Results tagged “lapd”

1.6 million people signed up to be eligible to win tickets to attend Tuesday's highly anticipated public memorial service for late music icon Michael Jackson, according to MyFoxLA. The Staples Center's website caved under the pressure of the hits several times since the lottery was announced and until the cut off time last night at 6 p.m. local time. Initially the registry was open only to US residents, but soon expanded to allow anyone around the world to sign up for the chance to win a pair of tickets to the event, about which few details are known, save that there will be no funeral procession, and that it will cost the City of Los Angeles a pretty penny to host.

Although the city is fighting a $534 million budget deficit, they will dip into special funds for extraordinary events such as Michael Jackson's memorial service planned for next Tuesday. The situation is reminiscent of when the LAPD spent $25,000 on an operation escorting Britney Spears from her home to the hospital, about 6 miles away. Of course, if private donors want to help out as some did with the Lakers parade, the city welcomes them with open arms.

Since last week's death of Michael Jackson, crowds and media have flocked to various locations related to the superstar. In Hollywood, it was his Walk of Fame star; on the Westside, his Holmby Hills rental mansion; and in the Valley, his family home on Hayvenhurst Ave., just off Ventura Blvd.

Following the autopsy conducted amid massive media buzz yesterday, the LA County Coroner's office has turned the body of Michael Jackson to his family, who are working to finalize plans for the star's funeral, according to LA Now. "Los Angeles Police Department sources said officials have been talking to the Jackson family about plans for a memorial, which is likely to take place in the L.A. area. The LAPD is involved in the planning because it's likely to be mobbed by fans." The coroner has yet to determine and official cause of death, but were able to conclude and announce yesterday that there was no evidence of foul play or "exterior trauma." Toxicology reports will take several weeks; Jackson's body is currently being held at an undisclosed mortuary.

LA Weekly is tracking every murder within Los Angeles city limits and yesterday in Pacoima, the 137th for 2009 occurred. Yesterday, "30-year-old Gerardo Cruz was standing out in front of his girlfriend's house with her brother drinking beer when three alleged gang members jumped out of their blue compact car and 'shot up the place.'" Although gang related, police said Cruz was not affiliated with any gangs. This was the fourth homicide in the LAPD's Foothill Division this month. Citywide, homicides are significantly down--around 32%--compared to last year.

After being no-shows at last week’s Transportation Committee meeting, LAPD appeared before councilmembers and cyclists yesterday, only to be met by harsh criticism for their “distinct bias towards bicyclists” and their response to a hit-and-run accident in late April in which a Hummer sideswiped a rider in downtown L.A. At the meeting, cyclists were “deeply disappointed” and scoffed at the conflicting details police gave regarding the incident.

There have been some questions recently about all the helicopter activity in the Echo Park area. The Eastsider LA was trying to figure it out (and eventually did!) and even the LAPD's one media relations officer had no clue despite the information being published last week on their blog. The urban training missions began June 15 and will continue through Saturday. "The operations will be routine training exercises conducted by military personnel, designed to ensure the military’s ability to operate in urban environments, prepare forces for upcoming overseas deployments and meet mandatory training certification requirements," the LAPD wrote. "Training sites have been carefully selected so that activities do not interfere with the daily routines of the local populace."

Walking home from a party in April, Haik Oganyan and a friend became victims of a street robbery that turned deadly."Oganyan had left the party with a friend and began walking west on Gresham Street toward their car," explained the Daily News. "Three men described as Hispanics with shaved heads demanded their wallets and keys. The victims complied, but the suspects attacked Oganyan and their friend anyway. The friend suffered stab wounds but survived. The friend broke free and ran back to the Corbin address. The suspects, meanwhile, disappeared, leaving Oganyan on the grass, bleeding from the neck." A $50,000 reward has been offered by the city and police are asking that anyone with information, call Devonshire homicide detectives during business hours Monday through Friday at (818) 832-0609. After hours, call (877) 527-3247.

The LAPD's high public ratings in an LA Times poll may partly be due to Mayor Villaraigosa, but he earned a 55% approval rating with the same poll takers. The upside? With LA voters, he could win the Democratic nomination for Governor's seat at 38%, beating out Jerry Brown (32%) and Gavin Newsom (13%). Goverornor Schwarzenegger's approval rating was 29%.

