Law Enforcement

LAPD partners with Clear Channel on driver safety campaign
Outdoor advertising company Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. is donating billboard space to the Los Angeles Police Department for a new campaign aimed at preventing distracted driving and reducing the number of hit-and-run accidents in the Los Angeles area. Clear Channel Outdoor (NYSE: CCO), a unit of iHeartMedia Inc., will use its billboards throughout Los Angeles to help educate drivers about the consequences associated with risky driving behaviors – reminding the public to “obey the rules of the road” and watch for cyclists and pedestrians, especially with Halloween and trick-or-treating right around the corner.
LA Business Journals

LAPD search yields cache of guns, ammo and arrest
Los Angeles police seized nearly 40 stolen guns, methamphetamine, some 1,500 pounds of ammunition and cash this week when they arrested a suspected gang member who detectives believe was going to sell the weapons to other gang members, officials said Thursday. Michael Mendoza, 44, was arrested Tuesday night, four hours after police began watching him as part of their investigation, the LAPD said. After Mendoza was taken into custody, officers served search warrants at a home and storage facility in Northridge. That's when they found the guns -- 39 in all, including assault rifles -- boxes of ammo and equipment used to make fake credit cards, said Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese.
Los Angeles Times

Footage Released Of 2 Men Accused Of Burglarizing 6 Medical Offices In Just 1 Morning
Footage was released Thursday night of two men who stand accused of burglarizing a half dozen medical offices in Woodland Hills. Police believe the offices were broken into over the course of just one morning last week. LAPD detectives say the suspects may have been hiding out overnight in a bathroom or janitor's closet before breaking in.
CBS Los Angeles

Man Dies After Vehicle Crashes Into South LA Building
A man was killed Friday after he crashed his vehicle into a building in South Los Angeles. Just after 2 a.m., officers observed a vehicle speeding westbound on Broadway near 41st Street, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. At one point, the vehicle almost crashed into a police cruiser before the driver lost control of the vehicle and collided into a building.
CBS Los Angeles

Instagrammed man holding revolver behind LAPD car pleads not guilty to felony charge
A man suspected of holding a revolver while videotaping a Los Angeles Police Department officer in images that were later posted online pleaded not guilty Thursday to a felony gun charge. Alex Izquierdo, 35, was arrested Oct. 7 by Los Angeles police following an investigation into the video, which was initially viewed as a threat to officers. He was freed the next day on $200,000 bond. Police have said the video was made and posted on social media as part of an effort to launch a comeback for the 1990s rap group Brownside, and that detectives from the LAPD's Robbery-Homicide Division determined that the video was not a credible threat to police officers.
mynewsLA.com

Quentin Tarantino Backlash Continues Among Police Groups
Philadelphia and Los Angeles police groups have said they will join New York City officers in a call to boycott the work of the film director Quentin Tarantino after remarks he made last weekend at a protest against police brutality. Mr. Tarantino, an Academy Award-winning filmmaker known for a bloody crime oeuvre that includes “Reservoir Dogs,” “Pulp Fiction” and the “Kill Bill” movies, joined demonstrators in New York City on Saturday in a protest organized by RiseUpOctober.
New York Times

City Government

LA street vendors sue city, business group over seized carts
A group of Los Angeles street vendors is suing the city along with the L.A. Fashion District Business Improvement District, a city-backed non-profit. The vendors, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and other legal groups, say the business district's private security and cleanup force works with police to confiscate and destroy their carts and merchandise. The lawsuit charges that disposing of vendors' property in this manner is illegal. "This is a clear violation of the street vendors' constitutional rights," said Michael Kaufman, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Southern California. "Both their fourth amendment right against unreasonable seizures, and their right to due process."
KPCC