Cato Hernández
scours through tons of archives to understand how our region became the way it is today.
Published March 21, 2024 5:00 AM
A motorcycle officer weaves through traffic on a Los Angeles freeway during rush hour.
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Frederic J. Brown
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AFP via Getty Images
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Topline:
SigAlerts can be a harbinger of stress when you’re driving or using public transportation. They warn you of traffic jams. But did you know the alert system actually started as a way to share civil defense updates? We look into how SigAlerts began, and the man behind them.
What is a SigAlert? It’s any unplanned event that causes the closing of at least one lane of traffic for 30 minutes or more.
How did it start? It was created in the early ‘50s by Loyd Sigmon, a radio executive at L.A’s KMPC station. During the Cold War, civil defense officials were looking into how to make an alert system, a project that Sigmon developed.
So how did it get into traffic? It started out as a civil defense mass communication tool, but Sigmon also found a daily use for it: traffic alerts. He figured out how to make a special receiver that the LAPD could use to share a wide range of traffic updates.
There’s a term you’ve probably come across more than once while traveling around Southern California: SigAlert.
It’s one of the best ways to keep on top of traffic delays in near real-time, but they’re also a harbinger of stress. If a SigAlert is issued on your route, good luck getting to your destination on time. There could be a car stalled on the freeway, a car crash or any number of other problems shutting down lanes.
But do you know why they're called SigAlerts? They actually started out as a radio tool.
How did SigAlerts begin?
Before SigAlerts lived online in an interactive map, and were issued by the California Highway Patrol, they came from a specialized radio receiver that broadcast recorded messages.
In the early ‘50s, civil defense officials had been looking into how to make an alert system in case of an attack from the U.S.S.R., which became the brainchild of Loyd Sigmon, executive vice president at L.A.’s KMPC radio station.
What defines a SigAlert?
It’s any unplanned event that causes the closing of at least one lane of traffic for 30 minutes or more, according to its website.
The system was first officially tested in November 1954. In City Hall, officials pressed a red button that took KMPC off air and instead broadcast civil defense information to listeners. Think of it like a Cold War version of the emergency alert system — the idea was to get urgent updates out fast, like potential attacks or major flooding.
A number of Southern California broadcasters signed on to install the necessary equipment, including KNX. Devices were also installed at the offices of civil defense personnel to speed up the process.
Where to find SigAlerts
Yes, you can look up SigAlerts and other real-time traffic information yourself by visiting SigAlert.com.
Sigmon also thought of a more daily use for the system. He approached the L.A. Police Department with an idea: set up a process for police departments to call the station when major traffic jams occur. But that wasn't really feasible for officers to do every time.
It’s unclear how many times Sigmon customized devices to use the SigAlert system in different ways, but according to SigAlert researcher Harry Marnell, for the LAPD, he used a $600 shortwave receiver and tape-recording device that booted up with a special tone. The LAPD would receive details from other agencies and then press a button to record and send that special tone with the information to radio stations (like a high-stakes telephone game).
The system, which was put into widespread use in Greater L.A. on Labor Day 1955, was intended to tell the public about a range of concerns: major freeway tie-ups, smog alerts, fire, explosions, dense fog and “atomic” attacks.
Today, it’s just about major traffic delays. Relaying of emergency information lies with things like the emergency alert system. But Sigmon has gone down in history as pioneering a way for mass communication. He died in 2004 when he was 95.
Before Loyd Sigmon died, he was known to drive around in a cream-colored Lincoln Continental coupe with the vanity license plate “SIGALRT.”
The Santa Monica Pier’s bumper cars are also named after Sigmon’s work, dubbed Sig Alert EV. Their website says "Our Sig Alert EV is a great way to blow off steam after an hours-long commute to the west side"
In January 1956, a major train derailment happened — the Santa Fe train wreck — and an alert went out asking for any available doctors and nurses to respond. But so many people responded — including nosy onlookers — that it turned into an even bigger mess.
The derailment killed 30 people and injured 117. But the LAPD’s use of the SigAlert called into question exactly how effective (or ineffective) it was to broadcast such requests for help without a way to control the traffic build-up.
