Archive: Police

Entries in this category going back awhile
 

LA Times hires new sheriff's beat reporter

maya-lau-twitter-320.jpg Maya Lau comes to the LAT from Baton Rouge, where she covered crime and investigations.

Steven Owen, Los Angeles Sheriff's sergeant, 53

steven-owen-lasd.jpg Owen was shot and killed answering a home burglary call in Lancaster.

Code 7 in Sherman Oaks: A little bit of history

Cde7-shermanaks.jpg A popular spot with Valley motor officers is one door over from a notorious crime location.

Feds throw more charges at ex-Sheriff Baca

baca-retires.jpg After grand jury indictment, the former lawman could get 20 years but probably wouldn't.

Ex-sheriff Baca rolls the dice on a trial

bacas-team-wla.jpg LA County's disgraced former sheriff withdraws his guilty plea for lying to the FBI about jail abuse.

TV meteorologist Josh Rubenstein leaving for the LAPD

josh-rubenstein-cbsla.jpg The chief meteorologist for CBS 2 and KCAL 9 will be the LAPD's new public information director.

Judge says ex-Sheriff Baca deserves more time in jail

baca-retires.jpg Six months for his crimes is not enough, U.S. District Court Judge Percy Anderson rules.

5 Dallas police officers killed, 11 in all shot by snipers*

dallas-officer.jpg Shooters apparently firing semi-automatic weapons hit at least 11 police officers in Dallas tonight at an otherwise calm protest over police shootings of unarmed suspects in other cities.
feuer-at-pride2016.jpg Errant tweet from Santa Monica police chief added to Sunday jitters.

Sheriff's chief of staff resigns over racist email jokes

sheriff-car-lao.jpg Tom Angel forwarded derogatory jokes and as criticism built, McDonnell couldn't save him.

National questions about Mitrice Richardson and LASD

mitricerichardson.jpg Newsweek goes long on an exploration of the mysteries about Richardson and the LA Sheriff's Department.

Paul Tanaka convicted in sheriff's jail scandal

paul-tanaka-vidgrab.jpg The disgraced former undersheriff could face 15 years in prison when sentenced for conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

Knife at O.J.'s old house tests for nothing

tmz-grab-oj-knife.jpg TMZ says the crime lab found no DNA, hair or any other potential evidence.

State looking into '09 death of Mitrice Richardson

mitrice.final.jpg In an unexplained reversal, the state attorney general's office says it is reviewing the LA sheriff's department's handling of the substitute teacher.

Ex-sheriff Baca pleads guilty in jail scandal*

baca-grab-lamag.jpg Plea deal with federal prosecutors would cap prison time for Lee Baca at under a year, reports say.

Christy O'Donnell, LAPD vet who sought right to die law

christyodonnell-daughter.jpg O'Donnell, 47, pushed Gov. Brown to sign California's new right-to-die act, which won't take effect until later this year.

Beck calls for charges against officer in Venice shooting

chief-beck-grab-ezellfordpresser.jpg It's the first time the LAPD chief has recommended charges in the killing of an unarmed suspect.

Crime is up in LA across the board

highlcouds-lapd-bldg-pal.jpg For the first time in a long while, crime is up in all categories and in all police divisions across Los Angeles.

How the LA and NYC school threats differed

brad-sherman-letterhead.jpg Rep. Brad Sherman analyzes the language used, the likelihood that the writer was Muslim, and whether LA officials were right to act.

Did LA officials flinch on threat or was it the right call?

ambassador-school-front.jpg LA Unified closed all of its schools based on a crude email threat that many experts dismissed almost immediately as a probable hoax. Schools are open today.

Charges dropped against Jasmyne Cannick a year later

jasmyne-cannick-case-dropped.jpg Cannick was arrested by the LAPD while covering a Ferguson protest in DTLA as a reporter last November.

Santa Monica PD sends 19 cops to an apartment burglary?

seabrooks-smpd.jpg Two black women -- an executive rousted at gunpoint and the chief of police -- have varied perspectives of the same incident.

Ricardo Galvez, 29, Downey police officer shot in his car*

galvez-downey-pd.jpg Galvez was a five-year veteran of the Downey Police Department from Whittier. Three suspects have been arrested.
bruce-lisker-2015.jpg Lisker Chronicles update: The City Council first must approve the settlement. "It’s been a very emotional ordeal,” Lisker said.

Martin Milner, 83, actor and iconic TV cop

henrys-reed-malloy.jpg LAPD Chief Charlie Beck credits Milner's Pete Malloy with inspiring him to join the force.

Cops and prosecutors oppose parole for Voltaire Williams

voltaire-williams-cdc.jpg In early August we published a blogger piece about Williams, convicted in the murder of Los Angeles police officer Thomas Williams in 1985.

Some reasons why LA's rising crime rate is not a surprise

Thumbnail image for homeless-virgil-avenue.jpg Joe Domanick argues that the city's rising poverty and crime rates are related, "coming together in an era of astounding, Third World-like income disparity, declining social services and desperate poverty." And you thought Uber getting into LAX was the big issue of the day.

Daniele Watts ordered to give better apology to LAPD officer

Daniele-Watts-theedge.jpg The "Django Unchained" actress and her boyfriend have until tomorrow to write an apology that actually sounds sorry.
ted-rall.png Editors re-explain the decision to cut ties with the cartoonist and add new analysis of a disputed LAPD audio tape.

Ted Rall dropped by LA Times over blog post about LAPD*

ted-rall.png The paper says the editorial cartoonist's post had factual inconsistencies. He says the Times buckled to pressure from the police department.

LAPD officer gets jail, ex-detective arrested as bank robber

mary-ocallaghan-cbsla.jpg Bad day for the Los Angeles Police Department image.

Gardena police finally release video of bad police shooting

gardena-police-grab.jpg Federal; judge ordered video released after requests by the Los Angeles Times, Associated Press and Bloomberg.

Serious crime in Los Angeles very much on the rise

lapd-car-left.jpg New LA Times analysis shows the downward trend in LA crime stats is over and that crime is up in all major categories except homicide.

Post-holiday week news and notes

amartinez-alexcohen-kpcc.jpg Catching up on politics, media and place. Including a piece on KPCC's Latino audience.

Michael Connelly visits the LA crime lab

connellyheader-csula.jpg In a piece for the Cal State LA campus magazine, Connelly goes to the lab that provides many scenes for his books and Amazon original series, "Bosch."

Three deputy sheriffs convicted in jail beating and cover-up

jail-cell.jpg Two other deputies took previous plea deals and testified. This is the case of the jail visitor who was beaten up.
lapd-shooting-los-feliz.jpg Officers yelled at a man who flagged them down to drop the weapon, then opened fire. No gun was found. He survives.

Mixed ruling from police commission on Ezell Ford killing

lapd-car-left.jpg The officers who shot and killed Ford in South LA were partly justified but also acted partly outside of department policy.
lapd-car-left.jpg The newspaper counts the alleged homicide by Henry Solis outside a bar in Pomona in its tally "arising directly from encounters with law enforcement."
solis-el-paso-grab.jpg Henry Solis was arrested in Ciudad Juarez and handed over to the FBI at the border.

Former undersheriff Tanaka surrenders to feds

paul-tanaka-vidgrab.jpg The federal grand jury is investigating corruption in the LA County jails and the attempt by sheriff's officials to hide a federal informant from the FBI.
venice-boardwalk-stalls.jpg Chief Beck has already said he's concerned about this shooting after seeing video footage.

Police commission OK's LAPD cameras, with a big but...

lapd-horses-dtla-bradbury.jpg The ACLU drops its support after the policy allows officers to view footage before writing reports. Chief Beck also says he won't release footage publicly.

Cartoons win fresh panties and more for women in county jail

elana-pritchard-jail-hot.jpg Inmate Elana Pritchard's cartoons in LA Weekly of the indignities and shortages in LA County's women's jail led to changes.

Lalo Alcaraz on Walter Scott, a cop and a cellphone

walter-scott-cartoon-lalo-alcaraz.jpg The Los Angeles cartoonist posted his take on the killing in South Carolina of another unarmed black man and the unmasking of the police cover-up.
lapd-car-protect-serve.jpg This officer from Hollywood division was trying to smuggle somebody. Henry Solis is still at large.

LAPD officer sought in Pomona killing

Thumbnail image for highlcouds-lapd-bldg-pal.jpg Police are looking for probationary LAPD officer Henry Solis in connection with a fatal shooting outside a Pomona nightclub Friday morning.

Soboroff adds no. 30 to his typewriter collection

soboroff-typewriter-cohen.jpg The typewriter belonged to Samuel T. Cohen, inventor of the neutron bomb that could kill people but leave buildings unscathed.

LAPD Skid Row shooting: justified or overreaction?

chief-beck-grab-ezellfordpresser.jpg Chief Beck opens the investigation by saying Sunday's police killing downtown appears justified, while Skid Row residents are upset.

LAPD shoots homeless man on Skid Row as many watch (video)

skid-row-shooting-grab.jpg The video shows a skirmish between officers and a flailing man, then an officer yelling to "drop the gun" before shots were fired.

New sheriff in town goes on media tour

sheriff-mcdonnell-doten-dn.jpg Jim McDonnell visits with Larry Mantle at KPCC, sits with Conan Nolan at KNBC and allows backstage access to photographer John McCoy of the Daily News.

Violent crime in city going up, LAPD admits

highlcouds-lapd-bldg-pal.jpg For the first time in 12 years, LAPD crime reports show an increase in the statistical category labeled as violent crimes -- just months after the LA Times caught the department understating crime.
sal-labarbera-law-castro.jpg When Sal LaBarbera retires on Jan. 31, "he'll leave a legacy as one of the best homicide cops in the history of LAPD, meaning one of the best anywhere," says an LA Weekly tribute.

Ezell Ford autopsy details wounds, Beck holds presser *

chief-beck-grab-ezellfordpresser.jpg Autopsy shows that the mentally ill black man in South LA was shot in the side, arm and back. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck met the media and took questions.

Another 130 arrested in LA protests last night

arrests-dtla-abc7.jpg Activist Jasmyne Cannick, among the arrested, says flat out no dispersal orders were given by the LAPD at 6th and Hope streets. She is tweeting about her experience.

183 arrested overnight in downtown LA street protests*

protests-dtla-nbc4grab.jpg The final numbers are bigger than they looked on the live streams I followed last night (and more than reported in the media this morning.) Most arrests were for disorderly conduct.

Second night of scattered protests in LA a bit uglier (updates)

arrests-flower-nbc4grab.jpg A small group broke off from a protest in front of LAPD headquarters to run onto the 101 freeway at Grand Avenue and drop objects from the street above. Traffic stopped on the freeway without any injuries as far as I can tell.

Bratton hit with fake blood in NYC protest (photo)

bratton-fake-blood.jpg New York police commissioner William Bratton, the former LAPD chief, was spattered with red paint during a protest over the grand jury announcement about the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.

Paul Tanaka is running for sheriff after all

paul-tanaka-vidgrab.jpg No campaign manager, advertising, debates or web page. But there is now a Tanaka campaign video on YouTube.

'Django Unchained' actress cuffed by LAPD after refusing to show ID*

daniele-watts-detained.jpg Daniele Watts, who is black, and her white husband posted on Facebook they were rousted for being affectionate on Ventura Boulevard and deemed to be a suspected prostitute and john.

Erick Alcaraz, off-duty LAPD officer was 24

alcaraz-lapd.jpg Alcaraz was killed on his motorcycle in a traffic collision in Torrance. He was due to start work in West LA division on Sunday.

Distracted deputy won't be charged for killing cyclist

Olin-no-charges-streetsblog.jpg Sheriff’s Deputy Andrew Wood drifted into a bike lane while typing on his patrol car screen last December and struck entertainment attorney Milton Olin Jr.

Producer's 'detention' by BHPD creates big backlash

charles-belk-msnbc.jpg Charles Belk was at an Emmy event in Beverly Hills when he went out to feed his meter. He was stopped by police, cuffed and taken away as a bank robbery suspect. He says its about walking while black and his Facebook post has gone huge.

Compton OK's assault rifles for school police

assault-rifles-kpcc.jpg With students returning to school today, some residents are unhappy about the new policy that would put an AR-15 in the trunk on some on-duty campus police officers.

Now LA sheriff crime stats will be audited too

sheriff-car-lao.jpg The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday ordered an independent review of Los Angeles County Sheriff Department crime statistics, following on the questions about the integrity of LAPD numbers.

Inspector general to investigate LAPD crime stats

beck-villaraigosa-occupynight.jpg The LA Times' weekend revelation about under-played numbers of aggravated assaults has legs — the IG will look into years of LAPD stats and the department put out a statement. Plus more.

Supervisors reject civilian oversight of sheriff

new-sheriff-john-scott.jpg The Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 today to defeat a push by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas to create a civilian oversight board that would help guide the troubled Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky cast the key no vote.

Mayor's video takes his message directly to LAPD officers

garcetti-video-lappl.jpg Advantage Garcetti: He posts a YouTube message to officers since the union doesn't want him to speak at stations.

Six LA sheriff's deputies convicted of jail conspiracy

Thumbnail image for sheriff-car-lao.jpg The deputies could face up to 15 years in prison for hiding a jail inmate from federal investigators.

LA cop: Skid Row in a 'mental health emergency'

deon-joseph-dtla.jpg Deon Joseph, a senior lead officer in the LAPD's Central Area, has had enough. Skid Row, where he has worked for 16 years, has "once again become an outdoor asylum without walls."

Rihanna sends $25,000 to LA police fund

rihanna-soboroff-twitter.jpg Rihanna and Steven Soboroff, the president of the Los Angeles Police Commission, are certainly making the most out of their recent encounter at the Clippers playoff game. The broken phone is paying off for the LAPD Foundation.

Rihanna gets her jollies with LA police commissioner

rihanna-soboroff.jpg I guess nobody at the Daily Mail recognizes Steven Soboroff, the president of the Los Angeles Police Commission — dismissed as a "jolly older gentleman" and a "pensioner" in a Fail story on Rihanna attending a Clippers game while dressed.

Ernest L. Allen Sr., LAPD detective was 52

Allen was killed by a runaway truck on the same Beverly Hills street where officer Nick Lee also was killed by a truck. The city has ordered a halt to truck activity and put in radar to catch speeders.
roberto-sanchez-escort.jpg LAPD Chief Charlie Beck announced this morning's death of six-year veteran Roberto Sanchez, 32, of the Harbor station. He is the third officer to die while driving in recent weeks.

Chris Cortijo, LAPD motor officer was 51

Chris-Cortijo-lapd .jpg Officer Chris Cortijo of the Valley Traffic Division died today of injuries he suffered when his motorcycle was hit by a DUI suspect in Sun Valley on Saturday.

LAPD officer shot and wounded inside West Bureau station*

A gunman opened fire inside the West Bureau station on Venice Boulevard and shot at least one officer. The wounded officer was reportedly wearing a ballistic vest that may have stopped some of the seven rounds.

High clouds over the LAPD (and palm tree)

highlcouds-lapd-bldg-pal.jpg Man, it's hard to take a picture in Los Angeles without a palm tree sneaking in there.

LAPD crash in Glassell Park sends four officers to the hospital

An unmarked LAPD car reportedly racing to a crime scene with lights and siren on went through a red light at Fletcher Drive and San Fernando Road and collided with another vehicle. In all seven people were hurt.

Rhode Island mother attends funeral for LAPD's Nicholas Lee

nick-lee-funeral-grab.jpg The mother of seven-year-old Tyler Seddon pays her respects to the officer who helped brighten her ill son's day.

Nicholas Lee, LAPD Hollywood officer was 40

nick-lee-grab.jpg Nicholas Choung Lee is the Hollywood division officer who was killed today in the collision of his patrol car with a truck in Beverly Hills. Chief Charlie Beck tweeted, "A man of greatness and selflessness. Nick was a great cop."

Mayor's statement on the death of LAPD officer

Mayor Eric Garcetti's office just released a statement on the death of an Los Angeles Police Department officer in a Beverly Hills crash this morning.

LAPD officer killed in Beverly Hills traffic crash*

lapd-officer-killed-ktla.jpg A Los Angeles police officer was killed this morning and a second injured when their LAPD car collided with a truck in Beverly Hills. No names yet.

Three indicted deputies point fingers at Baca, Tanaka

Pandora_Opens_The_Box-Recovered-5.jpg A dismissal motion filed Tuesday in federal court alleges that former Sheriff Lee Baca and former undersheriff Paul Tanaka personally ordered the hiding of federal jailhouse informant Anthony Brown.

How Baca and Tanaka let the sheriff's department go bad

baca-grab-lamag.jpg Celeste Fremon has covered for many years the foibles and scandals of Lee Baca's sheriff's department, and in the new issue of Los Angeles Magazine she gets more than 10,000 words to explain for newcomers the "morass" that formed under the management of Baca and top deputy (and now candidate) Paul Tanaka.

Life in the LAPD: Not all it could be

lapd-horses-dtla-bradbury.jpg For a Column One story in the LA Times, reporter Joel Rubin and photographer Brian Van der Brug embedded with a class of recruits at the LAPD academy a few years ago. They followed the careers of several who made it through.

Two CHP officers killed in crash near Fresno

chp-officers-killed-on-99.jpg The California Highway Patrol announced today that Officer Juan Gonzalez, 33, and Officer Brian Law, 34, died this morning when their cruiser came upon a crash on state route 99 near Kingsburg, south of Fresno in the San Joaquin Valley.

New sheriff converts Tanaka's cigar-smoking patio

new-sheriff-john-scott.jpg The covered, county-maintained patio where loyalists of Undersheriff Paul Tanaka could enter with a private token and smoke cigars, apparently illegally, will be turned into a barbecue area.

New LA sheriff-to-be talks about fixing the mess

new-sheriff-john-scott.jpg John Scott and his wife both gave up Los Angeles sheriff's department careers out of concern about the direction under Lee Baca. Now Scott gets the rest of the year to leave his mark.

McDonnell jumps into race for sheriff with a list of endorsements

jim-mcdonnell-elb.jpg Former LAPD official Jim McDonnell has endorsements from Chief Charlie Beck, DA Jackie Lacey, City Attorney Mike Feuer and Supervisor Don Knabe, among others. He is currently the chief of police in Long Beach.

Fullerton officers acquitted in Kelly Thomas fatal beating

Former Fullerton Police Department officers Manuel Ramos and Jay Cicinelli were found not guilty of all charges in the 2011 beating death of homeless schizophrenic Kelly Thomas.

Baca confirms he leaves at the end of the month

baca-presser-lasd.jpg Sheriff Lee Baca said he is retiring for personal reasons and also to avoid the negative coverage of the Sheriff's Department in the upcoming campaign.
baca-witness-la.jpg Media say that Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca informed the county's elected supervisors and his key staff that he will announce on Tuesday. Gone by end of the month. Long Beach police chief Jim McDonnell reportedly looking at getting in the race.

More than 2,000 drivers arrested on holiday DUIs in LA County

Thumbnail image for sheriff-car-lao.jpg The stats cover Dec. 13 to midnight on January 1 and include arrests by 100 different law enforcement agencies.

Coincidence? Police station next to Krispy Kreme (photo)

donuts-long-beach.jpg One Long Beach police substation doesn't have to go far to obtain donuts. Photo inside.

LAPD officer saves lucky Christmas drunk from burning car on 405

don-thompson-lapd-ktla.jpg Officer Don Thompson, a 26-year veteran assigned to the bomb squad, spotted the wreck, jumped over the center divider and cut the unconscious driver out of a burning Mercedes. Both savior and saved suffered burns requiring treatment.

Police union chief's car totaled by unlicensed driver

Izen-uniform-twitter.jpg Smashing your car into any cop's vehicle is never advised, but this was really the wrong guy to hit.
Thumbnail image for lapd-car-protect-serve.jpg LAPD Chief Charlie Beck today placed on leave the three officers who shot and killed Brian Beaird after a chase that ended with the crash of his Corvette downtown.

