Results tagged “lapd”

The holiday season always means more and more DUI checkpoints. With thousands of hit-and-runs and drinking-related crashes so far this year, the LAPD has two Sobriety & Drivers License Checkpoints set up for the weekend. The first is tonight 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. at West Florence Avenue and South Main Street in South L.A. Then tomorrow from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m., a checkpoint will be set up on Figueroa between 7th and 8th in downtown. Stay safe out there!

The LAPD is on the lookout for a man who impersonates a police officer and robs them. He's struck at least four times--twice in the Rampart area and once in Olympic and Pacific--over the last couple of months in various neighborhoods around the city. Usually operating in the late morning or early afternoon, he approaches victims dressed as a plain clothes police officer, complete with badge and gun. He'll search the victim and remove cash and wallets.

If you get the sense a war between L.A. and SF is brewing over the weekend, here what's actually happening: "On November 8 and 9, 2009, military flight training exercises will occur in and around the greater Los Angeles area," the LAPD said a statement today. "The military operation will be routine proficiency flight training exercises. Training sites have been carefully selected so that activities will not interfere with the daily routines of the community. Training will occur after 5 p.m. each day and will be generally in Central and West Valley Areas."

Not the most humorous interview, but Stephen Colbert last night got Bratton to explain his "Broken Windows Theory," which was applied here in L.A., and how he's going to apply it to his new private security gig.

The next in a series of community town halls with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, featuring the new LAPD Chief, will be on the Westside next week. On Tuesday when Charlie Beck was chosen, meetings were immediately scheduled for that day in South L.A., followed by one in the Valley on Wednesday and one yesterday in El Sereno.

In a follow-up to yesterday's post about the arrest of four suspects in Tuesday night's Santa Monica slaying, there is some speculation that it might be connected to a murder in Venice during the afternoon hours the same day. The LA Times reports that "William Charles McKillian Jr., 19, was in the 600 block of Westminster Avenue in Venice when he was confronted by at least one attacker who opened fire about 3:30 p.m." Police are unsure if they are connected at this point, but are "aggressively pursuing the cases in an effort to make sure there was no chance of the violence escalating."

DNA evidence from a double murder 12 years ago has been linked to a suspect who is currently in a California prison. Back in September of 1997, the stabbing murders of 57-year-old Nancy Boehm and her mentally impaired 23-year-old son Shawn occurred in their North Hollywood home on the 5700 block of Riverton Avenue. Without any leads, the case remained unsolved.

Thousands of rape kits still remain untested, finds a follow-up to a year-old audit that revealed some 7,500 rape kits sat untested on the shelves of LAPD labs. City Controller Wendy Greuel plans to release the the full findings tomorrow morning. Her office said today that the backlog has been reduced to 65%. However, Greuel says the Department’s record keeping is inconsistent, making it difficult to give entirely accurate numbers. In early October, it was reported that 3,157 kits were left to go with the full backlog completion due in the summer of 2011.

The town hall train has already taken off with three community meetings set up in order to introduce Beck to the public. As noted earlier, one meeting will take place this afternoon in South L.A. Then tomorrow, the public can attend a meeting in the Valley and in El Sereno on Thursday. Details are below.

This morning, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced he will tap Deputy Chief Charlie Beck as the newest head of the LAPD. While we all wish him luck, we are simply dumbstruck by the uncanny and positively eerie resemblance to Mr. Magnum, P.I. himself. Coincidence or underhanded push to increase film production in Los Angeles?

Today is the big day. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will name our new Chief of Police. Per former Chief William Bratton's recommendation, the new LAPD leader is from within the department. The candidates are Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Charlie Beck, Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell and Deputy Chief Michel Moore.

Yesterday, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa met with all three of the finalists for the position of Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, to replace William Bratton, who surrendered his star this weekend and is moving back to New York to work in the private sector. The three candidates all come from within the LAPD, a consideration that the departed Bratton and many Angelenos felt was essential to the future success of the department. Sunday's meetings were the second of the week between the three and the Mayor; Villaraigosa's "request to see them again appeared to indicate that the choice was not an easy one," notes the LA Times.

Watch out, folks! As always, never, never, never, never drink and drive. Halloween weekend is no exception and the LAPD is keeping an eye out. Over at Sunset and HIghland, a sobriety and drivers license checkpoint will be set up tonight between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m. Since the beginning of the year, there have been 127 driving under the influence-related and 989 hit and run traffic collisions in the Hollywood area.

The LAPD officers who used "questionable tactics" in their response to protesters on the 2007 May Day immigration march will not be prosecuted, reports the LA Times. The LAPD investigated the incident in which video footage showed police firing rubber bullets into the crowd Park May Day Melee. Their report reviewed the actions of 30 officers and "blamed poor leadership and overly aggressive tactics", but prosecutors were unable to "establish that any particular officer's actions were unreasonable or without lawful necessity in light of the tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving circumstances." Nineteen officers faced punishment last year, and earlier this year $12.85 million was awarded to victims injured in the protest.