The L.A. Times put out an editorial days after the wreck that called out local authorities for poorly managing the emergency.
And while it praised how the SigAlert brought a swift medical response, the editorial board wrote that “nobody had the wit to stop” the onlookers on the highways.
Frank Stoltze
is a veteran reporter who covers local politics and examines how democracy is and, at times, is not working.
Published September 9, 2026 6:36 PM
The Jail complex in downtown Los Angeles
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Robert Garrova / LAist
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Topline:
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday that it has opened an investigation into the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles, specifically looking into whether L.A. County has failed to provide environmentally safe, humane and habitable conditions for people held there.
The details: The jail has long been plagued by allegations of poor conditions. Monitors from the American Civil Liberties Union have documented problems including overcrowding, severe mold and mildew, and rodent infestations.
The context: The federal investigation is expected to focus on conditions within the facility and not the actions of the county sheriff’s deputies who staff it, according to the Justice Department. The new investigation is separate from a 2015 settlement between the county and federal government, which stemmed from allegations of inadequate mental health care provided at county jails.
What happens next: Investigators will determine whether the county has violated the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects against cruel and unusual punishment, and 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law.
Reaction: L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger welcomed the investigation, and said she had said for year that the jail was “antiquated, inhumane, and unfit for our workforce and those incarcerated there.”
Jason Wells
manages the daily news product that you hear and read every day.
Published September 9, 2026 5:13 PM
Smoke rises from a brush fire near the Getty Center on Sept. 9, 2026.
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CBS LA
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Topline:
Firefighters appeared to make quick progress against a brush fire the broke out Wednesday near the Getty Center.
What we know so far: As of 5 p.m., evacuation warnings had been issued for zones LFD-0895 and LF-0967, although the LAFD said no structures were immediately threatened as the water-dropping helicopters attacked the fire from above.
Read on ... for more on evacuations and weather conditions.
This story is no longer being actively updated. For the most up-to-date information about the fire you can check:
Firefighters appeared to make quick progress against a brush fire the broke out Wednesday near the Getty Center.
As of 5 p.m., evacuation warnings had been issued for zones LFD-0895 and LF-0967, although the LAFD said no structures were immediately threatened as the water-dropping helicopters attacked the fire from above. Forward progress of the fire was reported stopped shortly after 6 p.m. at a little over 20 acres.
If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.
Yusra Farzan
is covering general assignment news this week.
Published September 9, 2026 2:50 PM
Recent storm surges already have damaged Aliso Beach in Laguna Beach.
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Allen J. Schaben
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Topline:
Southern California is reeling from the destruction left behind by Tropical Storm Marie.
Damages in Dana Point: Six homes were red-tagged when high tides pummelled the coastline. Don Russel, the Capistrano Bay district general manager, said it's possible two other homes will be red-tagged (critically damaged) after high tide activity Tuesday night. Around five homes were yellow tagged (structural damage), he said. Workers are lining the shoreline with large boulders about the size of a small office desk when waters recede, but efforts to armor the beach have been hampered by the tides, Russel added.
Malibu felt the effects too: In Malibu, a large sinkhole formed on Sea Level Drive, prompting authorities to declare a local state of emergency. Five homes were red-tagged — meaning they are uninhabitable — and residents from around 30 homes were evacuated. Evacuees can find temporary shelter at the American Red Cross at Malibu High School.
Evac orders lifted: Evacuation orders were lifted in Long Beach, where the storm resulted in flooding. No homes were red-tagged, but the boardwalk between 63rd Place and 68th Place remains closed to the public.
Jared Bennett
is the watchdog correspondent covering immigration and law enforcement at LAist.
Published September 9, 2026 2:49 PM
Officers from the Long Beach Police Department responded to a March 2025 report of an armed robbery just blocks away — the arrest that followed is now at the center of allegations the department concealed one officer's assault conviction.
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Megan Garvey
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LAist
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Topline:
A prominent attorney working on a low-level criminal case in Long Beach is alleging the police department there concealed an officer’s assault conviction for years — potentially calling into question the legitimacy of hundreds of cases.