Baca says it's just a few bad apples

sheriff-car-lao.jpg While today's indictments were not unexpected, Baca said, "it is nevertheless a sad day for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. We do not tolerate misconduct by any deputies."

FBI arresting LA County sheriff's deputies in jail probe *

jail-arms-zw.jpg The FBI moved in this morning to start arresting current and former Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and officials on criminal corruption and civil rights charges. U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. has scheduled a 1 p.m. news availability in the downtown federal building.

Bratton to head NYPD (again)

Thumbnail image for bratton-cropped.jpg This will make Bratton the only cop to have run the NYPD, the LAPD and the NYPD again (and be mentioned in London papers as a possible head of Scotland Yard.)

LAPD motorcycle officer hurt in Palisades hit-and-run

MERCEDESLAPDOFF-nbc4.jpg A dark or silver Mercedes-Benz struck an LAPD officer and his motorcycle on Pacific Coast Highway at Sunset a little before 8 p.m. tonight. The officer was taken to UCLA with non-life threatening injuries.

Sheriff Baca still has political friends

baca-event-davis-geragos-tru.jpg Former governor Gray Davis, former city attorney Carmen Trutanich and high-profile defense lawyer Mark Geragos are co-hosting a $1,500-per-napkin fundraiser for Baca next week.

Soboroff elected to head the police commission

Thumbnail image for lapd-car-protect-serve.jpg From his initial comments, it sounds as if Soboroff intends to be heard from in the post.

Traffic cop has a record number of complaints: none *

elton-simmons-cbs.jpg Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy Deputy Elton Simmons has written thousands of traffic tickets in 20 years — that's 25,000 traffic stops, says a story by CBS News. They got it from an LA Times story last September.

Garcetti changes up police commission (and gives Pleitez a gig)

Steve Soboroff, Paula Madison and two other new faces will give the Garcetti police commission a new look. Emanuel Pleitez gets a pension commission slot.

Villaraigosa praises LAPD's new anti-profiling program (video)

antonio-villaraigosa-msnbc-grab.jpg Former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa turned up on MSNBC on Wednesday talking with Chris Hayes about the new program, approved by the police commission this week, that lets accusers and cops voluntarily talk out accusations of racial profiling in front of a mediator.

LA deputy sheriff charged with on-duty rape, bribes and more

Thumbnail image for sheriff-car-lao.jpg Sheriff's deputy Jose Rigaberto Sanchez, 28, was arrested Monday evening and charged with eleven felonies including sexual penetration under the color of authority, rape under fear or duress, and soliciting a bribe from his alleged victims. The crimes were alleged to have occurred in Palmdale in 2010.

South LA homicide detective: what do you want to know?

ChristopherBarling-guardian.jpg LAPD detective Christopher Barling is the homicide supervisor for the 77th Street station in South Los Angeles — which has 250 open homicide cases. He agreed to "open up about his life and his work" with online readers of the UK newspaper The Guardian.
Pandora_Opens_The_Box.jpg Big story for Celeste Fremon's small volunteer, but respected and aggressive, LA investigative news site.

Westwood and LAPD gird for protester 'fun run' this evening *

streetsc-lindbrook+westwood.jpg The LAPD has warned businesses in Westwood Village that mayhem is possible tonight when pro-Trayvon Martin protesters target the neighborhood. Protesters are expected to gather at Wilshire and Veteran about 6:30.

KNX reporter hit by LAPD beanbag at Trayvon Martin protest*

claudia-p-bruise.jpg Claudia Peschiutta of KNX Newsradio was covering a protest over the George Zimmerman verdict last night on Crenshaw Boulevard when she was hit by a bean bag fired by an LAPD officer. Yes, she tweets, it hurts.

Feds say sheriffs mistreated blacks in Antelope Valley

Thumbnail image for sheriff-car-lao.jpg A two-year civil rights investigation into the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department concludes that deputies violated the Constitution and federal laws in the treatment of blacks and other residents of public housing in the Antelope Valley.

LAPD officer in surgery after being shot near South LA *

standoffhome1.jpg An unidentified Los Angeles Police Department gang officer helping to search a home in the unincorporated Willowbrook area this evening was shot in the face and neck by a suspect hiding in the attic. The house is surrounded by cops.

LAPD diver braves the tar pits and lives to tell the story *

lapd-diver.jpg LAPD Sgt. David Mascarenas dove in the murky, bubbling, smelly pool at the La Brea Tar Pits on Thursday looking for evidence in a 2011 murder case. It's not anywhere you would want to go.
nbc4-i-team.jpg CBS 2 sifts the data for the most notorious places for LAPD traffic cops to nab speeders, while Joel Grover and NBC 4 turn their hidden cameras back on Jiffy Lube. May is always a busy month for local TV's investigative teams.

Ride along in an LAPD chopper (audio)

lapd-chopper-kcrw.jpg KCRW producer Matt Holzman embedded with cops in the LAPD Air Support unit to see what it's like in the helicopters that patrol Los Angeles skies. Listen inside.

Tanaka slams Sheriff Baca as 'confused' and 'erratic'

paul-tanaka-wla.jpg Deposed undersheriff says that Baca used the department to hire friends and relatives, micromanaged, and ordered the hiding of an jail inmate from the FBI. None of these allegations were made while Tanaka served as a senior but controversial aide, Baca's team points out.

Driver makes sudden U-turn, hits motorcycle cop

That extra traffic in Laurel Canyon this evening was due to an accident involving an LAPD motorcycle officer. The unidentified officer was on his way to investigate a previous accident when a driver stuck in traffic made an abrupt turn in front of the officer's bike. He's at a hospital but going to be OK.
southland-grab.jpg I'm told that what could be the final episode of the television drama "Southland" will shoot tomorrow morning in front of the Police Administration Building. Chief Charlie Beck is supposed to make a quick cameo appearance sometime between 11 a.m. and noon.

Chief Beck, more officials and celebs breached by Russian site

beck-supercross-grab.jpg LAPD Chief Charlie Beck was among the top law enforcement and government officials whose address, social security number and credit reports were posted online. The head of the FBI, Robert Mueller, also had some personal information posted, as did vice president Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Beyonce, Ashton Kutcher and Mel Gibson, among others.

Tanaka steps down as undersheriff to Baca

paul-tanaka-wla.jpg There hasn't been a stormier career lately in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department than that of Paul Tanaka. Today the department announced that Tanaka will step down as the number two sheriff's official and retire on August 1. He was reelected Tuesday to a third term as mayor of Gardena.
dorner-camo.jpg Former LA Times veterans of LAPD coverage come at the Dorner issues from different places. Plus a view from the Inland Empire.

Jeremiah MacKay, San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy was 35

jeremiah-mackay-sbsd.jpg MacKay died Tuesday of wounds incurred during the firefight with fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner outside a cabin in the 7 Oaks area of the San Bernardino Mountains. He lived in Redlands and was assigned to the Yucaipa station. MacKay is survived by his wife, 7-year-old daughter and four-month-old son.

Next step is to identify remains as Dorner's

dorner-surveill-tape.jpg Associated Press reported that a California driver's license with the name Christopher Dorner and other personal items were found in the basement of the burned-out cabin next to the remains. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says the episode appears to be over, but that tests are needed to be certain so that LAPD targets and families can relax.

Unfortunate ad placement o' the day

LAT-all-cop-homepage.jpg If I'm the publisher of the LA Times, I probably reject the big ads for "Southland" right now and don't let images of cops with guns take over my website for a small amount of revenue.

$1 million reward offered for Dorner information

beck-villaraigosa-reward-nyt.jpg The LAPD, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and several cooperating agencies announced on Sunday a $1 million reward for information that leads to fugitive ex-LAPD officer Christopher Dorner, who has vowed to keep killing officers and their families. It might be the biggest local reward ever — and was suggested by the wife of Chief Charlie Beck.

Beck calls on Dorner to surrender, says will re-look at grievances

pat-harvey-grab.jpg LAPD Chief Charlie Beck called in CBS2 anchor Pat Harvey for an exclusive interview today in which Beck said he would take a look at some of the allegations of racism made by disgraced ex-cop Christopher Dorner. Beck told Harvey that his motive in re-opening the case that led to Dorner's firing was to keep the department's trust among African-Americans. "I'm not doing this to appease Dorner," Beck said.

Dorner's truck was disabled by broken axle

dorner-gun-ktla-grab.jpg It appears that fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner abandoned his Nissan truck on a fire road above Big Bear Lake due to a broken axle. Of course, that doesn't explain why he lit the truck on fire before heading into the forest, but it suggests that abandoning the truck and setting out on foot just before a snowstorm hit the area may not have been his first choice.

Tough night for the badge in LA

An ex-LAPD cop is the suspect in those two Irvine slayings, the department was sued by a Hollywood executive who says officers beat him, the Sheriff's Department moved to fire seven deputies who belonged to a secret clique, and a Building and Safety inspector agreed to plead guilty to bribery.

Unsung hero of drivers at 7th and Broadway

buses-7th-broadway.jpg If you don't get a $234 LAPD ticket this year for turning right at 7th Street and Broadway, you could have D.J. Prator to thank. He lives near the corner and noticed that LAPD traffic officers were always writing tickets there. Thus began a little crusade. Story on 'SoCal Connected.'

Last man out of Parker Center turns off the lights

parker-center-city-hall-lapl.jpg The final occupants of Parker Center moved out last Friday and today LAPD officials ceremonially closed the headquarters where Bill Parker vowed to stop the mob and Joe Friday lectured many seasons worth of Dragnet bad guys. Read or listen to the departrment's end of watch message.

Need a calendar? Cops and their rescue dogs

lapd-rescue-dogs.jpg The Voice For The Animals Foundation has put out a 2013 calendar featuring LAPD officers with their own rescue animals. Proceeds go for medical treatment, food and shelter for animals. Chief Beck is on the cover.

Veteran LAPD cops accused of forcing women into sex

Thumbnail image for lapd-car-protect-serve.jpg Two Hollywood area narcotics officers have reportedly been implicated by four women. The accusations go back several years. The LAPD moved against the two officers on Thursday after one of the women filed a lawsuit.

Murder and theft up in LA, but overall crime down again

Thumbnail image for lapd-valley-bureau.jpg With a few days left in the year, the number of murders in the city of Los Angeles has crept up and will likely surpass 300 for the first time since 2009. Total crime declined for the tenth straight year.

Baca agrees to release unredacted Ruben Salazar files to filmmaker

salazarstamp.jpg Phillip Rodriguez will have access to unredacted autopsy and investigative documents, and coroner's photos, for his documentary on the 1970 death in East Los Angeles of journalist Ruben Salazar.

Questions of LAPD abuse go national *

lapd-car-left.jpg Christine Pelisek, the veteran local police reporter who is now a Los Angeles writer for the Daily Beast, writes for the website's broad audience on "the latest use-of-force incident to surface in recent months involving the Los Angeles Police Department, which has been grappling with a series of brutality claims—some of which have been caught on tape."

LAPD asks again for help with possible Grim Sleeper victims

sleeper-med.jpg Today, the department took to social media to try find out what happened to 42 women who showed up in Lonnie Franklin Jr.'s photographs.

Baca failed to act on out of control jail deputies, report says

jail-cell.jpg In its final report, issued this morning, the Citizens’ Commission on Jail Violence put a lot of the blame on Sheriff Lee Baca and his number two, Paul Tanaka, and said the department needs to be reformed top to bottom and undergo a management shakeup. Civilian oversight is also needed.

Chief Beck injured riding in motocross *

beck-supercross-grab.jpg LAPD Chief Charlie Beck suffered a broken collarbone during a motocross event on Thursday and is home resting. He's expected back at work on Monday.

Jack Dunphy's take on body slam in the Foothill division

michellejordan-cbs2.jpg The Los Angeles Police Department officer who blogs for various conservative political sites using the pseudonym Jack Dunphy has two interesting observations about that use-of-force incident where the handcuffed woman was thrown to the ground in the parking lot of a Del Taco in Tujunga.

This time, a cuffed woman dies in LAPD use of force

lapd-car-protect-serve.jpg Alesia Thomas was described as large and not cooperative with police who came to talk to her after she left her two children at the LAPD’s Southeast Area station. Some of what happened next was caught on a patrol car's video camera, the LA Times says.

Head rolls already over LAPD use of force in Pacoima

michellejordan-cbs2.jpg Whoa, this was decisive: LAPD Chief Charlie Beck announced tonight that he has relieved Foothill division commander Capt. Joseph Hiltner for his "severely deficient" response to the appearance of excessive force used against a handcuffed woman in Pacoima. "Proper steps were not taken," Beck said.
michellejordan-cbs2.jpg LAPD chief Charlie Beck, on the Patt Morrison show on KPCC just now, said he's very concerned by a video showing officers throw a handcuffed woman to the ground during a traffic stop. He said there are criminal and internal investigations going on and the main officer has been assigned to home duty. Watch the video.

Rodney King was very, very high when he died

rodney-king-patch.jpg Rodney King had PCP, cocaine and marijuana in his system and was probably in a drug- and alcohol-induced delirium when he fell into his swimming pool and drowned in June, the San Bernardino County coroner's report said Thursday.

Bratton shows interest in the top NYPD job again

bratton-cropped.jpg Former LAPD chief William Bratton has been meeting with potential mayor candidates in New York and voicing his desire to succeed New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, the WSJ says.

'Onion Field' killer Gregory Powell dies

The-Onion-Field-cover.jpg The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced today the death of inmate Gregory U. Powell, who served a life term for 1963 kidnapping and murder of Los Angeles police officer Ian Campbell. Powell and his partner, Jimmy Lee Smith, had been pulled over for an illegal turn by Campbell and another plainclothes LAPD officer from the Hollywood division. The criminals commandeered the officers and drove them to an onion field outside Bakersfield where Powell shot and and killed Campbell.

Which side is Anaheim 'protester' on?

blonde-anaheim-protest.jpg Protesters and the OC Weekly suspect a police plant after a blonde woman seen taunting Anaheim police during street protests was also spotted standing with a police line and verbally defending officers. Meanwhile, city officials called for outside reviews of the Anaheim PD's use of force.

Long tense night in Anaheim

anaheim+ground.jpg Police and protesters clashed in the streets of Anaheim again Tuesday night, more aftermath of the police killing of an unarmed man who was running from officers. The day's turmoil began when a crowd of about 200 tried to get past officers and into the Anaheim city hall for a city council meeting.

Kudos for the Aurora police dispatcher

Jack Dunphy, the LAPD veteran who blogs anonymously for a number of conservative political websites, listens to the audio on the Aurora, Colorado shootings and gives huge credit to the unidentified woman on the radio.

Desert reckoning in the Mojave

bookcover_desertreckoning.jpg LA Observed contributor Deanne Stillman's latest book is a page turner. Desert Reckoning: A Town Sheriff, a Mojave Hermit, and the Biggest Manhunt in Modern California History takes off from the 2003 killing of Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy Stephen Sorensen, by a hermit named Donald Kueck, to peel back some of the mystery and secrets about life in the Mojave Desert north of us. She reads this afternoon at Skylight Books.

Are they kidding? Baca appointed to state prisons board

Thumbnail image for baca-in-dc.jpg You may have noticed that Sheriff Lee Baca is under intense scrutiny for his management of the Los Angeles County jail system. Nonetheless, Gov. Jerry Bown just announced he is appointing Baca to the Board of State and Community Corrections.

17 arrested in Art Walk clash with police *

Last night's downtown Art Walk included an Occupy LA protest and a skirmish line with police on Spring Street.

Protester who smacked LAPD cop sentenced to jail

It's a plea deal for Brian Mendoza, the May Day demonstrator who was caught on video whacking LAPD officer Mandee Duyanen on the back of her helmet with a snare drum.

20% of LAPD traffic tickets get the street name wrong

lapd-car.jpg Fun story in the LA Times: an analysis of 75,000 computerized traffic citations found the street name "mangled beyond all but the most hopeful inference about 20% of the time....The only thing we can say with 90% certainty about data like this is 'Argh!'"

Andrea Ordin back to the police commission

Mayor Villaraigosa has appointed Andrea Sheridan Ordin to fill a term on the city's Board of Police Commissioners — a panel she sat on for five years earlier in the mayor's administration. Most recently she was the county counsel, a post she retired from earlier this year.
kelly-thomas-ocw.jpg Manuel Anthony Ramos, a ten-year veteran of the Fullerton Police Department, will be the first Orange County police officer to stand trial on a murder charge for his actions while in uniform. A judge ruled today that enough evidence of a crime was presented at a preliminary hearing for Ramos, 38, to face trial on charges of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.

Video of Fullerton police beating Kelly Thomas

kelly-thomas-ocw.jpg I haven't posted much about this Orange County case, in which a homeless man was beaten so severely at police hands that he died, but the video of what happened to Kelly Thomas was released today. Thomas's pleas for his dad to help him are what may get to you. Warning: the video and audio are graphic.

Arrest made in assault on LAPD officer at May Day rally

The LAPD says that Brian Mendoza, 23, has been arrested in the videotaped head bonking of an officer working the May Day rallies in downtown. He is 6 feet 280, she is 5'1" 115.

Video: LAPD officer smacked by May Day protester

Some dude was caught on camera whacking an officer on the helmet with a drum during Tuesday's protest in Downtown. Pretty amazing that none of the other LAPD cops on the scene saw him.

Baca can be sued for jail violence, court rules

baca-in-dc.jpg The Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Sheriff Lee Baca and let stand a ruling that says he can be personally sued for racial violence in the county jails, which Baca's department runs.

Beck on how the riots changed him and LA

beck-villaraigosa-occupynight.jpg LAPD chief Charlie Beck writes in an LA Times op-ed piece that the riots 20 years ago were "a defining point in the history of the LAPD and, for me personally, a life-changing event. I knew in my heart then that we had to completely change the way we policed this city."

Police union's take on what we've learned from the riots

In its communication this week on the riots, the Police Protective League downplays the role of the riots in changing the department. It includes an interesting stat: about 7 in 9 of today's officers were not in the LAPD at the time of the riots, or by extension at the time that Rodney King was beaten in the dark on Foothill Boulevard.

Officer saves choking infant before nabbing robbery suspect

West Covina police officer Eduardo Flores had a busy morning on Monday.

LAPD, Trutanich add more muscle around USC

usc-students-killed-nt.jpg Think this is serious? Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck and the president of USC, C.L. Max Nikias, all threw a press conference this morning to try to assure parents, students and potential students — here and abroad — that the neighborhood around the campus is safe. More cops and prosecutors are among the steps.

KNBC 'live-tweeting' the run-up to '92 riots

real-time-riots-tweets.jpg This is more interesting than the exercise of tweeting the sinking of the Titanic, because as you read the mundane tick-tock of events from the trial of the officers who beat Rodney King you know that something really big is coming. The idea came from Olsen Ebright, a member of the digital team at NBC4.com.

MALDEF sues sheriff over withheld Ruben Salazar files

salazarstamp.jpg Two decades before the Rodney King verdict riots, the Eastside erupted over the Vietnam War and other issues. The events of that time still echo in the city.

Video of fatal police shooting on the 101 freeway *

Police were reportedly in cellphone contact with Abdul Arian, 19, and his mother during last night's chase across the West Valley.

Cops left behind: Stragglers of Parker Center

parker+center+cops+dtn.jpg It turns out that about 150 LAPD officers and other employees still work in Parker Center, the bedraggled former headquarters that most of the department gladly abandoned a couple of years ago. "Nobody is happy to be here,” says facilities manager Thom Brennan.

Bratton still uses his NYPD parking card - 16 years later

bratton-cropped.jpg The New York Post reports that former LAPD chief William Bratton was spotted parking his Lexus SUV in a “No Standing” zone outside his offices in midtown Manhattan — with an official police business card in the window.

Isn't she lovely? LAPD cops in drag(net)

lapd-undercover-decoys-60.jpg Robbery squad officers dressed as women to catch a purse snatcher in 1960.

LAPD officer accused of hotel theft

Jeffry Paul Quinton, a 21-year veteran assigned to the Central division, was arrested in Orange County and accused of stealing cash from a Laguna Beach hotel where he moonlighted. Quinton...

