Law Enforcement

LA Police UnitW Intervenes To Get Mentally Ill Treatment, Not Jail Time
The Los Angeles Police Department's mental evaluation unit is the largest mental health policing program of its kind in the nation, with 61 sworn officers and 28 mental health workers from the county. The unit has become a vital resource for the 10,000-person police force in Los Angeles. Officers Ned Bandoske (left) and Ernest Stevens are part of San Antonio's mental health squad — a six-person unit that answers the frequent emergency calls where mental illness may play a role. Officer Ted Simola and his colleagues in the unit work with county mental health workers to provide crisis intervention when people with mental illness come into contact with police.
NPR

2 LAPD Officers Injured In Jefferson Park Hit-And-Run
Police are searching for a hit-and-run driver who struck a LAPD patrol vehicle Saturday, injuring two officers. Los Angeles firefighters were called around 2 a.m. to Saint Andrews Place and Jefferson Boulevard in Jefferson Park, where the impact of the crash had forced the police cruiser into a tree. Firefighters had to use the Jaws of Life to free the two officers inside the vehicle.
CBS Los Angeles

Long waits outside L.A. County psychiatric units stall patients, police
When Los Angeles police Det. Jim Hoffman arrived at the L.A. County-USC Medical Center's psychiatric emergency department on a Saturday morning in March, he found a small crowd waiting. Two police officers from the LAPD's Central Division were sitting in a narrow hallway outside the locked psychiatric unit with a man and woman in handcuffs. Both patients had been brought to the hospital overnight on so-called 5150 holds, a forced 72-hour detention for mental evaluation of those deemed to be a threat to themselves or others.
Los Angeles Times

Apparently Random Shooting Leaves Woman Dead in Hollywood, Search for Gunman Underway
Police were searching Monday for the gunman who fatally shot a woman in Hollywood in an apparent “random act of violence,” according to investigators. The woman was walking with her boyfriend near Hollywood Boulevard and McCadden Place (map), about a block away from the heavily-populated intersection Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, when she was shot and killed around 10 p.m. Sunday, Los Angeles Police Department officials said.
KTLA 5

Los Angeles Sheriff's Office to melt down 3,400 weapons
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department will melt down more than 3,400 weapons and firearms today as part of their annual Gun Melt. KCBS-TV reports that the 22nd Gun Melt is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Gerdau Steel Mill in Rancho Cucamonga. The weapons were confiscated by Los Angeles County Sheriff's personnel and 10 other law enforcement agencies. The department says the weapons will be destroyed so they can never be used for a crime again.
KTVN.com

‘Caring Neighbors' Help Sheriff's Deputies Locate Mother, Daughter Duo Accused in Hacienda Heights Burglary
Sheriff's deputies thanked “caring neighbors” on Sunday for helping them locate a mother and daughter who allegedly burglarized a Hacienda Heights residence the day before. Officials responded to a tip from a concerned citizen about a possible burglary that “just occurred” in the 1500 block of Flamsted Avenue (map) around 8:50 a.m. on Saturday, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
KTLA 5

L.A. County sheriff's deputies seize 1,500 pounds of illegal fireworks
Police said they were searching for two gunmen Sunday after a 21-year-old man was critically injured when two people drove alongside the victim and shot at him and his girlfriend in Santa Ana. A woman reported to police that her boyfriend had been shot in the area of 2300 West Harvard Street around 2:12 a.m., according to a Santa Ana Police Department news release. The victim was located in a vehicle and transported to a local hospital in critical condition.
KTLA 5

Busy Sunset Boulevard Closed As Police Investigate Body Found
A busy stretch of Sunset Boulevard was closed Sunday evening while police investigating a body found near Las Palmas. Police did not say if the body was that of a man or a woman.
CBS Los Angeles

Complaints against police drop to lowest level since 1990
Amid increasing national scrutiny over shootings of unarmed minorities by police, citizen complaints about police are at a 25-year low in California, according to a report from the state attorney general. "It certainly creates a different impression in regards to the recent reports of police shootings," Justin McCrary, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, said Thursday. Analysts and officials credit several factors, including better training, a lower crime rate, heightened sensitivity by officers and seemingly ever-present cameras to record police contact with people.
The Sacramento Bee

Police body camera debate continues in the Assembly – with a demo
TAs lawmakers consider legislation on best practices for using police body cameras, one company came to the Capitol this week to demonstrate its product. Peter Austin Onruang, president and founder of Wolfcom, a Los Angeles-based body camera company, gave a demonstration of wearable recording technology for reporters Monday. Onruang said his company's body cameras are designed with police officers in mind; they clip onto standard police uniforms and have two
cameras – to provide a backup in case one is ripped off in a fight.
The Sacramento Bee

San Francisco homicide suspect was deported five times
A man suspected of shooting and killing a woman at a popular tourist spot in San Francisco was on probation and had been deported multiple times, officials said Friday. Francisco Sanchez, 45, was booked at San Francisco County Jail this week on suspicion of homicide. He was on active probation for an unspecified conviction in Texas, according to San Francisco police.
Los Angeles Times

City Government

Thanks, Tom LaBonge and Bernard Parks
Last week, two remarkable and very different careers in public service came to an end. As they did, something has been lost in the city of Los Angeles. On June 30, Fourth District City Councilman Tom LaBonge and Eighth District Councilman Bernard Parks were termed out. LaBonge spent nearly 40 years working in the interest of Los Angeles, and in addition to his 14 years on the council, he clocked more than two decades as an aide first to late Council President John Ferraro, and then to Mayor Richard Riordan. Parks worked for the city for 50 years, starting in the Los Angeles Police Department, eventually becoming chief of police. Whereas 12 years on the city council might be the capstone of a working life for most people, Parks' time on the legislative body was only the second most important job he did in Los Angeles.
LA Downtown News