Cable network Current TV has recently launched this pod that features the LA Times' Homicide Report, which happens to be the only blog of its kind in the country. Although the Times is struggling these days, the Homicide Report is one of the best things about our city's biggest newspaper. The documentary focuses on reporter Ruben Vives, who believes the victims are people who deserve to have their stories told.......

Despite a 40% spike in homicides earlier this year, a slow down in the crime has evened out the numbers. As of Monday night, there were 204 killings overall, compared to 208 this time last year, according to the LA Times who also reports that "overall, violent crime this year was down 7% as of July 12, according to the LAPD. The number of shots fired was down 28%, as was the number of victims......

From the LAPD: "On July 19, 2008 at about 12:20 p.m., Hollenbeck division officers saw a man dressed in a hospital gown walking outside of the USC Medical Center near Boyle Heights. Officers went to check on the man and discovered that he was Charles Frank McDuffy, 64, who had walked out of the hospital on his own. The officers took McDuffy back to the hospital. During a routine background check, the officers found that......

Now here's one way to get drugs across the border and it's not the first time in recent years that this has happened. A homemade cocaine smuggling submarine was found by the Mexican Navy off the Pacific Coast this week. "The crew members said they were fishermen forced to make the journey by drug traffickers who threatened to harm their families," reports KNX1070, per the AP. Nine vessels like this have been found in the......

Photo by Long Beach Fire Department Two 22-year-old men have been arrested on suspicion for setting 26 fires over a two-week period which began June 30 when 14 arson fires set throughout the night and into the early morning. Officials used a surveillance tape from an AM/PM mini-mart to identify the suspects. "There were fires found in trashcans and dumpsters, fires caused by placing combustibles, such as old mattresses against garage doors. There were......

Funny guy Andy Dick was arrested on drug and sexual battery charges around 2 a.m. today in a Murrieta (Riverside County) parking lot after allegedly groping the breasts of a 17-year-old girl. After Dick pulled the teen's tank top and bra down, exposing her breasts (according to the victim and witnesses) in the Buffalo Wild Wings parking lot, police arrested him in the lot of a nearby Sam's Club. Drugs charges were tacked on after......

Photo by Chris Roberts Yesterday, the District Attorney's office filed a total of four counts of criminal charges against Dr. Christopher Thompson of Mandeville Canyon, the suspect in the Fourth of July Mandeville Canyon "Road Rage" incident in which he allegedly slammed on his brakes causing two cyclists behind him injury (see photos/background here). Thompson was charged with two counts of reckless driving (23105(a) of vehicle code) and two counts of felony battery (2403(d)......

Around 6:00 a.m., two suspects who earlier robbed a restaurant in Beverly Hills were pulled over at South Fairfaix, San Vicente and Olympic boulevards, prompting an officer involved shooting. Officers from a special undercover unit had witnessed the Beverly Hills robbery and followed the suspects in a truck to where they pulled them over, according to the LA Times, who say these officers were from a controversial unit called the Special Investigation Section. A few......

Since May 31, there have been a total of seven burglaries in West LA. All victims have been elderly woman, all have been robbed and fortunately, no one has been hurt. The latest such incident happened last night at 3:20 a.m. on the 2100 block of Pelham Avenue on the Westside. The assailant put a gun to 84-year-old Ernestine Avelar's neck and said "do what I say and you won't get hurt. Otherwise, I'll kill......

Injured cyclist, Ron Peterson being prepped for transport to an area hospital by Los Angeles Fire Department Paramedics. Update #2: The meeting has been canceled. More information here. Update: The meeting location has changed to across the street to accommodate more people. it is not located at Felicia Mahood Multipurpose Center at 11338 Santa Monica Boulevard. After the unfortunate, yet eye-opening incident between an alleged "road rage" motorist, who was arrested, and two bicyclists......

The former owner of Images of East and West art gallery located at 12627 West Washington Boulevard in Venice. After fleeing Los Angeles in 2002 with art property from more than 45 artists and customers, Kajorn Lekhakul Howard was arrested during a routine traffic stop in Seagoville, Texas. "Art theft detectives recovered over 290 stolen artworks from storage locations in the Dallas area," LAPD statement said. "The detectives transported the art back to Los Angeles......

Yesterday, Chuck Henry of NBC contacted LAist to gather more information regarding the Mandeville Canyon "road rage" incident that landed two cyclists in the hospital. This two minute segment aired last night during the 11:00 p.m. news. CBS/KCAL also aired their own version of the story.......

California Attorney General Jerry Brown is all about crime fighting. The former Governor (and possible future Governor again) is in Los Angeles today after 30 plus search and arrest warrants were executed in South Los Angeles locations as part of an ongoing gang enforcement operation in the City of Compton. Why is the state getting involved in a local matter? "State agents crack down on local gang operations when the violence reaches a level that......

If you're part of some drama and TMZ is around, it doesn't matter if you're a celebrity or not. You're going to be online and in-house publicists are going to e-mail every blog in town about it. Last night outside of STK, the swanky La Cienega Blvd. restaurant, a girl was hit by an SUV that sped off after. The victim's boyfriend chased down the SUV and confronted the girl until police and paramedics arrived.......

Yesterday afternoon, LAPD SWAT stormed a house in Reseda believed to be where a 24-year-old man was being held for ransom. The man was rescued with non life-threatening injuries and seven men and one woman were arrested at the home on 18300 block of Schoolcraft Street near Etiwanda Avenue. It started at 7:00 p.m. on Monday evening when the man called his mother saying he had been kidnapped and money was being demanded. The family......