Detective Lazarus found guilty of old murder

Stephanie Lazarus, the former LAPD detective who was arrested on the job in 2009, was convicted today in the 1986 killing of Sherri Rae Rasmussen, the wife of a man Lazarus dated for awhile.
This piece ran in The Atlantic in March 1982 and is credited as an influential argument in the movement toward community policing embraced here and in New York by William J. Bratton. The magazine posted it online in its entirety following Wilson's death on Friday.

LA area police have private info hacked, posted

Hackers released the names, addresses and phone numbers of more than 100 law enforcement officers whose information was pilfered from the web site of the Los Angeles County Police Canine Association.

Beck and Baca on licenses for the undocumented

LAPD chief Charlie Beck had a bit more to say today about his comments yesterday in favor of issuing a special drivers license to undocumented residents who pass the tests....

Chief Beck calls for undocumented drivers licenses

beckvillaraigosaintro.jpg "When something doesn't work over and over and over again, my view is that you should reexamine it to see if there is another way that makes more sense," said the LAPD chief.

Bad day for crime and carnage around the LA area *

For me, the worst incident of the day was the death in a police pursuit of a woman who apparently had been kidnapped this morning in the Westlake district.

Blast from the past: Ramones and LAPD *

lapd-ramones-palladium.jpg Los Angeles police outside a 1987 show by The Ramones and Black Flag at the Hollywood Palladium.

Bratton says LAPD coordinated with CIA on terrorism

Former LAPD chief William Bratton was on "The Young Turks" on Current TV when he talked about the department's interactions with the Central Intelligence Agency.

CHP officer guilty of killing her husband

Former California Highway Patrol officer Tomiekia Johnson was convicted Monday of first-degree murder for shooting her husband beside the Riverside Freeway in 2009.

Chief Beck loves him some Supercross

Video: LAPD Chief Charlie Beck at Dodger Stadium talking about his fandom of motorbikes.

Video: Sheriff shows off new high-tech patrol car at CES

Capt. Mike Parker of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is in Las Vegas talking up the electronic features of a black-and-white developed for the county by Raytheon.

Video: Deputy slugs woman on bus in Bellflower

Doesn't look good. The woman has a history of mental issues and assaults on police, says Sheriff Lee Baca, but she wasn't arrested in this incident.

No new conclusion in Natalie Wood death

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After taking another look at the 1981 drowning of actress Natalie Wood, sheriff's detectives see no reason to alter the original finding: accidental death.

LAPD vet doesn't stray far for his first CBS story

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John Miller, the TV reporter who came into the LAPD with William Bratton and left to work in counter-terrorism in Washington, is now at CBS News. He does a story on bomb-sniffing dogs at LAX.

Chief Beck holds book party for Connie Rice *

The event was held in the Compstat room at the new Police Administration Building, was hosted by Chief Charlie Beck, and included red and white wine for an audience of Civic Center types, reporters and cops.

Video: Deputy Lalezary gets his Ellen moment

Shervin Lalezary, the Beverly Hills real estate attorney and reserve deputy sheriff who made the bust of arson suspect Harry Burkhart, was on Ellen DeGeneres' show.

Who is Shervin Lalezary? He's a good story, is what he is *

lalaezary-with-baca.jpg
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I guess the Los Angeles County reserve sheriff's deputy who made the traffic stop that netted arson suspect Harry Burkhart is OK looking too.

Buscaino adds Wendy Greuel to his endorsement list

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Greuel joins City Council President Herb Wesson and the Times in backing the LAPD cop in the race. For the Times, the endorsement comes with a caution that Buscaino is not all that impressive.

Reporter turned Occupyist on her time in jail

bethania-palma-sgvt.jpg Bethania Palma Markus was until recently a reporter for the LANG papers east of L.A.

Video: CNS reporter's arrest differs from LAPD account

beck-villaraigosa-occupynight.jpg In an Occupy video of the Nov. 30 LAPD raid outside City Hall, City News Service reporter Calvin Milam is observed being thrown to the ground and arrested after he crosses (outbound) through the police skirmish line.

Hollywood shooting notes

Top aide to Mayor Villaraigosa heard the shots and the screams, and a local photojournalist takes the money shot of the gunman lying wounded.

Rodney King sells his memoir to HarperOne

rodney-king-patch.jpg Coming in time for next April's 20th anniversary of the so-called Rodney King riots in Los Angeles, King has signed with HarperOne to deliver his memoir: "The Riot Within."

Sergeant to the stars hangs up his poker face

lohan-wheatcroft.jpg Lindsay Lohan, Mel Gibson, Phil Spector, even Conrad Murray — Sgt. Steve Wheatcroft has walked them all past the paparazzi and into court.

City removes Occupy LA, makes about 200 arrests *

beck-villaraigosa-occupynight.jpg Raid looks like it's about to happen.

Occupy LA promises a raid, but cops are mum *

city-hall-night-alt.jpg Supporters of Occupy LA have been sounding the alarm all day about a supposed LAPD raid of the encampment after tonight's midnight deadline. But the LAPD says: who, us?

Inside the county's Men's Central Jail

zw-jail-blue-cells.jpg Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky blogs that the jail, built mostly during the Kennedy Administration, is "a deeply depressing place, filled with 4,000 or more men crammed into dank cells." With photos.

Beck: Negotiating with Occupy LA to leave

occupy-sign-iris.jpg LAPD chief Charlie Beck said Tuesday that he expects long negotiations today with Occupy L.A. on a timeline for protesters to leave the camp outside City Hall.

Police Commission picks a new inspector general

It's Alexander Bustamante, a prosecutor in the Major Frauds Section of the U.S. Attorney's office, where he has worked since 2002.

Supes approve commission on jail violence

The new Citizens Commission on Jail Violence, created on a unanimous vote of the Board of Supervisors, will have seven members yet to be named.

Onion Field killer rejected for parole

Gregory Powell, convicted and originally sentenced to death for the 1963 murder of LAPD officer Ian James Campbell, was turned down today as a candidate for parole.

John Miller, the ex-LAPD official, goes to CBS News

millerbratton.jpg Miller, a former TV newsman who came to the LAPD from New York with then-chief William Bratton, then became a national security official, is returning to the news business.

Baca open to altering how deputies staff jails

twin-towers-jail.jpg Tonight on KCRW's "Which Way, L.A.?," Sheriff Baca said maybe deputies shouldn't start their careers with years of jail duty.

Steve Lopez calls on Baca to step aside

Sheriff Lee Baca should step down, "at least temporarily," Times columnist Steve Lopez says in a column.

New deputy resigns, says he was told to beat up inmate

Another turn in the stories of alleged abuse by sheriff's deputies assigned to the Los Angeles County jails.

County's Office of Independent Review makes money on the side

In her last story before leaving the Daily Journal for Warren Olney's team at KCRW, staff writer Anna Scott details lucrative outside consulting by Michael Gennaco's county-funded Office of Independent Review.

Two LAPD undercover officers shot in Koreatown

The LAPD says the officers were working undercover near Vermont Avenue and Leeward about 9:15 p.m. when they saw a gang-related shooting and intervened.

L.A. sheriffs shoot a lot of unarmed people and Latinos

A new report from Special Counsel Merrick Bobb looks at more than 380 shootings by sheriff's deputies over 15 years.

OC officers charged in death of Kelly Thomas

It's one of the first times – if not the first time – that prosecutors in Orange County have charged an on-duty police officer with murder, the Register says.

FT takes Bratton to lunch, they talk L.A. and London

ft-bratton-toon.jpg Bill Bratton to the Financial Times editor taking him to lunch: "So I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but I was expecting a much older woman."

LAPD officer shot in South L.A.

A Los Angeles Police Department officer was hit at least three times after stopping several pedestrians about 2:45 p.m. on south Western Avenue near 66th Street, between Gage and Florence avenues. The officer, whose name has not been released, is at the hospital and is expected to survive.

County and Mitrice Richardson's family agree to settle

The parents of Mitrice Richardson have reached a tentative agreement to settle their lawsuits against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for $900,000, the L.A. Times says.

Was any part of the Mitrice Richardson case not bungled?

mitrice.final.jpg In the September issue of Los Angeles magazine, Mike Kessler reconstructs the sheriff's and coroner's departments mishandling of Mitrice Richardson's disappearance and the subsequent investigation into her death.

Bratton and L.A. crime the talk of the town in London

bratton-cropped.jpg Lots of stories this weekend about former LAPD chief William Bratton and the political squabbles that have formed around him since the prime minister over there, David Cameron, suggested he would like Bratton to lead the London police.

Beverly Hills cops blow up screenwriter's laptop, script

Police investigating a reported suspicious package at a talent agency office on Rodeo Drive found — and blew up — a briefcase.
bratton-cropped.jpg The Home Secretary and Mayor of London nixed the idea, says The Telegraph.
He calls the arrest "regrettable," but also defends the decision to bring in Ramirez.
There never was any physical evidence linking Giovanni Ramirez to Dodger Stadium or the beating of Giants fan Bryan Stow, just weak eyewitness IDs, says an L.A. Times story. Then...

Two Inland Empire men charged in Stow beating

Prosecutors today charged two Rialto fathers, Louie Sanchez, 29, and Marvin Norwood, 30, with felony mayhem, assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and battery with serious bodily injury in connection with the opening day attack on Giants fan Bryan Stow at Dodger Stadium.

New Dodger Stadium suspects arrested, parolee exonerated

The L.A. Times story saying Giovanni Ramirez is off the hook in the Bryan Stow beating is attributed to an unnamed law enforcement source

Bershon leaving as LAPD inspector general

Nicole Bershon, head of the Los Angeles Police Department's watchdog agency just since May 2010, said today she will depart soon to become a Superior Court commissioner

LAT sources: bloody jersey not linked to Bryan Stow

The L.A. Times has been reporting all weekend that anonymous "law enforcement sources" are contradicting NBC 4's report that blood stains on a Dodgers jersey match Bryan Stow's blood.

LAPD's Mary Grady leaves the force

Today was the last day for longtime Los Angeles Police Department media relations spokeswoman Mary Grady.

How about red-light paint ball guns?

left-turn-1955.jpg KPCC's John Rabe seems a little perturbed that the police commission has overruled the LAPD staff and voted to discontinue the red-light cameras that spew out dubious tickets at 32 intersections around Los Angeles. It's moire about L.A. drivers though.

Police commission votes to turn off red light cameras

The Los Angeles Police Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to reject a new contract the LAPD wants with the firm that runs the city's 32 red light cameras.

U.S. Attorney op-eds for the first time

Andre Birotte, Jr., the United States Attorney for the Los Angeles district, made the first op-ed piece of his term about the importance of respecting civil liberties in the fight against terrorism.
garton-bike.jpg Andrew Garton, 44, a seven-year veteran of the Hawthorne Police Department, was escorting the procession for Manhattan Beach officer Mark Vasquez when his motorcycle was involved in a crash with another officer.

Case against Stow suspect needs more time

Authorities are using a parole hold to keep Giovanni Ramirez in custody, without criminal charges, while the police investigation continues.

The 11 C's that hook the news media

Capt._Mike_Parker._cropped_bigger.jpg Capt. Mike Parker, the public information officer for the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, boils down what reporters want to eleven elements.

Bin Laden's journal mentions Los Angeles as a target

The snippets reported in the media sound more like ideological encouragement than operational orders, but the mention of Los Angeles and other cities came in the context of calls by Osama bin Laden to kill as many Americans as possible.

City parking officers targeting media cars

park-at-joes.jpg About 600 photographers, reporters and others pay $100 a year for a permit that is supposed to allow them to park at expired meters and in preferential parking zones while covering news

LA Observed on KCRW: Sheriff Baca

Sheriff Lee Baca is becoming one of the more interesting local elected officials, with his leading role in the defense of law-abiding American muslims and his advocacy of education programs for his jail inmates.

Off-duty LAPD officer killed in one-car freeway crash

Jose Diance-Cruz, 23, of the Southwest station was thrown from his truck after hitting the guardrail on the eastbound Ventura Freeway at Van Nuys Boulevard.

Baca takes his Islam friendship tour on the road

Sheriff Lee Baca might be the only top law enforcement official to read and quote the Koran.

Dodger Stadium atmosphere a big media event *

mav-dodgers-4811.jpg It's confirmation, if you needed any, that the beating of a Giants fan and the spreading perception of a violent tone at the stadium is a big issue that City Hall and the Dodgers hope to contain.

Dodgers hire Bratton as security consultant *

bratton-cropped.jpg It's hard to know whether ex-LAPD chief William Bratton and Kroll, where he is chairman, will be actual security advisers or they are there as Frank McCourt's latest in a series of image consultants.

LAPD officer shot in Sylmar, in surgery

Steve Jenkins is in surgery in "very guarded" condition after being shot in the face on Dronfield Avenue, LAPD chief Charlie Beck announced.

Appreciating the art of the LAPD report

ellen-collett.jpg Author Ellen Collett knows a well-written LAPD incident report when she sees one.

Baca speaks up for Muslims at Congress hearing *

Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca has let Congress know before that he doesn't cotton to broad-brush slams on the Muslim community. He was back at it today, telling the panel...

From the vault: Greenberg on Rodney King

qqRodneyKing.jpg Steve Greenberg, LA Observed's editorial cartoonist, penned this cartoon for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer after the Rodney King beating.

Citizen photojournalism after Rodney King, Dallas and Neda *

Upon the 20th anniversary of the Rodney King beating by LAPD officers in 1991, media analyst Dan Gilmoor looks at how photojournalism has changed since the video by George Holliday went viral.

Ruben Salazar files to be opened a little *

salazarstamp.jpg Mistakes were made by deputies at the East Los Angeles riot in 1970 at which newsman Ruben Salazar was killed, but there's no surviving evidence that Salazar was targeted, says a report by the sheriff department's Office of Independent Review.

More Mitrice Richardson remains found in Malibu hills

It seems safe to say that nothing about the Mitrice Richardson investigation will go into the how-to training manuals.

Full-court press on AEG's stadium

Pardon my mixed sports metaphors. After this morning's pep rally for the Downtown NFL football stadium, Mayor Villaraigosa announced the members of a "blue ribbon commission" to evaluate the proposal...

El Camino High shooting all a hoax by the 'wounded' cop *

Last week's lockdown of Woodland Hills schools, fear felt by students and parents, and massive dragnet for a gunman that disrupted entire Valley neighborhoods — all the result of a dishonest LAUSD police officer, LAPD chief Charlie Beck said tonight.

CHP officer charged with killing her husband

Officer Tomiekia Johnson, 31, originally told police she shot her husband two years ago because he was abusive.

Breaking: Sheriff's deputy shot on Eastside

A Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputy was shot in the cheek Tuesday night in East Los Angeles. The gunman was killed.

F. Lee Bailey makes case that O.J. Simpson's not guilty

bailey-simpson.jpg Lawyer F. Lee Bailey, who's now 77, has posted a lengthy argument on his consulting firm's firm website contending that O.J. Simpson did not kill his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman in 1994.

Ex-LAPD official Gascon named San Francisco DA

gascon-chron.jpg San Francisco Police Chief George Gascón said he had no idea when he walked into Mayor Gavin Newsom's office that he would be asked to take over as District Attorney.

FBI to examine Mitrice Richardson remains

Sheriff Lee Baca says the remains collected in Malibu Canyon last year will be exhumed and sent to the FBI lab in Virginia, at the request of the family.

Yagman officially disbarred

Stephen Yagman, the civil rights lawyer who did battle with the LAPD several times before his 2007 conviction for tax evasion, money laundering and bankruptcy fraud, was formally disbarred by the State Bar Court.

Ready for $10 parking at the Arclight?

broxton-garage-labj.jpg In the real world where Angelenos live and drive, the city's sell-off of parking garages in Hollywood and Westwood would let rates triple over five years.

Kent Carter, LAPD officer was 60

Carter, a longtime specialist in labor relations for the LAPD, was off-duty when his motorcycle collided with another bike Sunday on Santiago Canyon Road in Santa Ana. He was struck by a car and died at the scene.

Sheriff's Dept. latest to bypass the media

The L.A. County Sheriff's Department is joining the trend of public agencies and elected officials publishing their own news.

Cop finds out she's a murder suspect on tape

stephani-lazarus-screengrab.jpg You don't see this every day. In a video clip provided by the L.A. Superior Court, longtime LAPD detective Stephanie Lazarus learns she is a suspect in the 1986 killing of her ex-beau's wife.

LAPD rookie caught tapping into info on gang witnesses

A rookie LAPD officer resigned after being accused of illegally accessing law enforcement information on two witnesses who testified at a gang member's murder trial.

Video of shooting casts doubt on U.S. marshal's story

Video appears to show the marshal shooting the man in the back, and the investigation has found the marshal was drinking heavily, arguing with his wife, and may have shot the man to settle a grudge.

Times responds to sheriff's watchdog

An L.A. Times editor disputes that the paper mischaracterized watchdog Michael Gennaco regarding Sheriff Lee Baca helping a donor.

Sheriff's watchdog says he was misquoted in Times story

Read the email from Michael Gennaco claiming that a Times reporter mischaracterized his position and his words.

Joshua J. Cullins, LAPD officer killed in Afghanistan

Cullins, 28, was a Marine reservist with the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment in Marja, in Afghanistan's Helmand province. He was killed Monday by a roadside bomb.

Sheriff catches up with rape kit testing backlog

The L.A. County sheriff's department, under fire since 2008 for having more than 4,000 untested rape evidence kits, says it now has sent its entire backlog of kits out for testing.

Bratton and Weiss talk about the security biz

weiss-bratton.jpg Ex-LAPD chief William Bratton is the new board chairman of Kroll, the security firm, and former Los Angeles city councilman Jack Weiss runs the L.A. office.

Street tension in Watts over police shooting

An LAPD tactical alert was in force for about an hour earlier this evening following the police shooting of a suspect in the Imperial Courts housing project in Watts.

Dick Wolf has breakfast with Los Angeles magazine

lamag-bfst-mantilini.jpg The creator of "Law and Order: Los Angeles" regaled the likes of City Council president Eric Garcetti, exiting Bon Appetit editor Barbara Fairchild and NBC correspondent Josh Mankiewicz with behind-the-scenes stories from the show.

Fox News falls for LAPD 'jetpack' story

The morning anchors at "Fox and Friends" reported today that the city of Los Angeles had ordered 10,000 space-age jetpacks for the police and fire departments — at $100,000 each. No, the broke city isn't actually spending a billion dollars so its cops can, you know, fly.

Suspect fires at cops with AK-47, is killed

No LAPD officers were hurt in this afternoon's shooting in the 1600 block of Temple Street near Union Avenue.

LA Observed on KCRW: the Westlake shooting

My KCRW column this week suggests that the late Paul Conrad, if he were still commenting on Los Angeles, would see tragedy in the Westlake police shooting, not a clash of good and bad.

Friday developments in Westlake shooting

Last weekend's fatal shooting of 37-year-old Guatemalan Manuel Jamines continues to echo in the news. LAPD officer Frank Hernandez, who shot Jamines, was accused in a civil lawsuit earlier this...

LAPD union rushes to judgment on Westlake shooting *

Police Protective League drops its usual no rush to judgment stance on this one, plus a new witness saying there was no knife and other developments.

Third night of street protests in Westlake area

Police and a few hundred protesters squared off again Wednesday night in the area of 6th Street and Union Avenue, with some objects thrown and at least one fire lit and quickly extinguished. Earlier in the evening, Chief Beck was greeted by jeers at a community meeting where he had gone to promise a full investigation into the shooting of Guatemalan day laborer Manuel Jamines.

Protesters and police clash again in Westlake area **

westlake-protest-9710neontommy.jpg A gathering of protesters massed in front of the Rampart LAPD division on 6th Street tonight to vent over the weekend killing of day laborer Manuel Jamines.

