Cops get schooled by reporters

Kiran Alvi and Stuart McClave, student reporters at USC's NeonTommy, have a good story up — when sheriff's detectives claimed they didn't know how to reach a Compton shooting victim, the reporters showed them how easy it is. They simply called the cell phone numbers listed on the police report.

When two reporters informed [Detective Patrick] Escamilla that they had contacted Jazzming Patton as well as her sister and her mother using phone numbers contained in the incident report filed with the sheriff's department, Escamilla laughed.

"You did better than I did," he said. "You've given me some hope now. Do you know what the mom's name is?"

The story says Escamilla then asked to borrow one reporter's cell phone to call the Patton home and arranged a meeting.