An early morning shooting at a North Hollywood synagogue has set in motion a series of precautionary actions just in case the incident was part of a larger plan. The LAPD is now on a citywide tactical alert, the Operations Center has been activated at a Level One and the FBI has joined into the investigation. Police say they are increasing patrols around "critical Jewish sites in their areas" and has alertet all Jewish day schools and synagogues of the incident.

Since this morning, one block of Wilshire Boulevard has been closed to traffic. Police were alerted at 8 a.m. to a suspicious bag left on the 3600 block of Wilshire, prompting the usual response by the LAPD--close the area down, send out the bomb squad. Officer Rosario Herrera said there is no word when the street will be reopened.

The Los Angeles Police Department's new home in Downtown is a state-of-the-art facility that has been the topic of much praise and scrutiny since construction began in 2007. Today, however, the building, which has yet to be graced with an official name, will be opened in a public ceremony helmed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and outgoing Chief William Bratton. "At the 10 a.m. ceremony, Bratton will welcome the public to tour the new building," notes abc7, which is thought to be the most expensive and modern police facility in the country.

The LAPD is setting up two sobriety & drivers license checkpoints this weekend. As always, just don't drink and drive and you'll be fine. Between 8:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. tonight, police will set a checkpoint up on Figueroa Street between 8th and 9th streets. Tomorrow in Cahuenga Pass between Hollywood and the Universal City area, a checkpoint will be set up...

KABC-TV is reporting a shooting death in front of a Van Nuys apartment building that has left one person dead. Two suspects, one reported to be a female, were apparently seen running eastbond on Vanowen towards Sepulveda. LAPD Media Relations has few details at the moment. Also: The Los Angeles Fire Depatment is reporting the death of a man in his 60's who was apparently was killed in a trash compactor at 8201 N. Woodley Ave., near the Van Nuys Airport.

Last week Thursday, Devin Petelski was driving in Venice when her car and an LAPD vehicle collided. She and the two officers were sent to the hospital where she died two days later. The officer driving the car suffered a fractured hand and lacerations to his elbow while the other officer was treated for abrasions and general pain.

Big operation in South L.A. this morning. The LAPD along with the FBI conducted an 18-month investigation leading up to todays sweep called Operation 40 Ounces to Freedom. 46 of the 75 gang members sought have been arrested, according to ABC7.

The new abstract public art at the Police Administration Building in downtown is garnering some nice discussion and attention, as all good art should. Artist Peter Shelton tells blogdowntown that the six "beasts of burden" should have viewers making up their own stories as to what they are.

Following the arrest of Alfonzo Landa earlier this month, officials today announced the identify of 23-year-old Ricardo Hernandez. A $50,000 reward for tips leading to the arrest of those involved was announced in late September, a couple days after the murder.

Remember how Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa took two vacations over the summer? First there was one to Iceland and then another to Africa. That bugged KTLA's Eric Spillman enough to go digging for costs, if any, to taxpayers.

Stephanie Pratt can add one more dubious claim to fame to her resume after an early Sunday morning arrest that took place outside a Hollywood nightclub, according to On The Red Carpet. Pratt, 23, the blonde fashion-student and sibling of the notoriously unlikeable Spencer Pratt (one half of the "Speidi" duo comprised of him and his starlet wife Heidi; LAist Interview) was "booked at the Van Nuys jail" and "released a few hours later after posting $5,000 bail."

     

Social security numbers, evidence, witness information and more are stored in a parking structure accessible by civilian employees and some visitors at the LAPD's Southwest Division. Over at the Northeast Division, more of the same near the employee main entrance.

A standoff that began at around 10:40 last night ended just before 6 this morning outside an apartment building in North Hollywood where a man who'd been believed to have shot his wife was holed up. LAPD officers and members of the SWAT team and bomb squad units were "met by neighbor Nick Wilcox, who told them some bullets came through his apartment wall," at the building on the 6500 block of Simpson Avenue, according to KTLA.

Police are currently searching a Hollywood neighborhood after an after-school shooting near Helen Bernstein High School. At 1:55 p.m., police received a call about shots fired on the 1300 block of North Wilton Place. A 16-year-old girl was shot in the hip area, according to police. LAUSD officials say she is in stable condition.

There may be a $405-million budget shortfall, but that's not going to affect the levels of police officers employed by the city, according to an accord reached yesterday by a couple City Councilmembers and Mayor Antonio Villaragosa.

As Obama prepared for his big "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" speech last week, government figures released showed that women are more likely to be kicked out of military service under the policy than men. In a story, the Associated Press highlighted Julianne Sohn, who now works for the LAPD.