Tense day and night in the Westlake area

union6th-valdez-twitpic.jpg fter a day of protest marches, vigils and confrontations with police, the LAPD declared an illegal assembly about 10 p.m. and officers in riot gear began clearing the streets around 6th Street and Union Avenue. That's where an LAPD bicycle officer on Sunday shot and killed a day laborer identified unofficially as Manuel Jamines.

Frank McCourt gives Dodgers tix to cops

Frank McCourt brought more than himself when he accepted an award from the Los Angeles Police Protective League’s charitable Eagle & Badge Foundation.

Time to open the Ruben Salazar files, says visiting blogger

ruben-salazar-stamp.jpg Visiting blogger Frank Sotomayor, an adjunct professor at USC Annenberg, argues that it's time for Sheriff Lee Baca and other officials to end the mysteries about what happened to Ruben Salazar in East Los Angeles.

Sheriff changes mind, will examine Salazar boxes

Yesterday, Sheriff Lee Baca was refusing to let the L.A. Times see eight boxes of documents on the killing of Ruben Salazar, the former Times columnist who was the news director at KMEX when he was killed by a sheriff's tear-gas projectile fired into a bar during East L.A. protests in 1970.

Police bust up homeless camp in the Valley

tujunga-wash-camp.jpg Los Angeles police on horseback raided a long-standing homeless encampment under the 210 freeway in Big Tujunga Wash and used ropes to rip down shelters.

People want to be cops, it seems

A message from the new Twitter account of the California Highway Patrol's L.A. area division.

Bratton hearts NYC

Ex-LAPD chief Willim Bratton tells KPCC's Kitty Felde that he's enjoying his new life in the private sector.

With apologies to actual residents of South L.A....

av-headshot-twitter.JPG Mayor Villaraigosa just came back from a night on the town with LAPD Chief Charlie Beck. The mayor's twitter account chirped a report.

LAPD's new architecture, pro and con

lapd-valley-bureau.jpg Governing magazine's John Buntin surveyed the new architecturally distinct police stations the LAPD has been building this decade — and he found something missing.

Phillip Ortiz, CHP officer was 48 *

405-crash-ktla.jpg The California Highway Patrol is confirming for media that Officer Ortiz died at 5:50 p.m.

Child killed by driver fleeing LAPD pursuit *

The suspects' car struck and killed a child who appeared to be five years or under in Lake View Terrace.

Five journalists in May Day Melee get city settlements

The City Council approved settlements totaling $450,000 to Ted Garcia, then of KTLA, KCBS-KCAL camerman Carl Stein and Telemundo crew Carlos Botifoll, Fernando Mejia and Elisa Rojas.

Another officer behaving badly on video

The YouTube video poster at Discarted is something of a photographer-activist, mostly in a good way, though you could read that as troublemaker too.

LAPD clash with bike riders on video under investigation

Email from the Los Angeles Police Protective League asking the community to "refrain from a rush to judgment" usually means one thing: there's some new video or eyewitness report suggesting misconduct by an LAPD officer.

Nicole Bershon chosen new LAPD inspector general

Mayor Villaraigosa's statement commends the selection.

Beck reiterates he's for Special Order 40

Chief Charlie Beck made a point yesterday of saying the longstanding LAPD policy of not initiating contact to check on someone's legal status is good policy.

Reporter who lost a frat brother remembers another Daryl Gates

daryl-gates-lapl.jpg Let me call your attention to a new Visiting Blogger post about Daryl Gates — our second exclusive piece by longtime journalists who had extensive dealings with the late LAPD chief.

Cameron Glover, LASD deputy was 27 *

Deputy Cameron Glover of the Santa Clarita sheriff's station died tonight after an off-duty motorcycle accident on McBean Parkway. He was a four-year veteran who had been assigned to patrol duties since 2008.

Daryl Gates honored and laid to rest

daryl-gates-casket-funeral.jpg Coverage of this morning's Daryl Gates services in text, photos and video.

Gates draws a crowd

gates-casket.jpg The family of the late LAPD chief Daryl Gates received several hundred visitors on Monday after his casket was placed on display in the auditorium at the police headquarters on 1st Street.

Daryl Gates funeral: 'This is going to be huge'

simmonsstreetscene-crop.jpg Patt Morrison is stretching but only a bit when she writes that Monday's closed-casket viewing at the Police Administration Building — and Tuesday morning funeral at the cathedral — "will be the closest thing to a state funeral that Los Angeles could have."

LA Sketchbook: Daryl Gates was a rock

qqDaryl Gates.jpg

Johnston talks Gates to 'Off-Ramp'

David Cay Johnston, the ex-NYT reporter who's been getting a fair amount of attention for his Daryl Gates post here at LA Observed, talks to John Rabe on this weekend's "Off-Ramp" on KPCC.

Johnston on 'Which Way, L.A.?' tonight

David Cay Johnston's visiting blogger piece for LA Observed on Friday about his experiences covering Daryl Gates and the LAPD in the early 1980s has been getting some nice attention and attracting favorable emails. Johnston will be a guest on "Which Way, L.A.?" with Warren Olney on KCRW at 7:30 p.m.

Daryl Gates' real legacy

In a visiting blogger post for LA Observed, Pulitzer winner David Cay Johnston recalls his LAT stories that uncovered an international spying operation run by Gates that spied on L.A. leaders and political groups, infiltrated groups using sex and undercover operatives, incited violent acts and tried to intimidate reporters such as Johnston. He also writes about the seven times his car was burglarized, including in the LAPD garage, and the story that the L.A. Times wouldn't run.

Daryl F. Gates, ex-LAPD chief was 83 *

Daryl_Gates_80515143copy.jpg Gates was chief of police in Los Angeles from 1978 to 1992, his tenure ending shortly after the riots that followed the jury verdicts exonerating officers in the Rodney King...

Bratton's house finally sells

Ex-LAPD chief William Bratton's Los Feliz home, originally listed at $1.875 million, finally sold for $1.4 million.

Robert Cottle, LAPD officer killed in Afghanistan

robert-cottle.jpg Robert J. Cottle, a member of the LAPD's SWAT unit, is the first active Los Angeles police officer to be killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Cottle, 45, was a Sergeant Major with a United States Marine Corps Reserve battalion from Camp Pendleton. He was in the Marja region on Wednesday when a roadside bomb killed him and another Marine.

A mother's fear about the LAPD and autism

Betty Pleasant is best known as the colorfully opinionated Soulvine political columnist for the Wave newspapers that circulate across the southern swath of Los Angeles. This week, though, she writes as the mother of an autistic adult reacting to the police shooting of 27-year-old Steven Washington, who was unarmed and autistic.

Sheriff Baca comes to Washington, goes away mad

baca-in-dc.jpg Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca testified before the House subcommittee on Homeland Security today and, before he was done, had accused a Republican congressman of acting "un-American.

Q: How low is L.A.'s murder rate?

arts-chili.jpg A: So low that "blood-chasing local television news stations will have to import footage from other cities to uphold their reputation for practicing the nation’s worst and silliest local reporting," writes New York Times online commentator Timothy Egan in a piece that praises L.A.'s turnaround from the depths of 1992.

RFK shirt removed from evidence display

LAPD chief Charlie Beck has apologized to the Kennedy family for including items worn by the slain Senator in a Las Vegas display.

Police back off hit-and-run in Brentwood girl's death

No criminal charges are expected in the death of Julia Siegler, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Harvard-Westlake School who was struck by two cars Friday morning while crossing Sunset Boulevard.

Jacqueline Montalvo, LAPD officer was 37

Montalvo, an 11-year-veteran of the LAPD's Hollywood division, was the officer who died in an off-duty crash in Diamond Bar on Thursday.

Off-duty LAPD officer killed in crash

Her name has not yet been released. She was pronounced dead at the scene of a four-car crash in Diamond Bar.

Daryl Gates seriously ill, Chief Beck says *

Former LAPD chief Daryl F. Gates, 82, is hospitalized with a "very serious malady," Charlie Beck told the police commission today.

With Bratton gone, LAPD's McDonnell jumps to Long Beach

Jim McDonnell, a top assistant to William Bratton at the LAPD but passed over for chief, was named Wednesday to run the Long Beach Police Department. The 28-year veteran currently...

Erroll Southers replies by letter to the New York Times

erroll-southers-usc.jpg Southers' letter to the editor has a bit of a chiding tone to it.

Jack Weiss joins Bratton at new firm

jack-weiss.jpg Former City Councilman Jack Weiss will run the Los Angeles office of Altegrity Risk International, the new international investigations firm that William Bratton left the LAPD to establish.

No clues found in search for Mitrice Richardson

mitrice-booking-photo.jpg About 300 volunteers helped the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department search through the hills of Malibu Canyon on Saturday without finding any evidence that sheds light on the woman's disappearance.

Crime stats tomorrow

The annual exercise in revealing the city's crime rate is will be held at the new police headquarters.

Gang cops resisting disclosure rules

Evidence is mostly anecdotal, but the Times leads the paper with the story anyway.

Right-turn cameras raking in cash

redlightcamerasign.jpg Thirty-two Los Angeles intersections now have cameras installed to generate traffic tickets and, thus, revenue for the city and the company that runs the cameras. Contrary to the original intent,...

Birotte named U.S. Attorney

The White House just announced that Andre Birotte Jr, the inspector general of the Los Angeles Police Department, has been nominated by President Barack Obama to be the U.S. Attorney...

50 years of free holiday music

hahnsatdorothychandler.jpg That's City Councilmember Janice Hahn and former mayor James Hahn in the front row, flanking their parents at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, site of the county's free holiday concerts. This...

Body of missing OC player found

The body of 21-year-old James Wernke was found this morning near a creek bed in Fullerton. There was no immediate indication how he died. Wernke had been missing since taking...

Burbank hires a police fixer

The city of Burbank wants Debra Wong Yang, the Los Angeles police commissioner and former U.S. Attorney here, to help clean up whatever ails the Burbank Police Department. KPCC...

Samueli not guilty after all

A federal judge dismissed the guilty plea by Broadcom co-founder Henry Samueli on charges that he lied to investigators in a stock options backdating probe. AP...

No felony charges against Karabian

Lawyer and former state assemblyman Walter Karabian won't be charged by the DA over Saturday's incident in which a parking attendant was allegedly struck by Karabian's car at the USC...

Lawyer shot at home in Rolling Hills Estates

Jeffrey Tidus, an attorney with Baute & Tidus in downtown Los Angeles, died this morning of his wounds. He was found shot on the lawn in front of his home...

Heidi Androl arrested for DUI

heidiandrolapprentice.jpg The interviewer on Los Angeles Kings telecasts on Fox Sports West was stopped early Monday morning, allegedly for driving too slow on the 105 freeway. She was booked on suspicion...

Walter Karabian arrested at Coliseum

Former state assemblyman Walter Karabian was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly running over a parking attendant at the Coliseum before today's USC game. He...

LA Observed on KCRW

Today's segment, airing shortly at 4:44 p.m., talks about Phil Spector's visit to the dentist in Toluca Lake. I tie in Roman Polanski moving over to the mountain chalet in...

Kenneth Aragon, LAPD officer was 48

Officer Aragon was off-duty when his motorcycle crashed around 2:15 a.m. at Fletcher Drive and Larga Avenue, according to the L.A. Times and CBS 2. He was pronounced dead at...

Valor, Redondo Beach police dog

valorgreenleaf.jpg Redondo Beach Police officer Ken Greenleaf had to make the tough call yesterday and put down his dog. Valor, a 5-year-old black-and-gray German shepherd, had been in the hospital with...

Is Phil Spector in Toluca Lake? *

KFI's news Twitter feed says that convicted killer Phil Spector is at a dentist's office in Toluca Lake right now, escorted by prison correctional officers. Update: Yes, Spector was allowed...

Kneecapping story strikes a media chord

I guess the media liked the Jerusalem Post story we posted this morning — on a LAPD deputy chief saying the two rabbis shot here in October were "kneecapped" in...

LAPD view of Israeli organized crime

Israeli organized crime activity in Los Angeles has gotten "a little bit worse" recently, LAPD terrorism chief Michael P. Downing told the Jerusalem Post this week on a visit in...

Beck juggles the lineup again

New LAPD chief Charlie Beck sent officers in the field his latest round of promotions and reassignments tonight. Captains Blake Chow, Bob Green and Mike Moriarty make commander, Sharon Papa...

LAPD memo: Beck makes some moves

New LAPD chief Charlie Beck has made his first substantial personnel moves. "The new organization includes six Direct Reports and the renaming of two Offices. I have made several selections...

LA Sketchbook: A Beck in Brattonwood

BrattonwoodBeck.jpg Click to view larger. See more by Steve Greenberg in the LA Sketchbook archive....

Chief Beck endorses Roski stadium

New LAPD chief Charlie Beck lives in Walnut, the city that had resisted plans for an NFL stadium in nearby Industry. Walnut has made its peace with the stadium plan...

Beck sworn in as chief of police

The City Council this morning unanimously confirmed Charlie Beck as chief of the LAPD. He was then sworn in by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and received the badge from Council...

Burbank police chief opts to retire

I have no idea what is really going on at the Burbank police department, only that things seem pretty messed up. This afternoon, Chief Tim Stehr announced he would retire,...

Morning Buzz: Monday 11.9.09

Sacramento's withholding tax increase, a new hit on Nikki Finke and fare hikes at Metrolink, plus much more after the jump. From the weekend: Mark Lacter on the Toyota scandal...

Well, two mayors were there

I'm told the political chatter at Saturday night's big True Blue dinner at the new Police Administration Building — to raise about $2 million for the Police Foundation and honor...

LAO on KCRW: Optimistic about Beck

My take on the Charlie Beck selection — I hope he's the guy to finish off the old, unprofessional LAPD culture once and for all — airs at 4:44 p.m....

Morning Buzz: Thursday 11.5.09

More analysis of Charlie Beck, plus the state's big water deal, blacks and pot in Pasadena, Andrew Breitbart and more after the jump. Also see Mark Lacter's morning headlines at...

First email from Chief (to be) Beck

In the in-box, sent via the mayor's office email from "Chief Charlie Beck" with the subject line: I'm your new Chief and I want to hear from you. It's straight...

Bratton to give an interview

brattoncolbert.jpg Barbara Walters maybe? Larry King? At least Jon Stewart? No, ex-LAPD chief William Bratton is Thursday's guest with Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report....

Villaraigosa introduces Beck

beckvillaraigosaintro.jpg Mayor Villaraigosa and police chief-nominee Charlie Beck came out of Getty House at 11:06 a.m. The police commission and other invited guests are gathered in front of the residence on...

Getty House show on hold: OIS

All three live news shows on local TV — on chanels 2, 4 and 7 — are at the scene of an officer-involved shooting and LAPD standoff in South Los...

Villaraigosa tweets: it's Beck

Mayor Villaraigosa at 10:16 sent out a Twitter post saying "Meet Charlie Beck, my choice to lead the LAPD," with a link to this bio. The Rev. Carr connection: Villaraigosa's...

Who is Charlie Beck? *

beckfilegrab.jpg KPCC News, KNBC and ABC7 have joined the L.A. Times in reporting they confirmed that Mayor Villaraigosa will name deputy chief Charlie Beck to run the LAPD. Beck was rumored...

LA Sketchbook: White smoke spotted

ChiefSmoke.jpg More by Steve Greenberg...

Doctor guilty in bike rage case

Dr. Christopher Thompson was just convicted of assault with a deadly weapon, mayhem and other charges for stopping abruptly and causing injuries to bicyclists he had just passed on Mandeville...

Melody's parents come to school

melodyrossballoons.jpg Channel 5's Lynette Romero had a report at the top of the hour from Wilson High School in Long Beach, where the distraught parents of 16-year-old Melody Ross spoke to...

Other weekend stuff

Clearing the decks for the new week: USC president Steven Sample announced that he would step down in August, after 19 years. Honors student Melody Ross, 16, was shot and...

No charges in LAPD's May Day melee

District Attorney Steve Cooley's office announced today there was insufficient evidence of illegal actions by cops and commanders — merely "questionable tactics" — in the 2007 rampage by police in...

New blogger has advice for next chief

Former City Councilman Jack Weiss is the latest blogger finding a home on the Jewish Journal website. (There are 25 others.) His first (I think) post recalls when Gene Bartow...

Jewish schools, synagogues alerted *

The Los Angeles Police Department has issued an alert to all Jewish day schools and synagogues in the wake of this morning's attack in North Hollywood. The Jewish Journal has...

2 shot at Valley synagogue *

Police are investigating this morning's shooting at Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic synagogue on Sylvan Street in North Hollywood as a hate crime. Two Jewish men were shot inside the synagogue...

LA Sketchbook: Hail to the Chief

qqxsgBratton farewell.jpg More by Steve Greenberg...

Morning Buzz: Tuesday 10.27.09

Pretty shocking numbers in the nationwide crackdown on child prostitution, Hollywood restaurateur booked in death of fetus, new political endorsements and Anderson Cooper's ratings in the tank — plus much...

LAPD's anti-death penalty writer

Sunil Dutta has been promoted to LAPD lieutenant since we last heard about his writing and opposition to capital punishment. He has an opinion piece this weekend in the Ventura...

Details of Polanski's 1977 rape

samantha_geimernydn.jpg Sunday's L.A. Times carries a story by staffer Joe Mozingo going back over the evidence that Roman Polanski drugged and raped 13-year-old Samantha Gailey in 1977. The most detailed description...

Mitrice Richardson possibly sighted

mitricerichardson.jpg Mitrice Richardson is the South L.A. substitute teacher who has been listed as missing since leaving the sheriff's station on the Valley side of Malibu Canyon on Sept. 17, following...

LA Observed on KCRW: Harvey Levin

harveylevinmug.jpg In today's radio commentary I argue we should all care about embarrassed cops obtaining the phone records of TMZ's Harvey Levin. The segment airs — as every Friday — at...

Anita Busch attackers plead out

anitabusch.jpg Jailed private eye Anthony Pellicano and his sidekick, Alexander Proctor, pleaded no contest today in that 2002 threat on reporter Anita Busch, who they thought was working on a story...

Levin takes to the radio

Following his toss-down of the gauntlet last night (reported first at LAO, I feel like saying), TMZ boss Harvey Levin guests tonight on "Which Way, L.A.?" to talk about the...

Morning Buzz: Tuesday 10.20.09

Blogger offers three finalists for LAPD chief, Polanski staying put and more. After the jump....

Harvey Levin to sheriff: Fight's on

Venting in depth for the first time about official prying into his personal phone records, TMZ editor Harvey Levin tonight called it an illegal abuse of power — "a brutal...

Caruso: Don't stop LAPD hiring

delariosart.jpg Rick Caruso, president of the Los Angeles Police Commission when William Bratton was hired to run the LAPD, argues in a Visiting Blogger post at LA Observed that now is...

Rutten to Bratton: button it up

Times op-ed columnist Tim Rutten wants LAPD chief William Bratton to stop offering his departing wisdom about the way Los Angeles works. From today's column: The flaw in Bratton's reform...

Friday desk clearing

The real reason David Hockney relocated from Los Angeles to Yorkshire is that the U.S. wouldn't allow his partner back into the country, Tyler Green says in chiding the...

More LAPD not so confidential *

lapdrecordsoutside.jpg Looks like the Police Protective League is going to meter out these pictures a little at a time.* Still, their point is valid: should LAPD confidential records really be stored...

Daily Journal piece got Rittenband wrong

Laurence Rittenband was the Superior Court judge who handled the original Roman Polanski case, and if the recent documentary is correct, was going to undo a plea deal with Polanski....

LAO Op-Ed: Boy Scouts & the LAPD

Police commissioner Robert Saltzman says the board is under pressure to let the Boy Scouts continue to run the LAPD's Explorer program, despite the group's violation of the city's policy...

What Bratton will really miss about L.A.

langersschall.jpg The departing police chief rates at least one thing about Los Angeles higher than New York. After the jump....

L.A. not so confidential

lapdfileslappl.jpg The Los Angeles Police Protective League says these boxes stacked near the employee entrance of the LAPD's Northeast Station are confidential personnel complaints against officers, "including names, serial numbers and...

