wednesday with 19 criminal counts, including assault with a deadly weapon, carjacking, burglary, robbery, criminal threats, reckless driving causing injury, kidnapping and false imprisonment, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD motorcycle officer struck
A Los Angeles Police Department motorcycle officer is recovering after being struck by a vehicle on Aug. 7 on Santa Monica Boulevard, near Las Palmas Avenue. The collision occurred at approximately 5:40 a.m. in the 6700 block of Santa Monica Blvd. The unidentified officer is assigned to the LAPD's West Traffic Division, but no further information was available. The driver of the other vehicle was not injured and stayed at the scene, LAPD spokeswoman Jane Kim said.
Park La Brea News

Homeland Security

Inland Empire terrorist suspects honed shooting skills at local ranges, FBI and prosecutors reveal
On the day of his arrest, membership cards and passes to Los Angeles shooting ranges and a Corona paintball park, as well as Post-It notes about travel plans to Afghanistan, were found in the wallet of an Ontario man suspected of conspiring with three others to commit terrorist acts against American targets overseas, an FBI agent testified Thursday in U.S. District Court.
San Bernardino Sun

Legislation

Assembly approves bill reducing penalties for sale of crack cocaine
Lawmakers in the Assembly approved on Thursday a bill that would reduce the penalties for the sale of crack cocaine, closing a sentencing disparity that supporters say hurts communities of color. The measure, by Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles), would make the penalties for the sale of crack equal to those for powder cocaine. "Disparate sentencing for the two forms of the same drug has resulted in a pattern of institutional racism, with longer prison sentences given to people of color," said Assemblyman Steven Bradford (D-Gardena).
Los Angeles Times

Cop-backed California medical marijuana bill stalls
Regulating California's medical marijuana industry will likely have to wait another year. A key committee Thursday blocked Senate Bill 1262, the latest legislative attempt to impose a regulatory framework on growers and dispensaries in the first state to allow medical cannabis. Earlier this year, another bill seeking to do so faltered on the Assembly floor.
Sacramento Bee

City Government

Could Oakland Raiders be thinking of an L.A. re-entry?
Rumors are flying again about the Oakland Raiders considering another move. And now it looks like Los Angeles could be on the silver and black's radar. The football team's owners have been in discussions with folks in San Antonio about possibly moving the team there, but the San Francisco Chronicle reports Raider executives are also talking with people in Los Angeles about returning to Southern California.
Denver Business Journal