Although City Council repealed the bicycle license law earlier this month, the issue continued to be a point of discussion between officials and bike advocates. At the Transportation Committee meeting earlier this week, some cyclists said they don’t completely oppose a licensing program, but they would like to see a more efficient and easier process that would be “voluntary.”

Three people have been arrested for posing as undercover police officers in order to rob homes and police believe there are more victims out there. Late last month, three suspects posing as LAPD undercover narcotics officers knocked on an apartment door in the 400 block of N. Normandie Avenue.

Here's an interesting scam we heard via Jeff Berk of Watch2.org in Studio City. Last week, a resident of his neighborhood watch was on her way home from the grocery store and became the victim of an alleged car damage claim scam. From an e-mail to neighbors: [She] was returning home from Ralph's on Coldwater & Ventura when she was waved over to the side of the road at Dickens and Van Noord by 2 men in a car who claimed she had hit their car at Ralph's.

Tomorrow's City Council Transportation Committee meeting has an agenda full of bicycle (.pdf) issues including the master plan, LAPD and a revival of the bicycle license. The latter is one of the more peculiar items because city council just recently squashed its existence. Now a new motion is trying to have it come back. Vaguely written, it goes like this:

Several lanes remain closed on the southbound 405 freeway as police search for burglary suspect who hid in a storm drain near the Roscoe on- and off-ramps. The suspects--one was arrested--were apparently trying steal copper wiring from a nearby warehouse when someone reported the burglary, according to the LAPD. The closure began around 3 a.m., snarling morning traffic on one of the busiest freeways in the world.

Despite the unruly celebratory behavior witnessed, the crowd control Sunday night after the Lakers win was considered a success by the LAPD, reported the LA Times. A new tactic was to "remove the rabble-rousers, push larger crowds into marginal areas and chase smaller groups until they disperse" in order to limit injuries and property damage all while not reviving the horrid use of force images from the May Day Melee in 2007.

                     

If you were in the Southpark area of downtown last night, it smelled of things burning. After the isolated incidents of chaos, a survey of the area found light damage just about everywhere with pockets of small businesses unfortunately hit by looters and those Fakers fans running amok for no reason than just doing that (CurbedLA has photos of a ransacked Lexus and blogdowntown has shots during and after, too).

            

Your city's team has won a major sports championship. It's a great achievement, and a reason to celebrate. You love your team, you love your city, you love a good time. But how do you celebrate? Dance, hug, shout, throw confetti, have some drinks, high five your friends, eat cake, relive the highlights of the game, throw a party at your home? Sure, right? You want to express your pride, your joy, your happiness on behalf of the team.

       

Around 700 people gathered outside the Staples Center tonight to celebrate the Lakers' win in Orlando. Mostly peaceful, but it only took a small group of fools to ruin it for everyone. Small fires, fireworks, thrown rocks, bottles and flares, street signs torn down, attempts at turning over police cars cued the LAPD to try to end festivities sooner than anyone had hoped. As Larry Welk said on KCAL9, "they're sort of leaving a path of destruction."

If you can't seem to understand that you shouldn't drink and drive, this weekend you might learn your lesson. In fact the LAPD is conducting a DUI checkpoint in such a high traffic and popular spot tomorrow evening, we're sure it's going to end with a lot of people in jail for the evening (hint: take the Red Line). And tonight in two South LA and in the Harbor area, the LAPD will be conducting sobriety saturation patrols. Point being, stop the tomfoolery, the LAPD is on the look out, even in areas not mentioned here.

Last night's win already caused people to run amok in East LA. And even though Sunday night's game is in Orlando, should the Lakers win the Championship, the LAPD and LA County Sheriff's say they are prepared, citing the win 2000 when 11 people were arrested and close to a million dollars in damage was caused on downtown streets. Yeah, police cars were torched.