Pols reach accord over LAPD size

Sounds like a compromise to me: City council president Eric Garecetti says there are eight votes to keep hiring enough recruits to match attrition from the LAPD, and Mayor Villaraigosa...

Adelman won't face charges

Andrew Adelman, the former general manager of the city's Department of Building and Safety who was accused of raping a woman he met in a bar, won't be prosecuted, DA...

Spying on TMZ's phone calls

Did the Los Angeles County sheriff's department break the law by obtaining and poring over the phone records of TMZ editor Harvey Levin, looking for evidence that a deputy leaked...

Bratton leaving on up note

Los Angeles magazine hosted one of its periodic breakfast gatherings with newsmakers this morning at The Foundry on Melrose, with LAPD chief William Bratton invited to give an exit interview...

3 LAPD cops charged with perjury

Officers Richard Amio, Evan Samuel and Manuel Ortiz were accused by the DA's office of lying about evidence that led to the arrest of a drug suspect in Hollywood in...

Freeze on police hiring?

Mayor Villaraigosa's most non-negotiable agenda has been his push to hire 1,000 more LAPD officers, even as crime rates fall. The City Council has been pushing back, a little, and...

Polanski filmmaker to DA: huh?

Marina Zenovich, who made the documentary about fugitive director Roman Polanski, says she's pretty surprised to hear former assistant DA David Wells claim now that he lied in the film....

USC hit-and-run victim's alcohol level

When USC freshman Adrianna Bachan was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver at 3 a.m. last spring, the 18-year-old had a high level of alcohol in her system, according...

Asst. DA says he lied in Polanski film

This could change some of the legal maneuvering in the Roman Polanski case. Retired prosecutor David Wells says now that he lied when he talks in the 2008 documentary, "Roman...

AP's chatter on Polanski makes web

polanskigrab.jpg This is kind of amusing. Yahoo's pick-up from Associated Press on the Roman Polanski arrest in Switzerland seemed for awhile this morning to include some not-for-public-consumption, reporter-editor go-between. "no surprise,...

Polanski arrested after DA issues warrant

Director Roman Polanski was arrested on Saturday as he arrived at the Zurich airport to receive an award at the Zurich Film Festival. Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley's office...

Susan Atkins dies in prison

susanatkinslapd.jpg Atkins, 61, becomes the first of the Charles Manson followers on life sentences to die while in California prisons. She died Thursday night as the longest-serving female inmate in the...

Joe Francis cops a plea

Joe Francis, the legally challenged "Girls Gone Wild" impresario, accepted a plea offer from the feds today to avoid more jail time over back taxes. From his statement, via flack:...

Memorial to LAPD officers arrives

lapdmemorialtruck.jpg Gary Leonard read about the approaching truck on LA Observed and headed out to take pictures of the arrival for the Downtown News. The truck from Kansas City rolled through...

LAPD memorial arrives Tuesday

Motor officers plan to meet the truck from Kansas City when it reaches Rosemead Boulevard on I-10 at 10:30 on Tuesday. The bikes will escort the truck to a mounting...

Lisker won't be retried

Prosecutors still insist that Bruce Lisker probably killed his mother, but the DA's office says a new trial is problematic given the passage of time. Lisker's conviction was overturned by...

LAPD memorial headed our way

lapdmemorial.JPG On Friday in Kansas City, a memorial to fallen Los Angeles police officers was loaded onto a trailer for the trip west. Kansas City Police officers escorted the truck to...

Danny Pang dies

Pang is the Newport Beach financier accused by federal regulators of a massive fraud in which millions of dollars were re-directed for his personal use. He had been taken from...

Cops tagged in Rihanna leak

Two LAPD officers have been placed on paid leave as investigators figure out how a photo showing the singer's battered face wound up on TMZ. Both cops have been “assigned...

Here's the 'Politics of Culture' link

OK I'm biased, but I thought we had a fun 30 minutes with authors Richard Rayner and John Buntin talking about Los Angeles' dark and storied past. Here's the audio...

Inside the new LAPD building

lapdhqtour.jpg A media group was escorted Thursday through the new Los Angeles Police Department headquarters across Spring Street from the L.A. Times building. The new HQ, as yet unnamed, opens in...

Firefighters hold moment of silence

fftribute9409.jpg At the morning shift change at the Hansen Dam command post, more than 1,000 firefighters paused to remember Capt. Tedmund Hall and Arnaldo Quinones, the County Fire veterans who died...

Jaycee's story

Register reporter Greg Hardesty got through to the aunt of kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard and gets a bunch of exclusive details about the family reunion after 18 years....

Susan Atkins parole hearing today

The former Charles Manson follower who murdered actress Sharon Tate in Benedict Canyon 40 years ago is reportedly dying of brain cancer and 85% paralyzed. Supporters want her to be...

Has Bratton changed LAPD culture?

That is the question explored by journalist John Buntin in a new piece for Governing magazine. Buntin comes at the subject with extensive background: he's the author of a new...

Dave Laut, Olympic medalist, slain

Dave Laut, the athletic director at Hueneme High School, was found shot to death last night in the yard of his Oxnard home. He was 52. Laut, a UCLA graduate,...

Jasmine Fiore's car found in WeHo

The murder victim's missing Mercedes was recovered in the parking lot of the Trader Joe's on Santa Monica, according to law enforcement sources cited by the L.A. Times....

Berkow back in the news

Michael Berkow, the former head of LAPD's internal affairs unit, has resigned as chief of police in Savannah, GA to join a division of the company that recently hired LAPD...

Chris Brown's attack on Rihanna

TMZ has the blow-by-blow, so to speak, of Rihanna's awful night in Hancock Park. If you didn't think Chris Brown had a violence problem before, you will after reading it....

TMZ ID's blonde in Jenkins case

TMZ says the manager of the motel in Canada where suspected killer Ryan Jenkins hanged himself identified Jenkins' former fiancee as the woman who dropped him off and paid for...

Michael Jackson had lethal drug levels *

The coroner found a potentially lethal amount of the anesthetic propofol in Michael Jackson's body, according to a search warrant affidavit unsealed today in Houston. The L.A. Times has a...

Ryan Jenkins found dead in Canada

The suspected killer of model Jasmine Fiore, Jenkins' ex-wife, apparently hanged himself in a motel room in Hope, British Columbia. CNN, LAT...

Downtown's illegal animal trade

bunniesdowntown.jpg While crackdowns on counterfeit clothes and DVDs get more attention, Ed Fuentes reports at Blogdowntown that "the Fashion District's illegal animal trade continues unabated." The photo is by Fuentes. According...

Murder just another chance to say 'naked' *

knbcgrab81909.jpg Channel 4's new website is a real piece of work. The lead story up now is about model Jasmine Fiore being killed and left in a dumpster. Look how they...

Red tape in Malibu

For want of a permit that officially is easy to get but that nobody seems to know how to issue, Veronique de Turenne has three parking tickets — and a...

Squeaky Fromme out of prison

squeakytime.jpg Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme is the woman who pointed a gun at President Gerald Ford in Sacramento in 1975. Before that, she was the Charles Manson follower who served as the...

Taser time

tasertime.jpg Photojournalist Jonathan Alcorn captured the conclusive moment when the suspect was shot with a Taser (or Taser-like) charge, bringing to a close today's lengthy standoff outside the Westwood federal building....

City official under investigation in assault *

KFI's Eric Leonard is reporting online that Andrew Adelman, the general manager of the city's Department of Building and Safety, is being investigated by the LAPD as "the prime suspect"...

Reading and writing about Lily Burk

LA Observed contributor Nancy Rommelmann, at her blog up in Portland, steps back and considers the murder of 17-year-old Lily Burk, the way she and others have written about it,...

Bruce Lisker conviction overturned

Twenty five years after he was arrested as a 17-year-old for killing his mother in Sherman Oaks, Lisker must be retried or set free. The judge based her findings on...

Bratton doesn't rule out NYPD

In an interview with the New York Daily News, LAPD chief William Bratton said he would not run for elective office, but left open the possibility that he would return...

LA Sketchbook: Bratton moves on

sgPalinBratton.jpg Steve Greenberg had a nice meeting with LAPD chief William Bratton in June about the LA Sketchbook cartoon on the naming controversy over the new police headquarters. I guess Steve...

More questions than answers on Bratton *

More than three dozen journalists, nearly 20 cameras and city officials packed in the mayor's conference room for LAPD chief William Bratton's announcement that he's leaving for New York and...

Times: Bratton to leave, head security firm

Police chief William Bratton and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa have a 12:15 p.m. media availability in the mayor's office. The Los Angeles Times' Joel Rubin reports "Bratton is expected to announce...

Feds probing payments to Huizar, Tokofsky

The story in tomorrow's Los Angeles Daily Journal, by reporters Ciaran McEvoy and Greg Katz, says the investigation involves payments by Voter Improvement Program Inc. Federal authorities are investigating Los...

Dead child and a high five

trutanichhighfive.jpg A judge today threw out a lawsuit against the city by the mother of Suzie Peña, the 19-month-old toddler killed by an LAPD bullet during a 2005 SWAT action prompted...

Newsweek on LA Weekly's 'Grim Sleeper'

The news magazine's Aug. 17 print issue gives the LA Weekly and reporter Christine Pelisek big props for diligent reporting on the serial murders in Los Angeles blamed on a...

LA Observed on KCRW: Lily Burk

My commentary today talks about the murder of 17-year-old Lily Burk and the strong reaction it has evoked in the city. The piece airs at 4:44 p.m., can be heard...

Why didn't Lily call out? *

It's an unanswerable question probably, but the LA Weekly's Christine Pelisek says police are puzzled by an aspect of the Lily Burk murder. Surveillance video shows the 17-year-old walking with...

What's up with the Burbank PD?

Another lawsuit has been filed against the city of Burbank by officers (or former officers) in the city's police department. This is the second suit alone by former detective Christopher...

Lily Burk case on WWLA

This evening's Which Way, L.A.? on KCRW sets up the discussion this way: "The murder of 17-year-old Lily Burk has received saturation coverage. Does a brutal crime contain any lessons...

Parolee named in Lily Burk abduction, murder *

Police said today that they took transient Charlie Samuel into custody by 5:30 p.m. Friday on drug charges in Downtown. They now have a pretty horrific chronology of the events...

Arrest in Lily Burk killing

Police announced that a 50-year-old man named Charlie Samuel has been booked on suspicion of murder in Friday's killing of 17-year-old Lily Burk. A press conference is scheduled for 11...

Lily Burk, 17 *

The daughter of Los Angeles journalist Greg Burk and Southwestern Law adjunct professor Deborah Drooz was found slain this morning in her car near Alameda and Fourth Street downtown. A...

Glendale's first homicide of the year *

An unidentified man was shot dead in his black Lexus about 11 a.m. today in the parking lot of Allstate Insurance in Glendale. Police were searching for a man who...

Plot thickens in broker murder

That South Bay real estate broker whose body was found inside a home for sale in Westchester has the kind of checkered past that will certainly perk up the ears...

LA Sketchbook: Cloudbreak at LAPD

sgLAPD CLoudbreak.jpg News item: LAPD consent decree lifted See more in the LA Sketchbook by editorial cartoonist Steve Greenberg....

LAPD consent decree lifted

U.S. District Court Judge Gary A. Feess freed the Los Angeles Police Department from most of the federal oversight that has been in place since the Rampart corruption scandals of...

Violinist found dead

Robert Korda's body was located by LAPD detectives Sunday in the county morgue. His death is under investigation. Korda disappeared on Wednesday and his son Noah had been seeking help...

LAPD vs. NYPD, on TV

Los Angeles and New York both make great settings for police dramas on TV. But why, over the last decade or more, are most of the better ones located in...

Violinist Robert Korda is missing *

Korda, 69 and a veteran of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, has not been seen since Wednesday, the day before he was supposed to drive from home in Van Nuys to...

Jackson casket moved by LAPD, Channel 7 says

Channel 7 reported tonight that Michael Jackson's casket was removed from Staples Center after Tuesday's memorial while hidden in a SWAT van. Chief Bratton would neither confirm nor deny, saying...

Bratton puts house on the market

Hmm, selling in a down market. Let the speculation begin. The Times' Hot Property column says that LAPD Chief William Bratton and his wife Rikki Klieman are asking 1.875 million...

LAPD maps miss 40% of crimes

The L.A. Times says its comparison of LAPD crime stats to the department's online maps that are supposed to show what's going on in neighborhoods found that 40% of serious...

LAPD detective kills herself *

The Times is reporting that the unidentified detective shot herself last night after walking into the Santa Clarita sheriff's station and speaking to a deputy. She placed a box of...

American Apparel in trouble with ICE

Dov Charney's L.A. firm today was "fingered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for employing some 1,600 workers at its Los Angeles factories whose eligibility documentation is 'suspect and not...

Fox News reporter in L.A. hit by car *

"Minutes after our 10pm liveshot, FOX News Channel Correspondent Craig Boswell was the victim of a hit & run," Fox 11's Hal Eisner reported on Twitter about half an hour...

Two more weeks for LAPD order

U.S. District Judge Gary Feess today extended the consent decree under which he oversees the Los Angeles Police Department until July 15, saying he needs more time to review filings...

New politics blog *

Well, let's call it partly politics and partly law enforcement, with some union advocacy for seasoning. It's the new blog of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which posts today...

Anti-gang leader indicted

A three-year federal investigation into the Mara Salvatrucha gang's activities near Lafayette Park produced a bunch of indictments unsealed today, including that of Alex Sanchez, executive director of Homies Unidos....

Spector sent to 'sensitive needs' unit

spectorprisonmug.jpg Convicted killer Phil Spector was moved Monday to the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison at Corcoran, in the San Joaquin Valley near Fresno. It's the state's largest...

Greenberg meets the chief

bratton-and-steve.jpg After Steve Greenberg's LA Sketchbook cartoon suggested a Parker Center naming compromise last month, he heard from the LAPD headquarters that chief William Bratton would enjoy a copy. One thing...

Brown pleads guilty, avoids jail

Singer Chris Brown will have to do community labor and five years probation, stay away from Rihanna, give up a DNA sample and other steps in exchange for deal that...

LA Sketchbook: LA back in LAPD

sgLAPD-approval.jpg Steve Greenberg was inspired by today's Los Angeles Times Poll story showing higher approval ratings for the LAPD. See more by Greenberg in LA Sketchbook....

Special Order 40 upheld

A three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeal agreed with a lower court’s decision to throw out a lawsuit that argued the LAPD policy violated federal and state laws....

Feess urged to drop consent decree

Attorneys for the city of Los Angeles and the U.S. Department of Justice jointly asked U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess today to drop the requirement that the LAPD submit...

Bratton: Just a few 'knuckleheads'

LAPD chief William Bratton, speaking just now on Fox 11, said officers are trying to clear out the last groups still hanging around Downtown. He says there have been five...

Famous spot on Ventura Boulevard

News reports of a Crips gang party in Studio City on Wednesday night made me smile, if only because of the location. The stories gave the club's name as Platinum...

Phil Spector's prison mug shots

spectorprisonmugs.jpg Former music producer Phil Spector's new home is North Kern State Prison in Delano — known in prison system jargon as NKSP. His stay may be temporary, as NKSP...

LAPD cops play soccer too hard

When I played in a roller hockey league in the Valley, there was a team of deputy sheriffs that always started fights and played out of control — worst in...

Pointing finger at LAPD

The father of Sherri Rae Rasmussen, the victim of the 1986 murder that the LAPD now says was committed by one of its officers, says he told detectives repeatedly about...

LAPD detective booked: suspicion of murder

Stephanie Ilene Lazarus, 49, was arrested this morning at Parker Center. Cold case investigation into the 1986 beating death of the wife of her ex-boyfriend led to Lazarus, and her...

Susan Atkins gets a parole hearing

Coming up on 40 years since the Sharon Tate murders in Benedict Canyon, any mention of the Charles Manson family still generates a predictable surge of traffic on this website...

Mrs. Spector goes to lunch

Rachelle Spector, the wife of jailed killer Phil Spector, broke her media silence about the case over lunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel with L.A. Times celebrity justice reporter Harriet...

Britain still loves Bratton

This time, the Queen of England is preparing to honor Los Angeles Police Department chief William Bratton with the title of "commander of the most excellent order of the British...

Spector gets 19 to life, led away *

The only wall of sound Phil Spector will be hearing is the night howls of a state penitentiary. He got 15 years to life for his second degree murder conviction,...

At the Jesse James Hollywood trial

Natasha Vargas-Cooper, who is watching the murder trial of Jesse James Hollywood up in Santa Barbara for The Awl, grew up with killing victim Nick Markowitz in West Hills. The...

Police commission prez steps down

Anthony Pacheco unexpectedly announced his resignation as of July 1, saying in a letter to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa that he needs to return full-time to his law firm job. Pacheco...

Times: End LAPD consent decree

Federal court oversight of the LAPD that was agreed to in a consent decree nine years ago "has been a resounding success, and it should at last be allowed to...

'Largest gang takedown in U.S. history'

That's what the U.S. Attorney's office here is calling this morning's raids on Latino gang members allegedly responsible for violence against law enforcement and racially motivated attacks against blacks. There...

LA police honored by Obama

Officer James Veenstra, who was wounded in the Feb. 2008 SWAT raid in the Valley in which officer Randal Simmons died, was honored at the White House Tuesday along with...

Comedian Mort Sahl 'found'

Sahl, who lives in Claremont, was reported missing by his wife on Friday, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune blogged this morning. An afternoon update says that Sahl, who turns 82...

LA Sketchbook: Parker Center compromise?

qqxsgParkerCenter.jpg Steve Greenberg is the editorial cartoonist for LA Observed. View his bio and cartoon archive. Click the cartoon to see it bigger....

14 birds connected to his legs

birdsonlegtsg.jpg Two California men were indicted today on federal charges that they illegally smuggled Asian songbirds into the country. One man was stopped at LAX upon return from Vietnam and found...

Photog feels the Pang

Pangalcorn.jpg After OC money manager Danny Pang was released from federal custody in Santa Ana Wednesday and sent to home confinement on $1 million bail, he took exception to photographer Jonathan...

Chaos of the riots, 17 years ago

It was on April 29, 1992 that riots broke out at Florence and Normandie, and in the Civic Center downtown, after four white LAPD cops were acquitted in Simi Valley...

Takedown of Frank McHugh

Times staffers Jessica Garrison and Kim Christensen went big on Sunday's page one with an expose on oft-accused L.A. slumlord Frank McHugh. Money grafs: For more than 50 years, McHugh,...

Betty Pleasant takes on Daryl Gates

Wave Newspapers contributing editor Betty Pleasant got hold of a letter that ex-LAPD chief Daryl Gates wrote ripping L.A. Times reporter Joel Rubin's coverage of the William Parker naming controversy....

George Torres guilty as charged

The Numero Uno supermarket founder and president was convicted today on federal charges that include racketeering and solicitation of murder. Somewhat of a surprise to court watchers, apparently. Steven Mikulan...

USC hit-and-run suspect arrested

Josue Luna, husband of the woman charged in the hit and run death of USC student Adrianna Bachan, was arrested Friday afternoon while entering the U.S. from Mexico at the...

Pellicano's Karl Rove 'connection'

While director John McTiernan awaits a new indictment over his use of wiretapper Anthony Pellicano in a divorce case, he's pushing a new documentary that alleges the Pellicano prosecution was...

New legal term: 'spit and acquit'

dnawindow.jpg In tomorrow's Daily Journal, staff writer Don DeBenedictis writes that Orange County DA Tony Rackauckas has been dismissing felony drug charges if defendants submit their DNA samples. Upset judges and...

Spector guilty of murdering Lana Clarkson *

spectorbookingcrop.jpg The jury came back today, after nearly 30 hours of deliberation, with a second-degree murder conviction for Phil Spector. He was taken into custody pending sentencing on May 29. The...

Weekend reads

L.A. Times writer Thomas Curwen's and photographer Allen J. Schaben's series on Ana Rodarte, 3½ years in the making, has award contender all over it: "Ana Rodarte had given...

