Law Enforcement

LAPD union calls salary proposal 'insulting,' declares impasse
Ratcheting up the debate over salaries for Los Angeles city employees, the head of the police union said Friday contract negotiations with Mayor Eric Garcetti and other city leaders have broken down because of a dispute over raises for the union's nearly 10,000 officers. Flanked by dozens of off-duty officers at a downtown news conference, Tyler Izen, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, called the city's last salary increase proposal "insulting."
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Jury clears LAPD officer of excessive force in shooting of naked man
A federal jury rejected claims that an LAPD officer used excessive force when he fatally shot an unarmed, naked man in Playa Vista in 2011, but the panel deadlocked on whether the officer was negligent in the killing. Jamon Hicks, the attorney for the dead man's family, said his clients would seek another trial on the negligence issue. Despite the verdict, he said, the family continues to believe the shooting of Reginald Doucet Jr. was unjustified.
Los Angeles Times

Pennsylvania trooper ambush: "It's an attack upon all of us in society"
With the deadly ambush on a state police barracks in the Pocono Mountains, law enforcement in eastern Pennsylvania went on high alert and officers from throughout the region, including New York and New Jersey, joined in a massive search for the shooter or shooters. After scouring dense woods on foot and by helicopter Saturday, authorities suspected the assailant had left the area.
CBS News

Southern California police armed with military arsenal through program
Former Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness remembers when police were outmatched and poorly armed. Ask anyone who came up against a heavily-armed and militarized police force in Ferguson, Mo., this summer and they'll say that's not the case anymore. Over the past 20 years the Department of Defense has outfitted municipal police, county sheriffs and school districts with surplus equipment via its "1033 program."
San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Voters mostly approve of police, but views split along racial lines
A solid majority of California voters believes local police have a tough job and do it well, but nearly a third say law enforcement targets minorities unfairly, according to a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll. The survey found attitudes toward police split along racial and ethnic lines: Blacks, Latinos and Asians were substantially more likely than whites to say that police are too aggressive or treat whites better than others.
Los Angeles Times

Firefighters dispatch vegetation fire, discover body in Harvard Heights
Firefighters dispatched to a vegetation fire in Harvard Heights discovered a deceased person Sunday night, a police lieutenant said. The discovery was made at about 10 p.m. in the 3000 block of West 11th Street, said Lt. Kelly Arnett of the Los Angeles Police Department's Olympic Station. The body was found either next to or under a bush that was on fire, Arnett said. Arson investigators and homicide detectives were on the scene, she said.
City News Service

Los Angeles gang-related car-to-car shooting injures 1
Gang members issued a challenge, then shot a man in a car-to-car shooting early Saturday in the Pico Union District, and police said the victim has a bullet graze his head. The victim, 21, was hospitalized in stable condition, Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Dino Caldera said. Caldera said one of the three suspects fired a single round from a vehicle near the intersection of Venice Boulevard and South Normandie Avenue around 1 a.m.
City News Service

Woman arrested in Hollywood Hills shooting
A Los Angeles woman was arrested Saturday in connection with the shooting of a relative in a Hollywood Hills home, police said. The victim, a 35-year-old man, was struck by a single bullet and is in stable condition at a local hospital. Los Angeles Police Sgt. Ozzie Ramos said the suspect, in her late 60s, was in custody at the Hollywood Station. Neither she nor the victim was identified.
Los Angeles Times

'Django Unchained' actress detained after 911 indecent-exposure call
Los Angeles police said Sunday that officers were responding to a 911 caller's complaint of indecent exposure Thursday when they detained actress Daniele Watts. Watts, who appeared in the movie "Django Unchained," said on her Facebook account that she was handcuffed after kissing her companion in public. Police said the caller complained that a male and a female were involved in indecent exposure inside a Silver Mercedes with the vehicle door open.
Los Angeles Times

Juvenile Lockup

Demolition of Camp Vernon youth lockup called start of new era
Los Angeles County officials marked what they describe as the beginning of a new era in juvenile justice Friday by breaking ground on the demolition of Camp Vernon Kilpatrick, a 50-year-old juvenile lockup outside Malibu. The 125-bed camp is set to be razed and remade in a $48-million project that officials and advocates say will create a facility better set up to rehabilitate young offenders.
Los Angeles Times

Election 2014

L.A. County launching mobile-friendly web site with ballot info and ability to register to vote
The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder's Office will launch Monday a mobile-friendly website allowing users to access services in nine different languages, access ballot information and register to vote in November's midterm election. "It will be snazzier," said Efrain Escobedo, manager of the governmental and legislative affairs for the department.
Los Angeles Daily News

City Government

Mayor Eric Garcetti's full-court press on minimum wage
Mayor Eric Garcetti is pushing hard on his proposal to raise the minimum wage to $13.25 an hour within three years, launching a targeted website, lamayor.org/raisethewagela and reaching out to other local cities to adopt a similar plan. Garcetti met with mayors from throughout Los Angeles County on Friday, urging them to work with him on the minimum wage plan to avoid any sniping or maneuvering to get businesses to move across the Los Angeles border.
Los Angeles Daily News

Number of road-damaging DWP water main 'blowouts' up this summer
This summer, Los Angeles has seen more high-energy water line ruptures that cause street damage, according to data from the Department of Water and Power. Though the total number of pipe leaks of all types are stable, "blowouts" -- a term used to describe a subset of pipe breaks that damage roads -- are up from last year, with 34 in July and 24 in August. That compares with 15 in each month last year, according to agency data.
Los Angeles Times