Spencer Rollins of the Young Animals | Photo via the band's MySpace profile After leaving the Autonomous Music Festival in Victorville this past weekend (cops broke it up for lack of permits), the lead singer of the locally based band, the Young Animals, was arrested and charged for possession of a Controlled Substance. Spencer Rollins was pulled over for having is license plate light out when police asked if they could search his vehicle.......

It's been all the rage and everyone is talking about it -- today is day one of the new cell phone law. No more putting that phone to your ear unless it's an emergency. Otherwise, it's all about ear pieces or in-car systems (for more info on help buying the system for you, check out this post from LAist). And if you choose to break the law, it will be depend on where you are,......

It's good to solve a cold case and what makes this one easier to deal with is the fact that the accused criminal is already in jail. From the LAPD: "The Robbery-Homicide Division’s (RHD) Detectives, obtained a warrant for the arrest of Michael Hubert Hughes, 51-years-old, charging four counts of murder with additional charges relating to sexual assault of the four female victims. The series of crimes occurred between 1986 and 1993. Three occurred in......

If you plan on breaking the hands-free cellphone law tomorrow and in the future, your chances of being pulled over will be determined by where you are the LA Times finds. The California Highway Patrol plans to be the most aggressive about it and with the annual beef up (80% of officers on the roads) in staffing around the 4th of July, the two will go hand-in-hand well together. As for the LAPD, enforcement will......

It was rough riding last night on the streets of Long Beach, as there were two reported drive-by shootings within 30 minutes of each other and a wrong-way driver killed in a head-on collision. The shootings are thought to involve a maroon-colored van that authorities are asking locals be on the lookout for; a total of four people were wounded between 2 and 3 a.m. in the attacks. The car crash involved a man in......

Confronting the paparazzi is one thing, but to confront a tagger always leads to the same headline: someone is shot trying to interfere with a tagger. Yesterday, a businessman confronted two taggers who were defacing a business near Hollywood and Vine. He's currently in the hospital in "critical but stable condition," according to Ruby Malachi at the LAPD. Detectives have some good leads and did serve one search warrant last night in Tujunga, but no......

Photo by Daquella manera via Flickr From the Northeast Valley to Northeast Los Angeles, actions against gangs by the city and feds is beefing up. This morning, a federal indictment was initiated and hundreds of gang members from the Drew Estara Click of the Avenues Gang were arrested (If you remember the big shootout in February, these are the guys). Starting at 4 a.m., police and federal officials swept down into Glassell Park and......

Photo by Happy Birthday to Joe Shlabotnik! via Flickr Two brawls between surfers and paparazzi over the weekend are leading Malibu officials to look more closely into the law regarding 1st amendment rights. "The city of Malibu will do all it legally can to protect and preserve the natural beauty and tranquillity of our town," Malibu Mayor Pamela Conley Ulich said in a statement, per the LA Times. Last month, the Times reported that......

An Anaheim police officer responding to an 8 a.m. indecent exposure report at the Best Western Raffles Inn wound up shot in the leg on the scene. According to reports, the two officers who arrived at the hotel parking lot saw the suspect near his vehicle, and the shots were fired, although it is not clear if it was the suspect doing the shooting. The suspect fled following the incident and has not been found.......

Using your cell phone after July 1st could get you a $20 ticket (up to $100 in LA County after fees and the such). But if you cause an accident that ends in someone's death, a misdemeanor manslaughter charge could come with that, resulting with a year in jail for each death, reports the LA Times. That's because driving while talking on a cell phone (except for when using a hands-free device) can more easily......

Just before 5 o'clock this morning, two gunmen, "described as white men wearing masks" held up the stalwart 24-hour eatery Norm's at 470 La Cienega Blvd. According to cbs2.com, the robbers "got away with an undisclosed amount of cash from the register" and "reportedly chased employees through the panicked restaurant where the workers were able to lock themselves in a back room." Furthermore, following the heist, "the suspects fled in a waiting white, four-door Ford......

Mrs. Dogg (aka Shante Broadus) has reportedly been arrested overnight in Fullerton for a DUI. According to cbs2.com (who got the scoop from this town's real news powerhouse, TMZ), the 32-year-old Broadus was stopped by police "near the area of Highland and Orangethorpe Avenues at about 12:15 a.m." No information about what led authorities to pull over Broadus, however it has been made public that she "was given a citation and a notice to appear......

Convicted murderer Susan Atkins has earned a dubious honor: She has been the longest incarcerated woman in California history*, having logged 37 of her 59 years as an inmate following her conviction in the famous 1969 "Manson Murders." Now, Atkins is pleading for an early compassionate release by State corrections officials because she faces another kind of life sentence--the impending end of her own. Although specific medical details have not been made public, Atkins is......

View Larger Map UPDATE: This was no small robbery (nor does it feel random). KCAL9 reports that the $200,000 was stolen -- $100,000 in cash and $100,000 in checks [via Daily News].Yes, Los Angeles has its Wall Street too. Today, it made the news (12th and Wall St.) after occupants in an SUV were robbed by three young males from another car. Around 8:00 a.m. this morning, the robbers first bumped into the SUV and......

A woman was shot and killed by a California Highway Patrol officer last night. The incident occurred just off the freeway exit near Hellman and Garfield Avenues in Alhambra around 11:10 p.m. after officers pulled her over for speeding and driving erratically in her BMW sedan on the eastbound 10 freeway. As the officers approached the vehicle, she allegedly brandished a gun, prompting one of the officers to use deadly force shooting one round into......