Suspect arrested in fatal USC hit-and-run

I wonder if the $235,000 reward helped? More details to come at afternoon news conference. Student Adrianna Bachan, 18, was killed in the weekend incident and Marcus Garfinkle 19, was...

Wounded LAPD officer quits department

The Hollenbeck station veteran who said he was shot in the shoulder by two men outside his home in East Los Angeles in January has left the LAPD after being...

David Lee Briggs Sr., shoeshine man was 56 *

Briggs was known around Los Angeles police headquarters at Parker Center as Dr. Dave, Minister of Leather. He shined shoes in the lobby for 21 years and on Monday he...

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,...

Madoff, Waters and more

Mark Lacter at LA Biz Observed has been following today's jailing of Bernard Madoff in New York, the New York Times story on Rep. Maxine Waters' questionable involvement with OneUnited...

Arneson goes to prison

Former LAPD Sgt. Mark Arneson was handcuffed and led out of court today to begin a 10-year federal prison sentence for his conviction as an accomplice of private investigator Anthony...

Case of the really big emerald *

A front-page story in the Wall Street Journal slipped by largely unnoticed on Saturday — who reads the Saturday Journal again? — but the yarn by Tamara Audi is a...

Kenneth Garner, LAPD deputy chief was 53

Nothing posted yet at the Los Angeles Police Department newsroom or blog, but the officers' union has issued a statement mourning the death at home this morning of South bureau...

Mary Ridgway, probation officer was 66

Celeste Fremon writes at Witness LA that Ridgway, a supervising deputy probation officer for Los Angeles County, "changedand in many cases, savedmore lives than anyone can adequately count." Ridgway died...

Zuma Dogg accused of making threat

Officers from the LAPD met mayoral candidate David "Zuma Dogg" Saltsburg at tonight's campaign forum, took him to the Wilshire station and questioned him about an accusation that he directed...

LAPD investigating alleged Rihanna photo

TMZ posted last night a photo it says shows Rihanna with bruises from the alleged attack by singer Chris Brown the night before the Grammys. It appears to be an...

Stupid criminal tricks, courthouse style

Court houses in Los Angeles County have metal detectors that screen for weapons. You know that, I know that, but apparently many people who come to court don't realize it...

News out of CityBeat *

CityBeat this week brings out-of-work classical music critic Alan Rich back into print, at the expense of freelance critic Donna Perlmutter, who wrote for CityBeat for five years (and was...

Chris Brown hints at mea culpa

In a statement this afternoon through crisis managers Sitrick & Co., performer Chris Brown doesn't mention Rihanna but does mention God: Words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened...

LAT's naming of Rihanna scrutinized

The Huffington Post says the L.A. Times was the first major media outlet to identify Rihanna as the victim of Sunday's early morning domestic violence, "despite the LAPD's refusal to...

Rihanna 'bloody and bruised,' say the tabs

TMZ reports that law enforcement sources tell the site Rihanna was found in Hancock Park with two "huge contusions" on her forehead, and a bloody lip and nose, from the...

Chris Brown booked, Rihanna out of Grammys *

Both performers were supposed to appear this afternoon at the Grammy festivities at Staples Center, but instead Brown was being booked at the LAPD's Wilshire station and Rihanna's people were...

Counterpoint on Drew Street demolition

Marc Haefele's comparison of Thursday's Drew Street demolition to something out of the Middle Ages struck a nerve in the City Attorney's office, which sent over a response: The February...

Shepard Fairey arrested in Boston

The Los Angeles artist best known now for his Obama poster was taken into custody on his way to Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art for the opening of his first...

Culver City stops for a day

Residents of Culver City got robocalls on their home phones informing them that the city would be patrolled today by Santa Monica police, while Culver City police attended services for...

Off-duty LAPD officer shot outside home

Anthony Razo, 49, was attacked as he left his home in City Terrace to play golf about 5 a.m. He is listed in serious condition with a gunshot wound to...

Sgt. Curt Massey, officer killed on freeway

The Culver City Police Department is mourning the death of Sgt. Curt Massey in this morning's wrong-way crash on the Santa Monica Freeway. He was a 17-year veteran and recipient...

Cops told not to wear helmets at protests?

Anonymous LAPD cop "Jack Dunphy" says that officers were told not to wear helmets while working the line at last Saturday's pro-Palestinian rally in Westwood — Dunphy says commanders thought...

Polanski's victim wants case to go away — again

Samantha Geimer, who was 13 when director Roman Polanski had his way with her in Jack Nicholson's hot tub back in 1977, filed a formal request today that the legal...

Life after journalism

Last year at this time, Brent Hopkins was a reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News and the guild shop steward/blogger called upon to keep the staff informed through waves...

Council aide arrested

Henry Casas, deputy chief of staff for Councilman Jose Huizar, has been arrested on suspicion of felony domestic violence. Casas, 40, was booked in Van Nuys on New Year's Eve...

Polanski wants case moved out of L.A.

Roman Polanski's lawyers argue that the director's bid to have that pesky sex with a minor case from the 1970s dismissed should be moved because the entire Los Angeles Superior...

LAPD opens emergency center over Gaza

Andrew Blankstein reports at the Times: Over the weekend, the LAPD opened its emergency operations center in the wake of Hamas rocket attacks against Israel and the Jewish state's bombing...

2008 passings: Thin blue line

Randal Simmons, LAPD SWAT "It wasn't until I saw the 10 o'clock news that I fully appreciated how many people lined Vermont and Slauson to greet the procession escorting...

Ninth body found in charred Covina home

Still no positive IDs released since the bodies were badly burned, but officials think that Bruce Pardo's ex-wife Sylvia and her parents perished in the house. Pardo had not worked...

Covina death toll at least eight

The victims of Bruce Pardo found in the Covina home he set afire include his ex-wife and her parents, who owned the home. At least two children who were shot...

Six bodies recovered in Covina 'Santa' rampage *

Bruce Pardo, 45, showed up dressed as Santa Claus at a Christmas Eve party of his estranged wife's family, opened fire with a handgun and set the house on fire....

Where is Sheriff Baca?

He's in Pakistan, of course. Baca was reported to have met with officials in Karachi yesterday on a five-day visit in the country. From The News: Sheriff Baca heads the...

LAT: Busch stuff 'neither true nor new'

California Editor David Lauter rebutted former reporter Anita Busch's comments yesterday in court tying the L.A. Times to convicted private eye Anthony Pellicano. Lauter, who emailed the response to Patterico,...

New Madoff blog: Swindler's List

The Jewish Journal, breaking new stuff on the local side of the Bernard Madoff story, is blogging developments at Swindler's List....

Anita Busch blasts LAT in court

At today's sentencing of Anthony Pellicano, former Los Angeles Times Hollywood reporter Anita Busch — she's also the ex-editor of The Hollywood Reporter — accuses the Times of collaborating with...

Joseph Sanders, CHP officer was 29

Officer Sanders was killed this morning on the eastbound 60 Freeway in Hacienda Heights when struck by a car while he was tending to a traffic accident. Sanders leaves a...

San Pedro kidnap report a hoax

That 15-year-old San Pedro High School girl who reported two men tried to drag her into a truck [see Morning Buzz] has admitted making up the story. "She said she...

Kavanaugh's day in court delayed, like his check

Hollywood financier Ryan Kavanaugh's arraignment on fresh DUI and probation violation charges has been put over to Jan. 22. By then, Sheriff Lee Baca's charity hopes that Kavanaugh makes good...

Good line

When Danish fugitive Stein Bagger walked into the LAPD's Central Area station on Saturday to turn himself in, the cops were skeptical. Officer Jack Richter, in the LAT: "We've had...

Ryan Kavanaugh arrested again

The Hollywood financier was arrested again for drunk driving, speeding and driving on a suspended license — back in October, while still on probation for an earlier conviction, the New...

O.J. Simpson headed to Nevada prison

I think the actual range is 9 to 15 years, but it's kind of fun scanning the first page of Google News headlines: Simpson gets 18 years in prison for...

Son of Fabian Nuez arrested in killing

Esteban Armando Nuez, the 19-year-old son of the former Assembly Speaker, was arrested Tuesday in connection with the stabbing death of a 22-year-old college student at a party in San...

Tyrone Freeman banned for life by SEIU

SEIU President Andy Stern announced today that Tyrone Freeman, the politically connected head of the union's United Long-Term Care Workers local, would be banned for life and asked to repay...

Terry Christensen gets three years

It's not often you see Hollywood lawyers the prominence of Terry Christensen go to federal prison. He was sentenced today to three years, plus a $250,000 fine, for conspiring with...

Scientology guard kills man with sword

Police say a security guard at the Scientology Celebrity Centre International in Hollywood shot and killed a man who brandished a sword in the parking lot about noon today. LAPD...

New prez at Police Protective League

Sergeant Paul M. Weber takes over as president of the LAPD officers' union. He has been a VP and replaces Tim Sands, who will retire from the department next month...

No deal yet on May Day Melee

Tomorrow's Daily Journal will report that the City Council did not approve the proposed settlement of legal claims for victims of the LAPD's misbehavior in MacArthur Park last year. The...

May Day Melee could cost city $10 million

Actually, $10 million is just the reported amount of the settlement between victims and the city of Los Angeles that is being brought today to the City Council, says the...

Sign of the (L.A.) Times: Homicide Report

The depleted Los Angeles Times has suspended publication of the Homicide Report, which at this time last year was one of the breakout hits among the paper's blogs. Its success...

Mormon temple in Westwood closed due to white powder

First more than a thousand anti-Prop 8 protesters gathered at the Mormon temple in Westwood. Now, after employees reported receiving an envelope filled with white powder, the temple has been...

Celeb designer Anand Jon: guilty of rape

Anand Jon, the Indian-born fashion designer who has dressed celebutante Paris Hilton and singer Janet Jackson (big photo gallery on his still-live web site) faced a jury on multiple charges...

Arrested Prop. 8 protester blogs about it

The two anti-Proposition 8 demonstrators arrested in Westwood yesterday are employees of Buzznet.com. One of them, Mark Oshiro, blogs about his experience while in LAPD custody and his befuddlement at...

Six parts later, it's still 1959

I enjoy Los Angeles history as much as the next guy, and probably more than the guy beside him. Yet I haven't felt motivated to read the L.A. Times' seven-part...

They love Bratton in London (again)

LAPD chief William Bratton has given another interview across the pond — to ITV's London Tonight program (pardon me, programme) — and his remarks about British justice caught the eye...

Bratton tapes robocall for Obama

LAPD chief William Bratton's phone message for Barack Obama "challenged Republican John McCain's 'record on policing issues and extolled Obama's,'" he told the L.A. Times. Bratton said he got involved...

The Mongols and their weapons

A slide show">slide show at the LA Weekly website displays the weapons, bikes and gang colors seized from the Mongols motorcycle gang after a multi-year investigation by several agencies. This...

Bratton: Osama's October surprise?

LAPD chief William Bratton co-authored an Op-Ed piece in the New York Daily News that posits Osama Bin Laden wants to influence the Nov. 4 election: "If history is any...

LAPD behind on processing 7,000 rape kits

Controller Laura Chick calls her audit finding a backlog of 7,000 unprocessed rape evidence kits "one of the most startling and important audits " since she was elected seven years...

Hermosa PD's Wolcott retires for real

In April of 2007, a release arrived from the Hermosa Beach Police Department announcing that longtime spokesman Paul Wolcott was leaving his post. He didn't, until now. Wolcott has an...

LAPD officer booked for soliciting sex

Russell Mecano, 40 and an eight-year-veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, was taken into custody at the West L.A. station. From the LAT's Richard Winton: Two law enforcement sources...

Leland Wong gets 5 years

The former City Hall power broker and commissioner was sentenced today to state prison in connection with the pay-to-play scandal during the Jim Hahn years. In particular, Wong carried water...

Campus crime beat

The City Council today approved $50,000 rewards for information on sexual assaults against two women near USC in September. And UCLA police announced the arrest of three suspects in a...

Bratton: 'I keep my options open' *

The Sun newspaper in the U.K. continues to call LAPD chief William Bratton "a leading contender to replace ousted Sir Ian Blair as Londons Metropolitan Police Commissioner." In a story...

Bratton's excellent London adventure

LAPD chief William Bratton attended the London tabloid The Sun's "Broken Britain summit" on crime last week (in conjunction with the Conservative Party), got some attention from the papers, and...

O.J.'s number finally retired

O.J. Simpson was convicted tonight in Las Vegas of all charges — kidnapping, robbery, assault, 12 charges in all. Simpson was handcuffed and taken immediately into custody. Life in prison...

Deputy's attack worse than first reported

After being told that his wife was leaving him for a younger man, Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy Robert McClain sexually tortured her and her lover for hours and left...

Abbot Kinney killing gang inspired?

Tibby Rothman's Venice Paper picks up street talk that the murder of a young man Sunday night after the Abbot Kinney Festival was a targeted gang hit. Just talk at...

Bell Gardens gets interesting again

The city council of Bell Gardens has hired itself a new city manager — and it's Steve Simonian, the former chief of investigations for District Attorney Steve Cooley. What's intriguing...

Blatchford does the Mexican Mafia

Fox 11 crime reporter Chris Blatchford is out with "The Black Hand," which Dominick Dunne calls in a blurb, "A gripping, powerful, chilling inside look at a criminal organization that...

Hmm, did they leave anything out?

Why yes, I believe they did. Terry Christensen's law firm sent out a press release today (via Sitrick & Co.) that says he'll be "withdrawing" from the practice of law...

Officer Desha funeral will be Thursday *

Signs have begun going up in Downtown advising commuters. A funeral procession for Officer Spree Desha will begin at Parker Center at 8:45 am Thursday and move to the Cathedral...

LAPD wants to discipline May Day officers *

The LAPD has apparently decided to convene Board of Rights hearings for some of the officers who abused media and protesters in MacArthur Park on May 1, 2007. I know...

Officer Spree Desha, 35, dies in Metrolink train *

The Los Angeles Police Department officer who died in the Chatsworth train collision was identified by the LAPD as Spree Desha, a seven-year veteran who worked in the Office of...

LAPD officer among the dead *

Channel 7 says an unidentified Los Angeles Police Department officer has been confirmed dead in the Chatsworth Metrolink crash. Updates from media monitoring: * Rescue workers have been pulled out...

Hats off to Linda Deutsch

Poor Linda Deutsch. AP's legendary Los Angeles-based trial reporter is back on the O.J. Simpson beat. She is in Las Vegas for the start of Simpson's latest criminal trial —...

LAist's editor makes the calls

A couple of weeks back I was on a blogging panel with LAist editor Zach Behrens and came to appreciate that he makes more phone calls than most bloggers, often...

Abramoff gets four more years

It's a long way from Beverly Hills High for disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. LAT story. Previously: Backhanded compliment...

Stories on Christensen conviction

As Mark picked up earlier at LA Biz Observed, prominent lawyer Terry Christensen and former private eye Anthony Pellicano were convicted today of conspiring to illegally wiretap the ex-wife of...

Saying the robbers were black

The L.A. Times says it omitted race from the descriptions of three Melrose-area serial robbers by mistake. From the Reader's Representative blog: At least a dozen readers sent a question...

Another Melrose robbery

For the eighth time in two weeks, a robber has hit the stretch of Melrose Avenue between Fairfax and La Brea. The latest, at 5:30 pm on Wednesday, occurred just...

Metrolink killer gets life terms

Juan Alvarez is sentenced to eleven life terms in the Atwater Village Metrolink crash that killed eleven in 2005. LAT...

Video of theft by possibly fake DWP worker

The perp is caught on tape at Metblogs....

Najee Ali gets four years in prison

The South L.A. activist pleaded guilty to attempting to bribe a witness in a criminal case involving his daughter, Jasmin Eskew. Ali's sentence was enhanced because of a 1992 robbery...

First person account of getting shot

A hockey fan who posts at LetsGoKings.com as riseandfall9 describes being shot outside a club in Hollywood and having to call 911 himself even though a half-dozen other people looked...

Deputy Escalante funeral

The funeral for murdered Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy Juan Escalante will be held at 9 am downtown at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Burial follows at...

Big FBI training drill at UCLA

Teams from the FBI, LAPD and other agencies are up on the residence hill at UCLA this morning for a large-scale training drill set in Rieber Hall, an empty dorm....

Voice of 'Police Call' dies

Back in 2005 we told you about Gene Hughes, creator of the bible of police scanner frequencies. He also volunteered at the desk at the LAPD's Wilshire division. His real...

Juan Escalante, off-duty sheriff's deputy killed

Juan Abel Escalante, a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy assigned to the Men's Central Jail, was shot and killed outside his Cypress Park home as he left for work about...

Leland Wong convicted on most counts

The former City Hall power player was convicted on 14 counts of bribery, perjury and other charges stemming from influence peddling while he was a commissioner in the Jim Hahn...

Homicide blog to book

Jill Leovy is turning her year as the Los Angeles Times' homicide blogger into a book for Spiegel & Grau. "The Homicide Report: Black Men, Murder and Americas Unseen Catastrophe"...

DA Cooley opposes Atkins release

District Attorney Steve Cooley sent a letter to the chairman of the state Board of Parole Hearings strongly opposing the compassionate release from prison of Manson family killer Susan Atkins....

Brentwood driver charged in bike rage

Christopher Thomas Thompson, who turns 59 today, has been charged with two felony counts each of reckless driving causing injury, battery with serious bodily injury and the special allegation of...

Troy Edwards talks about those 'massages'

Former deputy mayor (to Hahn) Troy Edwards testified under immunity yesterday at the Leland Wong trial and detailed the gift of sexual favors linked to Wong at a Bonaventure Hotel...

LAPD wants to discipline 19 in May Day melee

Seventeen officers and two sergeants face department charges resulting from the mishandling of the May Day protest in MacArthur Park in 2007. No details were given, except that Cmdr. Rick...

DNA helps solve burglaries

The LAPD says that in a study it ran in the Valley, DNA samples collected at the scene of residential and commercial burglaries helped identify a suspect in 45 percent...

P.M. shorts: Chick takes on Delgadillo

City Controller Laura Chick wants to audit the City Attorneys Workers Compensation Program. City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo declined her request to turn over records, so she is using the subpoena...

Inglewood mayor might face charges

Roosevelt Dorn is expected to be charged in connection with a low-income housing loan he reportedly received from the city of Inglewood, according to the Los Angeles Wave and contributing...

Samueli suspended by NHL

Anaheim Ducks co-owner Henry Samueli was suspended indefinitely by the National Hockey League after the co-founder of Broadcom pleaded guilty to one count of lying to the U.S. Securities and...

Geneva Ellroy, 1915-1958

Today is the 50th anniversary of a story hitting the Los Angeles papers that would become iconic in local literature. On June 22, 1958, 10-year-old James Ellroy came home in...

Susan Atkins considered for release

Susan Atkins, center, did the stabbing of actress Sharon Tate during the August 1969 murders in Benedict Canyon that are popularly blamed on Charles Manson. Atkins was the killer who...

Make it 14 weekend homicides

The toll is corrected upward after late killings in Los Angeles, Inglewood and Long Beach. Most are believed to be gang related. LAT Previously: 11-murder weekend in Los Angeles County...

11-murder weekend in L.A. County

At least eleven, says the Times roundup — nine of them in the city of Los Angeles, and four of those in the Valley. Ruben Vives gives some details on...

Nicholas' indictment R-rated

Did Henry T. Nicholas III, the co-founder of Broadcom, really spike the drinks of other tech executives with ecstasy? The feds say he did that, and a bunch of other...

NPR goes deep on L.A. gangs

Mandalit del Barco of National Public Radio wraps up a four-part series on Los Angeles street gangs with a seven-minute piece on All Things Considered about the feds' decade-long fight...

Anita Busch links Pellicano and Times

In an interview with Patterico blogger Patrick Frey, the victim of the dead-fish incident that helped spur the Anthony Pellicano prosecution voices concerns about ties between the convicted private eye...