Around 20 Rolling 60s gang members were arrested early this morning during a birthday party at Platinum Live on Ventura Boulevard, which was rented for the event. "They're one of the larger gangs in South Los Angeles," said LAPD Sgt. Dan Horan. "They're well established. There was a gang injunction against them in the neighborhood that they claim. That area around there is Slauson and Crenshaw in South Los Angeles. They are large in number and notorious in their activity."

Today, LAPD detective Stephanie Lazarus was arraigned in court for the murder of Sherri Rae Rasmussen in 1986. Then the victim's father (pictured right) also held a press conference explaining that he told police time and time again that he thought she was one of the probable suspects. But detectives at that time had a different theory--burglars--and ignored him "repeatedly [saying] that he was watching too much TV," according to the LA Times. Looks like father was right, DNA caught up with Lazarus last week and she was arrested. "In hindsight, 20/20, we wish the investigation had gone in other directions," Deputy Chief Charlie Beck told the Times. "There will be justice in this case, but it might not come at all levels."

It was last month on May 17th, 2 a.m. when a 31-year-old female hailed a cab in front of Ecco in Hollywood to grab a ride home. Armen Ayvazian was her driver, according to the LAPD, and when she got home, he allegedly followed her inside where he sexually assaulted her. Detectives caught up with the North Hills man last week and arrested him without incident. But police believe there are more victims out there and if you recognize him (a photo of his cab is below), give the police a call.

Every month LAPD Senior Lead Officer George Aguilar takes a look at his area's traffic patterns and behaviors and focuses enforcement on one issue. In the past, he's done pedestrian crosswalk stings along Ventura Blvd., catching drivers who ignore those walking across the street, and enforcement on the various no left turn signs on Van Nuys Blvd. This month, he's going after speeders in these general areas, including nearby side streets: Woodman/Ventura, Van Nuys/Ventura, streets surrounding Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks Park and Valley Vista between Sepulveda and Coldwater Canyon. He encourages people to spread the word (so tell your friends), but he won't say what days each area will be heavily patrolled. Basically, if you keep it cool, there's nothing to worry about.

From Culver City to the West Valley, police officers will be supporting the Special Olympics today in a torch relay from the Westside and South LA through Hollywood and across the south rim of the Valley. It's all for a good cause--raising money and awareness--but it will cause traffic.

LAPD detective Stephanie Lazarus, who was profiled on the side as an art theft detective protégée in the LA Weekly's People Issue this year, was arrested this this morning for the 1986 murder of ex-boyfriend's wife, who was beaten and fatally shot. Back then, the case led nowhere, but two things today contributed to finding the alleged killer. One is the advancement of DNA and when it was tested recently, it showed it was from a female, not a man as they expected. Two, the lower murder rate apparently is allowing for detective to focus on cold cases.

In the past LAPD Chief William Bratton was rumored to be a top candidate to take over Scotland Yard. He denied that and he's still here serving Los Angeles today. However, today Her Majesty awarded him with the honorary title Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his work to promote cooperation between the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) police, both before and during his service with LAPD.

Neighborhood concerns over noise and quality of life issues surrounding pehrspace in the Historic Filipinotown neighborhood apparently have led to the self-invoked precautionary and temporary closure of the venue's Monday night concert series run by Sean Carnage.

Some people agree with DUI checkpoints and some hate them. Well instead of setting one up in the LAPD's Southwest Division tonight, they're doing a saturation patrol, meaning the area will be flooded with cops on the look out for drunk drivers. The division covers the the area just southwest of downtown including the USC campus (.pdf map). Compared to last year, the division has experienced a 32 percent increase in Driving Under the Influence related traffic collisions this year. The patrol will take place between 5 p.m. and 3 a.m. | UPDATE, 4:38 p.m.: LAPD will also saturate the Newton Division, which covers the south part of downtown and south of the 10 Freeway (Photo: Ross Reyes)

A U.S. Bank branch at Woodman and Riverside in Sherman Oaks was robbed this afternoon at around 2 p.m. Now a perimeter has been set up as police look for two suspects who may be armed. "There are choppers everywhere," exclaimed Beth Oslander, a resident nearby who e-mailed LAist asking what was going on. A bomb squad was also called two the scene because of a suspicious package left at the bank by the two suspects, the LAPD says. Notre Dame High School and some other nearby buildings have been evacuated.