Law Enforcement

LAPD increases safety measures after online threats
The Los Angeles Police Department has gone back to a tried-and-true notion: There is safety in numbers. Police officials have implemented temporary protection mandates, one of which requires identifiable officers to travel in pairs. The tactic comes after authorities determined online postings were threats against the department following recent officer-involved shootings.
Los Angeles Register

San Bernardino Police: Gabriel Garcia remains in coma
Police officer Gabriel Garcia remains in critical condition and in a medically induced coma, police said Thursday. Garcia was shot during an early-morning gun battle at 19th Street and Garner Avenue last Friday. Police said the gunman was killed when his partner, a rookie police officer on the force only a few short weeks, returned fire.
San Bernardino Sun

Former LAPD officer sues, saying he was fired in retaliation for exposing ticket quotas
A former Los Angeles police officer who sued the department, alleging he was denied promotions for complaining about an alleged ticket-writing quota, filed a second lawsuit, alleging he was fired in retaliation. Dan Gregg filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeking unspecified monetary damages.
Venice - MarVista Patch

Made in America fest will see massive police presence
There will be a massive police presence at the Made in America festival downtown this weekend. Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Rick Stabile says there will be about 270 city officers dedicated to patrolling the perimeter outside the two-day concert, which starts Saturday. Another 200 Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies will be inside the venue, comprised of Grand Park as well as the closed downtown streets next to it, he said.
LA Weekly

LAPD releases names of officers in deadly shooting
Los Angeles police have released the names of two officers who shot and killed a black man two weeks ago. The LAPD on Thursday identified them as veteran gang officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas. Authorities say they wanted to make sure there were no threats to the officers' safety before identifying them. Police say the officers killed 25-year-old Ezell Ford Aug. 11 in South Los Angeles. Police say Ford was not carrying a weapon, but had tackled one officer and tried to grab his gun.
Associated Press

Amid outcry over police shootings, departments weighing cop cameras
It was a police shooting that initially triggered a public outcry similar to the recent confrontations in Ferguson, Mo. In 2011, police in the small community of Rialto in San Bernardino County shot and wounded a man who witnesses later protested was unarmed. Outrage grew after cellphone video taken from a nearby balcony suggested that police had overreacted. But unlike in Ferguson, where it is still not clear why Officer Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown at least six times, a Rialto officer was wearing a small camera on his uniform.
Los Angeles Times

Courts

Legislation

California passes 'yes-means-yes' campus sexual assault bill
Californian lawmakers passed a law on Thursday requiring universities to adopt "affirmative consent" language in their definitions of consensual sex, part of a nationwide drive to curb sexual assault on U.S. campuses. The measure, passed unanimously by the California State Senate, has been called the "yes-means-yes" bill. It defines sexual consent between people as "an affirmative, conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity".
Reuters

City Government

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti defends minimum wage proposal
Mayor Eric Garcetti said Thursday his plan to increase the citywide minimum wage is designed not only to give some 600,000 residents a lift out of poverty but to help boost the economy. "At the end of the recession, what hasn't kept up is the minimum wage," Garcetti said in his monthly appearance on "Ask the Mayor" on radio station KNX-AM (1070). "We know that, and we see Democrats and Republicans alike say the minimum wage is too low. There are lots of people who work full time that are below the poverty level, and when they need services, it's the rest of us who pay for it."
Los Angeles Daily News