Pellicano convicted *

Verdicts are still being read, but former Hollywood private eye and muscle Anthony Pellicano has been convicted of all but one count of racketeering and conspiracy. (So much for being...

Jamiel Shaw Sr. 'on a mission...I cant stop'

NYT bureau chief Jennifer Steinhauer talks to the father of slain teenager Jamiel Shaw Jr. about the hole in his life and his crusade to amend Special Order 40: I...

100+ tires slashed in San Pedro

Vandals even got the tires on the local tow trucks, forcing delays in the Auto Club's response the next morning. Residents in several neighborhoods discovered they had all been victimized...

Jamiel Shaw killed over gang ties not race, report says

Jamiel Shaw, the high school athlete whose murder has provided a new rallying cry for the right in the immigration wars, may have been killed because of his association with...

Janice Hahn vs. Fox 11

Councilwoman Hahn responds on her blog to the Fox 11 report that sided with two cops suing the city and tied Hahn to the mother of a Grape Street gang...

Bratton responds about London

Regarding yesterday's item from the Daily Mail about LAPD Chief William Bratton advising the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, Bratton says there has been no contact between them: I have...

Bratton gets a new gig

Looks like LAPD chief William Bratton could be traveling out of the city more than ever. The mayor of London just announced that he has signed Bratton to help advise...

Kavanaugh asks for 'catch and release'

Film financier Ryan Kavanaugh's company, Relativity Media, backed Columbia Pictures Catch and Release. Today's NYT uses that connection to lead into a story about Kavanaugh's lawyer trying to use connections...

Pellicano's closing argument 'a classic'

The Huffington Post's Allison Hope Weiner means it sarcastically: Jettisoning the whole John Adams "fact is a stubborn thing" quote used by Mr. Saunders yesterday, Mr. Pellicano went with his...

L.A. crime stats still down

Counts of all major crimes are improved compared to last year — except homicide, which at 132 so far is still up 10%. From the LAPD stats: Homicide 132 119...

New guy in charge at LAPD news blog

Lt. Rick Banks introduces himself to readers as the officer in charge who manages the blog "by approving the postings and reading all of your comments and evaluating which ones...

Pellicano to judge: 'May I finish?'

Ex-private eye to the stars Anthony Pellicano told the judge at his trial that he won't be testifying after all. And the accused got a little testy when the judge...

Riot at Lancaster immigration center

Sheriff's deputies used tear gas to put down a riot that broke out Tuesday afternoon and involved 400 or so detainees at the Mira Loma immigration detention center in Lancaster,...

Darn, no Bert Fields

Looks like Hollywood fix-it lawyer Bert Fields won't be testifying in the Pellicano trial after all. Huffington Post...

Sheriff Baca: Yes, Latino gangs killing blacks

Fox 11 reporter John Schwada has posted quotes from a video where Sheriff Lee Baca tells a mostly black audience in Compton that some Latino youths are indeed killing African...

Christina Gonzalez sues LAPD

Veteran Fox 11 reporter Christina Gonzalez filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city and the police department, saying she suffered "shock and injuries to her nervous system" and "severe...

Saving LAPD crime photos

Nope, the image is not a scene from a movie. It's something better: real life. It's one in a great collection of 960,000 old LAPD crime scene shots that the...

Pellicano wrap: Bernie Weinraub too

Former New York Times Hollywood correspondent Bernard Weinraub, who had teamed with Anita Busch at one point, also took the stand today in the Anthony Pellicano trial. Allison Hope Weiner's...

Anita Busch testifies at Pellicano trial

The reporter who started it all — by being threatend via Pellicano and associates to lay off a story about Steven Seagal — took the stand this afternoon. She recounted...

Ovitz to Pellicano: 'I need to see you'

Allison Hope Weiner has more exclusive audio clips from the Anthony Pellicano case, of Michael Ovitz on the phone asking for a meeting with the felonious private investigator and Hollywood...

Special driving privileges

How many private cars, trucks and other vehicles would you guess are registered confidentially in California, able to escape parking tickets, toll road fees and those red light cameras? Would...

Zahniser's tale of car-theft woe

Times City Hall reporter David Zahniser cracks Column One for the first time with a first-person story about his 1989 Toyota Camry being stolen and recovered three times in six...

Teen gets 3 years for SWAT prank

The Washington state 19-year-old who cracked the phone system and got Orange County dispatchers to sent a SWAT team to a home in Lake Forest was sentenced to three years...

When Betty met Bill (Bratton)

Betty Pleasant, the Wave's Soulvine columnist, has been hammering away that there is a racial aspect to the gang murders sweeping South Los Angeles and the Eastside. LAPD chief Bill...

Brent A. Lovrien, LAFD firefighter was 35

The firefighter who suffered fatal injuries today in Westchester was identified this evening as Brent A. Lovrien. He was a 10-year veteran assigned to the 'A' Platoon at Fire Station...

Smoking Gun says LAT got hoaxed *

The Smoking Gun claims that the L.A. Times relied on FBI documents fabricated by con man James Sabatino for the paper's report last week that the 1994 shooting of Tupac...

They won't return to Santa Monica

A couple visiting from Colorado had their bikes stolen — and their vacation spoiled — by a "mid 30s well-dressed white couple" in Santa Monica on St. Patrick's Day. They...

State 'recalculates' Olson's prison stay

Talk about corrections. Months after finalizing Sara Jane Olson's prison release date, five days after letting her out — but two days after police groups started squawking — the California...

Sara Jane Olson out of prison

The former Kathleen Soliah was released this week from the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla after serving six years. Nabbed after two decades in hiding, she pleaded guilty in...

Santa Monica now has 2 homicides in '08

The body of Alexander Merman, 35, was found shot to death in his Montana Avenue apartment last night. Over the weekend, aspiring actress Juliana Maureen Redding, 21, was found in...

More SWAT talk

Chief Bratton gave his side of the SWAT report controversy, and talked about having women in the unit, this afternoon on "Patt Morrison" on KPCC. (Audio.) Mayor Villaraigosa was also...

'I just finished sewing up a dead boy'

The headline above is the first line of Dr. Mauricio Heilbron Jr.'s Op-Ed piece in today's Long Beach Press-Telegram. The boy is the 11-year-old who was cut down Sunday night...

Gardena councilman arrested for lewdness *

Oscar Medrano Jr., 47, was picked up by sheriff's deputies at his Gardena jewelry store on suspicion of molesting a 14-year-old girl. No charges filed as yet. Worth noting, I...

Joe Francis gets 2 dozen reporters to hear his tale

Journalists turned out at the Beverly Hilton Hotel for a press conference where the Girls Gone Wild founder again ranted about being in jail for most of a year. "We...

TMZ paid $165,000 for O.J. tape, The Smoking Gun says

That audio of O.J. Simpson hollering at sports memorabilia collectors in a Las Vegas hotel last year was worth $165,000 to TMZ.com, reports The Smoking Gun today. TMZ reportedly bought...

Where's Chuck Quackenbush?

The former California insurance commissioner, who resigned in 2000 amid corruption allegations, is now a deputy sheriff in Florida. And he just shot somebody: a domestic violence suspect with a...

Hopkins chooses LAPD over newspapers *

* Rewritten at 2:40 pm with better info Brent Hopkins, the Daily News reporter who has been keeping everybody informed about pending cuts via his blog, took the buyout and...

Brought down by his own blog *

Kazuyoshi Miura never should have posted on his blog that he would be visiting the Pacific island of Saipan. That's where U.S. immigation officers grabbed him. They were tipped by...

Buried 'treasure' dug up in the Valley

OK, more loot than treasure. But when cops followed the map scrawled by burglar Roberto Caveda and dug where the X was marked near White Oak Avenue and the Reagan...

PPL responds to Rutten

The L.A. Police Protective League took umbrage at Times columnist Tim Rutten's chiding of Mayor Villaraigosa for injecting a bit of politics into his TV time at the funeral of...

Bratton vs. Britney and the 'airheads'

At the end of his monthly visit with Patt Morrison on KPCC today, LAPD chief William Bratton pooh-poohed the need for the paparazzi law proposed by Councilman Dennis Zine. He...

Probation officer and her Crip arrested

Crystal Dillard, a Los Angeles County probation officer, and her boyfriend — a reputed Crips leader &mdash were among 23 people indicted in a Pomona-based drug ring, authorities announced today....

If the SWAT team shows up...

It could be a prank, pulled by a teenager in another state. They call 911 with a report of hostages and guns, hiding their real phone number ID. The cops...

Street scene for Randy

It wasn't until I saw the 10 o'clock news that I fully appreciated how many people lined Vermont and Slauson to greet the procession escorting the remains of Randal Simmons...

41 David

Motorcycle officers working the route of the Randy Simmons funeral procession have marked their helmets with the radio designation of his SWAT unit: 41-D. Holy Geography, Batman: Furnell Chatman, holding...

One day of homicide blog entries

These didn't occur on Valentine's Day, but they hit the Homicide Report en masse. Got my attention. Athens: Antwan Cole, a 19-year-old young black man, was shot multiple times at...

Street closings for Randal Simmons funeral

Enough members of the City Council are attending this morning's services for slain LAPD officer Randal Simmons that the regular Friday session was cancelled. TV stations have agreed on pool...

It's a boy for Kristina Ripatti

The paralyzed former LAPD officer and her husband, officer Tim Pearce, welcomed Lucas Braedon Pearce into the world yesterday. All are doing well. Ripatti was shot in South L.A. in...

Free the bacon-wrapped hot dog

In his last piece left in the can for the LA Weekly before taking his keyboard to Mexico, Daniel Hernandez uses Elizabeth Palacios's troubles with the law to tell the...

Simmons 'a professional police officer'

The LAT's Al Seib captures the memorable image of a sad day for the LAPD. It's posted on the Times website, along with a profile of slain officer Randal Simmons...

Remembering Randy Simmons

Robert Parry, a contributor to the Daily News' Friendly Fire blog, attended the SWAT team's annual social dinner at the LAPD academy ten days ago. He was struck that night...

Randal Simmons, LAPD veteran killed in action

SWAT team veteran Randal Simmons, left, was killed this morning during a shootout with a suspect in the Valley community of Winnetka. He is the first member of the Special...

Afternoon shorts

  Barack Obama and former president Bill Clinton both called in to El Cucuy de la Maana's radio show this morning.   A suspicious device ignited a fire at a home owned...

Lucky cops, unlucky burglars

Police were stumped trying to solve a string of nine residential heists pulled off inside Downtown's Orsini complex, a previously impenetrable place dubbed the Tuscan Rock by Curbed LA. Then...

Deputy says Monrovia in a 'race war'

In the midst of a spree of retaliatory shootings that has left two three dead and two other victims injured, the gang situation in the San Gabriel Valley community of...

Clash between USC students and cops

Celeste Fremon asks if the LAPD went too far in breaking up a USC block party over the weekend. There were thrown bottles, a tactical alert and Tasering: Did the...

Pellicano trial set for Feb. 27

U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer denied today's latest moves to delay the trial for celebrity private investigator Anthony Pellicano and his co-defendants. It looks more than ever like the trial...

LACMA, other museums raided by feds *

Search warrants were served on the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena's Pacific Asia Museum, the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana and the Mingei International Museum in San Diego...

O.J. gets in trouble again

Already in jail for having communication with a witness, O.J. Simpson had his bail doubled to $250,000 by an angry Las Vegas judge. Simpson is expected to post the bond....

Bratton liberally quoted in new Playboy

The February issue of Playboy, on sale starting today, has a long feature by Joe Domanick on LAPD chief William Bratton, or Supercop as the headline calls him. The piece,...

One of Spector's victims dies

Dianne Ogden, a longtime music talent coordinator, was one of four women who testified in Phil Spector's murder trial (which ended in a mistrial) that he had threatened her with...

Convict freed on OR kills wife

Curtis Bernard Harris had pleaded no contest to possessing a firearm after kidnapping his estranged wife, but was freed without bail on Dec. 21 pending his formal sentencing to 16...

'Arthur' columnist in jail

Arthur magazine's columnist Dave Reeves is serving time in Men's Central Jail over a bike accident, and his friends aren't happy about it. "A series of bizarro events and idiocies...

Suspect dead, officer safe on Sawtelle *

A serial robbery suspect was killed in an early-morning gun battle on Sawtelle Avenue in West Los Angeles. The LAPD officer involved was not hurt. * Not much of a...

LAPPL takes to the air

Unhappy with the LAPD's new financial disclosure rules for drug and gang cops, the L.A. Police Protective League has bought radio time on KFWB and KABC for an ad that...

Bank robbery detritus

Colin Brown headed to lunch at Clifton's Cafeteria today and encountered the remains of a robbery at the Bank of America on Broadway. That's red dye from the exploding pack...

Leovy winding down at 'Homicide Report' *

Jill Leovy hinted in this month's profile of her in Los Angeles that she would stop writing the Times' homicide blog in the new year. It's one of the most-read...

Answer: Watts Towers *

Question: Where will Mayor Villaraigosa and Chief Bratton drag the media to announce the 2007 crime stats? AKA, a "historic reduction in homicides and violent crime." Presser is Wednesday at...

Not your average holiday blog

John Stodder, the former Fleishman-Hillard executive whose wire fraud and conspiracy conviction is on appeal, blogs about the pressure of facing Christmas with a prison sentence hanging over your head,...

Sara Jane Moore released from prison

The mother of four who took a politically motivated shot at President Gerald Ford in San Francisco in 1975 got out of the low-security Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin this...

Arrests in Malibu fire

Five men aged 18 to 27 have been arrested in connection with the Thanksgiving weekend fire that burned 53 homes in Malibu. Authorities said the fire started as an illegal...

One of deputy's killers convicted

Remember the murder last year in Long Beach of off-duty Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Maria Cecilia Rosa? She was apparently surprised by two guys on a morning crime spree...

Commie Girl aroused by the Carona story

The District's Rebecca Schoenkopf got to know Sheriff Mike Carona in her OC Weekly days — he once sent her a bottle of wine and chocolate for her son —...

OC Sheriff Carona indicted

The Times reports, apparently alone, that Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona has been indicted on federal corruption charges. Former Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo already has pleaded guilty and is cooperating,...

One way to avoid Phil Spector II

Times reporter Peter Hong sat through the whole first act of The People vs. Phil Spector, but he found a way to leave at intermission. He's transferring to the LAT's...

LAPD blames itself, up to a point

Based on the coverage, the department's long-awaited report blames bad command decisions, gaps in officer training and a small splinter group of trouble-making demonstrators for the May Day melee in...

The Juice is loose *

Just for fun I checked Google News to see how many news websites used "the Juice is loose" in their reports on O.J. Simpson making bail. Surprisingly few: just Access...

Spector jury says it's stuck

Split is 7-5 (but we don't know which way) and the foreman tells the judge he doesn't think they can reach a verdict on Phil Spector's guilt or innocence. Judge...

McClellan held on bail

Pedophile Jack McClellan is staying behind bars, charged with violating a court order to keep away from children. He pleaded not guilty and was ordered held on $150,000 bail. He's...

KTLA didn't pay McClellan

Reporter Chip Yost simply asked if the self-professed pedophile Jack McClellan wanted to talk after his release from UCLA custody last night — and he did, says Channel 5 executive...

Pedophile McClellan nabbed at UCLA (twice) **

Admitted pedophile Jack McClellan was arrested this afternoon lurking with a camera outside the Megan E. Daly Infant Development Program at UCLA. He is to be released by the UCLA...

Homicide map much improved

The Times has added a whole bunch of filters and details to the new interactive map that goes with Jill Leovy's homicide blog. If you want to just see the...

Mother jailed in Rowland Heights murders

Man-Ling Williams, 27, was arrested late last night on suspicion of murdering her husband and two young sons in the family home. Neal Williams, 27, had been found yesterday morning...

Road trip to Spector's house *

The jury weighing Phil Spector's guilt or innocence will head out to Alhambra tomorrow to view the foyer where Lana Clarkson died. Special correspondent Linda Deutsch of the Associated Press...

Attention assignment editors

How often do TV stations get to send their nightside crime-and-mayhem crews to a community meeting of angry, frightened citizens at the Hotel Bel-Air? Never! On Thursday night, the rich...

Two LAPD officers die off duty

This has been a bad day for the Los Angeles Police Department. Detective George "Mike" Selleh of the Mission station was killed about 3:30 am while riding his motorcycle to...

Lindsay Lohan booking photo

I'm guessing she won't get any rehab endorsement deals any time soon....

Lohan arrested again

Lindsay Lohan, fresh off a second stint in rehab, was booked in Santa Monica this morning on suspicion of drunken driving and felony possession of cocaine. She also got nabbed...

High-end burglars working the hills

Two or three men dressed in black and ski masks have targeted Bel-Air, Holmby Hills and Encino in the evenings and on weekends. Their take in the past year includes...

LAPD cop arrested

Hector Villalta, a rookie officer in the West L.A. station, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of sexual assault. A female companion complained the assault occurred after they came home from...

We feel safer now

In response to the London bomb discovery, Mayor Villaraigosa wishes to reassure us all that Los Angeles is safe. His statement: Scotland Yard's immediate action to discover and dismantle a...

Over the Wall at the LAPD academy

Now that the L.A. Times has given up on the idea of a readable and substantive Sunday magazine, Angelenos have to look elsewhere for deeper, well-written feature pieces out of...

Yagman guilty on all counts

Civil rights attorney Stephen Yagman was just convicted of tax evasion, money laundering and bankruptcy fraud. The possible tab for nineteen counts: 80 months in federal prison. I'll just assume...

Still affected by May 1

LAPD Chief William Bratton was on the panel as KPCC reporter Patricia Nazario brought many in the audience to tears describing her encounter with a Metro Division officer (and his...

Michelle goes to court *

Word out of the Santa Monica courthouse is that Michelle Delgadillo came in this morning, pleaded no contest and received twelve months probation on top of paying fines. Stories forthcoming....

Bratton gets five more years

The Police Commission vote on a second term is unanimous. LAT, CBS2, DN...

Rod Bernsen cleared

A federal jury acquitted former LAPD sergeant and Fox News reporter Roderick Bernsen of inappropriate sexual contact in a cruise ship sauna. End of the case, though Bernsen said: "My...

Heiress, interrupted *

Paris Hilton was dragged out the courtroom — weeping and screaming for her mother — and remanded back to the county jail in Lynwood. Unclear to me in all the...

Paris gets another break *

Paris Hilton can phone in this morning's court appearance after all. Superior Court spokesman Allan Parachini, who has been speaking for Judge Michael Sauer, gave no reason for the change....

Paris ordered into court

You definitely get the feeling the Paris Hilton backlash is a lot bigger than Sheriff Baca gambled on — and the storm is just beginning. Judge Michael Sauer wants Hilton...

Bomb scare in Wilshire's media gulch **

Cynthia Littleton reports on her Variety blog that the LAPD has closed off Wilshire Boulevard outside the Screen Actors Guild, meaning it's also right outside Variety, E!, KNX-KFWB and the...

Paris sent home after four days

Paris Hilton was fitted with an ankle bracelet and released to house arrest after serving the four-plus days in county that are more typical for her kind of offense. The...

Paris slips in

Paris Hilton turned herself in at the Men's Central Jail downtown on Sunday night — after attending the MTV Movie Awards — and was driven to her temporary new digs...

Leland Wong charged again

The former city comissioner, already waiting trial on bribery and other charges, will be arraigned tomorrow on a new conflict of interest felony that stems from his time on the...

Mercedes-driving dognapper of Malibu

Veronique de Turenne at Here in Malibu says signs are posted everywhere about the year-old German shepherd taken by a 50-ish overweight woman with bleached blond hair who drove a...

Police union makes suggestions

The L.A. Police Protective League acknowledges "missteps" by the LAPD during the May 1 melee at MacArthur Park and yesterday proposed more and better training for offices and commanders —...

Spector trial as theater

The LA Weekly's Steven Mikulan has been covering the Phil Spector trial like a theater performance, observing the development of characters and scenes. Hey, you may as well. I just...

