The Justice Department cited an example of a Maricopa County officer slammed a pregnant Latina woman—who was in her driveway—into her car repeatedly. more ›

LAPD police chief Charlie Beck is pushing for one of his officers to be fired after an investigation found that he racially profiled motorists while working on motorcycle assignment in the West Traffic Division. The LA Times, which reported the story, says that officer Patrick Smith, 55, was the target of numerous complaints by drivers whom he pulled over. more ›

Citing evidence that two Los Angeles Police Department officers were caught discussing their use of racial profiling in a recorded conversation, LAPD has received warning from the U.S. Department of Justice that LAPD's own investigations into racial profiling are inadequate and that "some cops still tolerate the practice," according to the LA Times. more ›

Today Orange County becomes the 120th county in the nation to join the Secure Communities program, which is "a national effort to identify and deport people who are in the country illegally and suspected of or convicted of committing crimes," according to the OC Register. more ›

Last Fall, the ACLU released a study based on post-stop actions of its officers on 810,000 field data reports completed by LAPD officers nearly every time they stopped a vehicle or pedestrian between July 1, 2003 and June 30, 2004. They concluded that black and Hispanic residents are stopped, frisked, searched and arrested by LAPD officers far more frequently than white residents. more ›

Two big news conferences are scheduled for Monday to present reports on the LAPD and not necessarily in a good light. First, at 11:00 a.m. on the steps of City Hall, City Controller Laura Chick will present her audit on the backlog of Forensic DNA rape-kits. It has been reported that their backlog is around 7,000 kits. That's thousands of chances to gather physical evidence and DNA that could help put criminals in jail. Chick's audit is expected to officially reaffirm those problems. more ›