Law Enforcement

Crime rise puts LAPD in a difficult position
The city's first major crime increase in more than a decade has Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck trying to maintain a delicate balance. He wants to swarm high-crime neighborhoods with more than 200 highly trained officers from the elite Metropolitan Division without undermining years of progress the department has made in building better relationships with those communities.
Los Angeles Times

Critics: expansion of LAPD Metro teams could hurt community relationships
Some community activists and police critics said Wednesday Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti's plan to assign teams of elite officers to target crime in unfamiliar neighborhoods could hurt community policing efforts. “It could be a good thing, as long as they don't come out here assuming that everyone they see with saggy pants is a gang member or criminal,” said Kevin Orange with Advocates for Peace and Urban Unity.
KPCC

South Los Angeles Family Makes Plea For Leads In Hit-And-Run
It's been more than three months since Debora Holt's daughter, Treva Arnold, was killed in a hit-and-run collision in South Los Angeles. Police say the 39-year-old mother of two was walking near Slauson and Denker avenues just after 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 4 when she was struck by two cars. Both drivers failed to stop, and Arnold was pronounced dead at the scene.
ABC 7

Slow-Speed Pursuit Begins With 911 Call, Ends With Spinout
A pursuit that began in Orange County Wednesday with a 911 report from another driver moved into Los Angeles County and through downtown LA at slow speeds before ending with a spinout on a Pasadena street. The pursuit began on the 55 Freeway in Orange County with a 911 call regarding an erratic driver in a black sport utility vehicle. The pursuit moved north into southern Los Angeles County on the 405 Freeway and then past downtown Los Angeles on the 110 Freeway.
NBC Los Angeles

Automatic Rewards for Information in Hit-and-Run Crashes Approved by L.A. City Council
A standing, tiered reward program for information in hit-and-run crashes was approved by the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday. The program, backed by Councilman Joe Buscaino, is intended to give witnesses an incentive to come forward with details that will lead to the arrest and conviction of those who flee the scene of a crash.
KTLA 5

City Government

Los Angeles City Hall experience an issue in Council District 4 runoff
The key question facing voters in the Los Angeles City Council District 4 race is whether City Hall experience is a liability or an asset. David Ryu, one of two candidates seeking to replace outgoing Councilman Tom LaBonge in the May runoff, pitches himself as an outsider who can change City Hall.
Los Angeles Daily News

LA Workers Join Global Campaign On Tax Day Striking For Higher Pay
Hundreds of Southland workers marched and rallied on Tax Day Wednesday in a global campaign for higher pay. Workers in the fast-food, faculty, home care, child care, airport, Walmart and industrial industries marched, rallied and protested for higher wages in 200 cities across the United States.
CBS Los Angeles , Los Angeles Times

Unions

Talks cool between Los Angeles Unified, teachers union
In a sign contentious talks have cooled, the teachers union and Los Angeles Unified on Wednesday agreed to meet again this week. Friday's meeting will mark the third unscheduled round of talks the sides have agreed to hold in the weeks since they first appeared in front of a state-appointed mediator.
Los Angeles Daily News

Unions make LA ground zero for raise the wage movement
Among the many unions backing the action in LA were the United Long Term Care Workers Union (SEIU/ULTCW), United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), Interns & Residents (SEIU/CIR) California Nurses Association, United Firefighters of LA City, SEIU Local 99, AFSCME, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and the California State Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO. Art Pulaski, Secretary-Treasurer of the California State Federation of Labor, stood atop a flat-bed truck looking out over a sea of diverse workers and community supporters claiming that "Our time has come. We are not going back. We will disrupt, demand, organize but we will not stop until we get what we want, Fight for the $15. Workers deserve a raise.
People's World