New crime blog

Four Daily News reporters — Jason Kandel, Brent Hopkins, Rick Coca and Rachel Uranga — are contributing items to It's a Crime, with a Valley bias to the mix. Roll...

LAX Terminal 1 evacuated *

A suspicious item in checked baggage has closed part of the airport for the second time in less than 24 hours. The LAPD says its bomb squad is en route....

Paris' reality: maybe 21 days

The L.A. County Sheriff's department now says Paris Hilton won't be treated any differently than other low-risk inmates when she turns herself in next month to begin a 45-day term....

New central commander for LAPD

It's Sergio Diaz, Assistant Commanding Officer of the Special Operations Bureau, says LA Weekly contributor Celeste Fremon at WitnessLA. She gives Diaz a strong personal endorsement: "One of the smartest,...

Drugging and deportation

Today's Daily Journal has a front page story by Sandra Hernandez reporting on the forcible drugging and botched deportation of two men by agents for the Department of Homeland Security....

'Changes in LAPD command staff' *

Mayor Villaraigosa, Chief William Bratton and police commission president John Mack have called a 3:30 news conference that the mayor's office bills as "to discuss changes in LAPD command staff"...

Paris gets 45 days

Paris Hilton will get no work release, furloughs, cushy suburban jail or electronic monitoring and instead must spend a month and a half locked up at the Century Regional Detention...

Villaraigosa returning early

With the LAPD yet again giving the city a black eye, Mayor Villaraigosa cut short his trip to Latin America and will return to Los Angeles Friday morning. He broke...

Morning Buzz: Thursday 5.3.07

It was just a few months ago that LAPD chief William Bratton argued that the department had learned its lesson and no longer should operate under a consent decree or...

Mayor on MacArthur Park

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's statement on the violence against the police, and by the police, during the May 1 rally in the park. Yesterday, across the country, we witnessed a day...

Letters to LAPD

From the Los Angeles Press Club and SPJ after the jump, and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists at the link, in response to yesterdays injuries by journalists at the...

'Roughed up, to put it mildly'

Those are reporter Christina Gonzalez's words on Fox 11 after she was shoved and laughed at by LAPD riot cops while coming to the defense of the station's camera operator,...

Scuffles at MacArthur Park

Yesterday's number of marchers was small compared to last year, perhaps 25,000 strong, and peaceful. But the day ended with police moving in to MacArthur Park after reporting that bottles...

Sheriff's deputy killed in crash *

Raul Gama, a 20-year veteran Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy on surveillance duty in North Hollywod, died this morning when a van smashed into his unmarked parked car. The...

Stupid criminal trick

The father with two kids who tried to stiff the Northridge Claim Jumper last Thursday night sure picked the wrong night at the wrong place to walk out on his...

Joe Francis a badder boy (allegedly)

City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo has charged Girls Gone Wild creator Joe Francis with one count of misdemeanor sexual battery for allegedly touching an 18-year-old woman on the breast, buttocks and...

Korean media: Cho parents try suicide (* updated)

The Los Angeles Korean community has been closely following the news out of Virginia Tech, and Radio Korea here is reporting rumors that the father and mother of Cho Seung...

Bratton formally asks to stay

LAPD chief William Bratton did the deed today and requested a second term. "It's been an honor and a privilege to serve as Los Angeles' chief of police," he said...

Lost identities

Good piece in the Sunday LAT that began as a post on Jill Leovy's Homicide Report blog: LAPD officers frequently assign the wrong name to Latino crime victims and arrestees....

CHP mini-scandal brewing

KFI News' Eric Leonard reports on his blog that at least two California Highway Patrol officers assigned to the Newhall station were placed off-duty during an internal investigation of allegations...

Racial murder: overstated

Jill Leovy asks the question in her Homicide Report blog at LATimes.com: "Are Black-vs.-Brown Racial Tensions Driving Homicide in L.A.?" Her answer is no. Take the four most violent Los...

Great chase story *

It's not quite O.J. Simpson-in-a-white Bronco, but it's still a premium-grade L.A. police chase tale. During yesterday's press conference to remember the 1997 North Hollywood police shootout, the cameras —...

First day at the sheriff's academy

Watching this YouTube video of new Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department hires reporting for training last July — assuming it's the real thing — made me wonder about claims that...

Ex-judge faints at sentencing

Former Orange County Superior Court judge Ronald C. Kline — who pleaded guilty to possessing child porn — heard that he was headed to federal prison for 27 months and...

Blog update o' the week

Nemesis of Evil posted tonight at 9:01 pm that the bomb squad was outside the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at Weyburn and Gayley in Westwood Village. Then came the...

99 homicides and counting

Jill Leovy's LAT homicide blog now takes note of 99 killings across Los Angeles county so far this year, about three a day. That's lower than last year's daily average,...

LAPD sergeant is anti-death penalty

First there was "Jack Dunphy" opining anonymously at the National Review Online. Now there is Sgt. Sunil Dutta writing in the latest issue of The Nation, under his real name,...

Death of LAPD suspect not going away

Police in riot gear arrived in force tonight at the Ramona Gardens housing project where tensions are running high over the death in custody of Mauricio Cornejo, a 31-year-old parolee...

Last Long Beach teen goes home

The now-18-year-old girl got probation and community service like the others, but did not receive sixty days of house arrest. She told the judge she was "truly saddened" by the...

L.A. gets a homicide blog

Covering murder and mayhem in Los Angeles for the Times, Jill Leovy has been driven crazy knowing that for every homicide that captures the media eye there are others that...

Four more Long Beach teens go home

Judge Gibson Lee gave four more girls convicted in the Halloween attack the same sentence as those juveniles he sent home last week: probation, 60 days house arrest, 250 hours...

What O.J. 'confessed'

The New York Times received a partial transcript of O.J. Simpson's never-televised Fox interview with Judith Regan describing how the 1994 murders of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman might have...

Anderson gets 14 years

Former USC gene therapy scientist William French Anderson, one of the world's most acclaimed scientists, received 14 years in prison today for sexually abusing the young daughter of his number...

Give me a hand, doc?

Ahmed Rashed, a third-year resident at King/Drew Medical Center, pleaded guilty to stealing a hand from a cadaver at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in Newark. That's not the...

Guilty verdicts in Long Beach (* updated)

Allegations of felony assault against nine juveniles are found to be true, not true for the youngest accused. The hate crime allegations are also found true against eight of the...

Afternoon snacks

Sheriff's deputies are "relatively sure" they have the guy who spilled mercury in the Pershing Square Metro station last month. Armando Bustamante Miranda, 27, was being held on an...

New twist in LAPD shooting

The suspect killed this morning by police was handcuffed at the time he was shot, but had managed to reach a gun in his pants and open fire on officer...

Mercury in subway being probed

Authorities now are actively looking for the man shown in surveillance video pouring or spilling liquid mercury onto the platform of the Pershing Square Metro station the night of Dec....

Devin Brown officer plays his ace

Steven Garcia, the LAPD officer who shot and killed 13-year-old suspect Devin Brown, today released the finding of the confidential Board of Rights proceeding that cleared him of wrongdoing. The...

FBI school for Hollywood

How times have changed. The FBI filled a room at the Westwood federal building yesterday with screenwriters invited in for a seminar on how to realistically portray anti-terrorist efforts. Special...

Unarmed man killed by LAPD

The suspect was reaching for his waistband as he exited a disturbance at a South Los Angeles Masonic lodge early this morning, the sergeant who shot him told investigators. After...

Downtown's big pit

Times columnist Steve Lopez isn't the only one keeping a literal eye on construction of the new LAPD headquarters on the downtown block where a civic park should be instead....

Fugitive in deputy murder back from Mexico

They got their man. Jorge Arroyo-Garcia, better known as Armando Chato Garcia, was extradited from Mexico and turned over to Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department investigators before dawn at the...

Will they be AT-sacked? (* updated)

One of the traffic engineers being arraigned today for shutting down four intersections on the day that EAA went out on strike was featured last January in a Downtown News...

Engineers hacked traffic lights

What a story. Two high-ranking city traffic engineers, Gabriel Murillo and Kartik Patel, were charged Friday with breaking into the city's automated traffic system and disabling the lights at four...

Lampley: I'm innocent

Noted, since it hasn't been included in the mentions here of Jim Lampley's arrest: "I am innocent of the charge of domestic abuse that has been leveled against me and...

LAPD and the Chechen terrorists

Today's Wall Street Journal front page says that in breaking up an international car theft ring recently, the LAPD interrupted the flow of profits to terrorists in the Republic of...

More fingers point at deputy chief

Five more LAPD officers will hold a press conference Friday to allege misconduct by ex-deputy chief Michael Berkow, Eric Leonard reports at KFI.com. Berkow is the former head of internal...

Work keeps going bad for Gibson deputy

James Mee, the Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy who arrested Mel Gibson in Malibu, claims through his lawyer that he's being harassed by supervisors. Mee's arrest report, you might remember,...

Tuesday shorts

Yeah, the former head of LAPD internal affairs cops to the affair with a sergeant under his command — but only for three years! Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally apologized (sort...

Harvey Levin on Kato

Harvey Levin, who covered the O.J. Simpson legal circus for CBS 2, has some observations over at TMZ.com on Brian (Kato) Kaelin, who lived in a guest house on Simpson's...

New LAPD scandal: sex

Chief William Bratton says in the LAT that the department is investigating the former deputy chief in charge of internal affairs over allegations that he exchanged preferential treatment and promotions...

Black murder rate improving

Jill Leovy covers homicide and the police for the L.A. Times, often in South Los Angeles. She writes today at Salon.com that the recent uptick in murder stats and spreading...

Guard who stabbed has a past

Michael Buchanan, the security guard who stabbed an intruder at the Beverly Hills home of celebrity trainer Gunnar Peterson, is an ex-Rampart Area officer who was fired from the LAPD...

800,000 UCLA files hacked

Records containing the names, Social Security numbers and birth dates of students, faculty, employees and some applicants since the early 1990s may have been accessed. The online intrusion went on...

LAPD's toll for the year

One day after ABC featured LAPD officer Kristina Ripatti on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Chief William Bratton sent out an update on all the officers who are living with serious...

Wrong Way Richie

If you saw the SUV barreling the wrong way in the carpool lane on the 134 early this morning, first, congratulations for not getting killed. Second, the SUV driver who's...

LAPD officer arrested for station assault

Sean Joseph Meade, 41, was taken from home on order of Chief Bill Bratton after a videotape allegedly showed him choking a handcuffed sixteen-year-old suspect at the Central station. Meade...

Car of Long Beach witness is attacked

Suspected gang members backed into and nearly totaled the car of a black woman who has been testifying for several days in the racially inflamed trial over assaults on white...

'America's Most Wanted' fugitive nabbed

Warren Price had been on the run for almost nine years since the 1997 murders of a man and pregnant woman in Kansas City who were innocents in a bungled...

No charges in Peña case

District Attorney Steve Cooley says no charges are warranted in the shooting death of toddler Suzie Peña since the SWAT officers who fired were defending themselves against her father. One...

Cops knock Daily News again

Two more items today on the LAPD blog take issue with stories in the Daily News. First, a watch commander in the Valley continues the department's high-level bristling at Mariel...

Weller escapes prison

Elderly driver George Weller was given five years probation, fined $20,000 and ordered to pay $24,000 in penalties plus restitution to the families of some of his victims for killing...

Media an issue in Long Beach racial melee

A Halloween night attack on three white women by 20 to 40 blacks (according to the Press-Telegram) is causing a lot of community upset in Long Beach. One woman suffered...

Bratton steamed at Daily News

Columnist Mariel Garza's recent column about the LAPD prompted Chief William Bratton to reply on the department news and PR blog. Her column described the trouble Garza's Cal State Northridge...

UCLA student Tasered in library

A shouting student inside Powell Library at UCLA was shot with a stun gun at least twice last night, once after resisting police orders to "stop fighting us" when they...

Vernon in the news again

This time it's not Vernon, B.C. but our own city of Vernon. Mayor Leonis Malburg, who has ruled the industrial city for fifty years — that's five-oh — was charged...

Bernsen pleads not guilty

Former LAPD sergeant and Fox 11 reporter Rod Bernsen was arraigned today in federal court and said he will fight the charges that he touched two boys inappropriately on a...

Bernsen indicted in cruise ship sex abuse

Those sex charges against former FOX 11 reporter, KFI host and LAPD spokesman Rod Bernsen aren't going away. He was indicted Thursday on two federal felony counts of "abusive sexual...

FBI joins beating probe

The feds have an opened an investigation into the latest videotaped incident involving what looks to be excessive force by LAPD officers. The suspect, gang member William Cardenas, had run...

Graphic testimony in murder trial

The last minutes aboard the yacht Well Deserved before Thomas and Jackie Hawks were tied to the anchor and tossed overboard alive makes for a chilling read. The testimony, from...

Mistrial in Enzo Ferrari case

Jurors in the grand theft trial of Swedish bad boy Bo Stefan Eriksson could not reach a verdict and the judge just declared a mistrial. Prosecutors said they will try...

Kind of ironic

When the FBI and Santa Monica police served search warrants at the home of Animal Liberation Front supporters Jerry Vlasak and Pamelyn Ferdin this week, they gained entry through a...

A Hahn gets her stolen car back

That car allegedly stolen by Joel Campos of San Pedro? It belonged to Ramona Hahn, mother of the former mayor and the current city councilwoman. That LoJack system? It worked....

LAPD firepower *

Chief William Bratton opens his latest newsletter with praise for the Glocks and Tasers that LAPD officers are starting to carry, and lists some of the more high-tech tools that...

Times newsroom evacuated (* updated)

A powdery substance found this evening sent everyone down to the lobby. A Los Angeles Police Department Hazardous Materials team is on the scene along with the health department. *...

Landon Dorris, LAPD officer

The three-year veteran was killed Sunday morning during a routine traffic accident investigation at Riverside Drive and Hyperion Avenue. He was in the street when struck by a car traveling...

Yeah it was murder

Remember the amazing news that newlywed James Woodson died from a bullet that came out of the air and struck him in the back while he gardened in Sherman Oaks?...

Feds looking at Boeing scientist

Agents from the FBI's foreign counterintelligence unit have searched the Valley Village home of Abraham Lesnik, a senior scientist on anti-missile systems, looking for evidence that high-security information in his...

'Makeover' needs help

ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" demolished the Redondo Beach home of paralyzed LAPD officer Kristina Ripatti last week — and now needs construction workers to finish the rebuild before she...

Sheriff raids Mel Gibson deputy

James Mee, the Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy in Malibu who booked Mel Gibson in July, had his home computer confiscated and other records seized last month, TMZ reported this...

United States v. Rod Bernsen

Former Fox 11 reporter and KFI talk host Rod Bernsen appeared in federal court today and was ordered released on $850,000 bail. He has a November 13 court date for...

Rod Bernsen arrested

Former Fox 11 reporter and KFI fill-in host (as well as retired LAPD sergeant) Rod Bernsen will be charged in federal court Tuesday in connection with "an investigation into alleged...

Wambaugh on today's LAPD

Author and former Los Angeles cop Joseph Wambaugh, writing on the Times op-ed page, calls Rossmore Avenue his favorite L.A. street and only partly because James Ellroy lives on it....

Action-packed LAPD novel

LA Observed regulars may remember last year when Will Beall, a homicide investigator for the LAPD in 77th Street Division, sold a novel called L.A. Rex to Riverhead and the...

Afternoon police beat

Eighteen members of the big and notorious 18th Street Gang were indicted on federal charges of "selling" streets in Koreatown and the MacArthur Park district to drug dealers. The ring...

Overnight hoax at port

Authorities spent much of the night searching Pier 300 in the Port of Los Angeles after an anonymous bomb threat was called in. A man, reportedly with a Middle Eastern...

Ellroy backs away from Hodel book

On Tuesday, News and Chatter noted that James Ellroy's copies of the Steve Hodel book, Black Dahlia Avenger, appear to be for sale on eBay. In today's CityBeat, Ellroy elaborates...

Is Bratton turning up the volume?

I haven't checked back to compare his past talk, but it feels like LAPD Chief William Bratton has been cranking up the rhetoric. In his latest monthly missive on the...

'Non-Tactical Negligent Discharge'

The headline is LAPD-ese for "he's in trouble." According to the department news blog, Officer Chris Walker of Pacific Division was at home around midnight when he heard his wife...

Valley restaurant holdup du jour

Ca Del Sol in Toluca Lake was robbed at gunpoint about 10 pm last night. Two gunmen came in wearing masks and emptied the cash register. Sound familiar?...

Gibson cops a plea

TMZ reports that Mel Gibson's lawyer dropped in on Malibu's courthouse today and revealed a deal with prosecutors. He pleads no contest to misdemeanor drunk driving, but counts of driving...

Rampart veteran arrested

LAPD officer Edward Beltran Zamora has been charged with filing a false police report and making false arrests. He surrendered at Parker Center then was released on $20,000 bail. The...

Bratton on the LAPD blog

LAPDBlog.org gets about 2,000 visits a day. Chief William Bratton sees it as mainly a tool for the department to put out its version of events without media interference, as...

Flashlight officer sues Bratton

John Hatfield contends that Chief William Bratton unduly influenced the LAPD Board of Rights that fired him. Hatfield is the officer who applied a flashlight to the head of auto...

Criminal cop gets 30 years

Former Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy Gabriel Gonzalez assaulted women he stopped while on patrol in the Compton area. He was convicted in federal court earlier this year....

Yet another Valley restaurant robbed

The Valley Inn, just off the 405 freeway in Sherman Oaks, is about the 200th restaurant in the Valley to be hit during a spree that has been especially hard...

TMZ isn't the only Gibsongate winner

Until Mel Gibson's real arrest report leaked out, Steve Whitmore was not the most visible of law enforcement media handlers. Cindy Beavers with the San Bernardino County sheriff's and that...

Kiddies, close your ears — it's Mel

So much for Mel Gibson wrapping himself in God. When he was arrested Friday on suspicion of DUI in Malibu, a very un-pious Gibson resisted the deputy and threatened repeatedly...

Passion of the Law

TMZ.com says that Mel Gibson was arrested this morning on suspicion of DUI by the Malibu sheriff's. He made the mistake of speeding in the dark on Pacific Coast Highway....

Are 54 women missing?

Sheriff's homicide detectives plan to ask for the public's help in locating 54 women (!) whose pictures were found in the home of multiple murderer William Bradford, who used to...

Daniel Baldwin arrested on Wilshire

At gunpoint, no less. Channel 2 News says the actor's Thunderbird jumped the curb, sped into the parking lot of Nina's Kitchen Bath and Hardware at Wilshire and Saltair in...

When you have a blood and guts problem

We bloggers are not supposed to mention the ads that Google AdSense places on our sites, for fear that the mention will trigger click fraud. So I'm not suggesting you...

Delete one serial murder suspect

Back in June when the LA Weekly proclaimed that a serial killer had preyed on ten Los Angeles-area prostitutes, the paper fingered its favored suspect sitting in a Fresno jail....

Afternoon snacks

News and observations from around town, mostly off the police beat today: Chief Bratton told KPCC's Patt Morrison that an internal investigation is looking into reports of overfly forceful LAPD...

Douridas charged, but not what you think *

KCRW music host Chris Douridas will NOT be charged with kidnapping or a sex crime in connection with his arrest on suspicion of drugging a 14-year-old girl at Santa Monica's...

Yagman indicted

Civil rights attorney—and long-time thorn in the side of local law enforcement officials—Stephen Yagman has been indicted on nineteen counts of income tax evasion. The indictment dated June 1 was...

LAPD fugitive arrested in Mexico

Alvaro Luna-Jara, a member of the Dogtown street gang, is suspected of shooting and killing 12-year-old Steven Morales on Avenue 58 in 1998. Luna-Jara fled to Mexico and was nabbed...

Motor officer down

An LAPD officer on his way to work at 2:30 am had stopped to help at a wreck near Disneyland when his motorcycle was rammed by an SUV. He's in...
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