What the defense uncovered: Scott Sanders, who exposed the Orange County jailhouse snitch scandal, is the court-appointed attorney in a case where the defense was trying to depose a Long Beach Police Department officer.
In a series of court motions, Sanders raised questions about why the officer arrested a man who was bald when the alleged victim described a man with long dreadlocks. When the defense tried to the subpoena the officer after he left the force, an investigator discovered that the now-former officer had been convicted in an assault case in Georgia while employed with the Long Beach Police Department.
Why that matters: In a landmark 1963 case, Brady v. Maryland, the U.S. Supreme Court established that law enforcement has a legal responsibility to disclose such information to defendants. Lack of disclosure could call into question the legitimacy of other cases involving the officer and the Long Beach Police Department.
Keep reading... for the full in-depth report on this case.
A prominent attorney working on a low-level criminal case in Long Beach is alleging the Police Department there concealed an officer’s assault conviction for years — potentially calling into question the legitimacy of hundreds of cases.
Jacobs is facing felony charges after Long Beach police said they found a small bag of cocaine tucked inside his sock while he was held at a jail following an arrest in March 2025. Jacobs has pleaded not guilty to the charge of bringing a controlled substance into a jail, which could carry a sentence of up to four years in prison.
At issue is the arrest that landed Jacobs in that cell in the first place — which Sanders argues in court filings was based on misrepresentations of now-former Long Beach police Officer Erik Suarez.
According to the defendant’s motion to dismiss, Suarez resigned from the Long Beach Police Department in June.
In a filing made Sept. 8, the defense attorney said an investigator discovered that Suarez had been convicted of a misdemeanor in the beating of a man outside a Waffle House in Marietta, Georgia in 2019. He had initially been charged with felony assault.
At that time, Suarez had served on the Long Beach force for two years.
LAist attempted to contact Suarez by calling a phone number connected to him in public records. A man who answered said he was not Suarez, but asked what the story was about and said he would check with Suarez about contacting LAist.
In a recent court filing seeking more information about Suarez’s conduct, Jacobs’ defense asserts that the Long Beach Police Department knew about the conviction, but never disclosed this information to defendants or the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
That’s information Jacobs’ attorney argues was potentially exculpatory, and that withholding it amounts to a major violation of criminal defense laws. In the landmark 1963 case Brady v. Maryland, the U.S. Supreme Court established that law enforcement has a legal responsibility to disclose such information to defendants. In Jacobs’ case, for example, the Sept. 8 filing said information about Suarez’s arrest and subsequent conviction could have been used to impeach him as a witness, as well as in other cases Suarez touched as a police officer.
The Long Beach Police Department has not yet responded to LAist’s emailed questions.
“The actions of the LBPD demonstrate a complete disregard to the danger Officer Suarez presented to the community and to the due process rights of defendants,” according to the motion to force disclosure. “The concealment of Officer Suarez's arrest and prosecution enabled [LBPD] to hide mandated discovery related to Officer Suarez’s conduct from what have likely been hundreds of defendants during the nearly seven-year period between the time of Officer Suarez’s August 2019 arrest and June 2026.”
Jacobs’ attorney alleges in the filing that Long Beach has an “unwritten policy” to keep information that could be used to impeach its officers in personnel files protected from public disclosure.
“The potential systemic consequences are enormous,” the filing argues.
“Not just to the individual,” she said, “but to the entire community.”
Lacey said the information about Suarez’s conviction should have been known to the prosecutors, so they could vet the reliability of the evidence presented by law enforcement, and turned over to the defense at the outset of the case.
A spokesperson for L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in an emailed response to questions that they could not comment on what information they disclosed to Jacobs’ defense.
The District Attorney’s Office said it has a “collaborative relationship with the Long Beach Police Department,” and that the department does disclose material to prosecutors that is allowed under California law.
“Generally speaking, if our office had any such Brady material regarding an officer, we would have been legally obligated to turn that over to the defense.”
Lacey said if prosecutors did not have access to Suarez’s criminal record, the scope of people affected could be wide.
“We don't know how many cases are impacted by the potential unreliability of statements from the arresting law enforcement officer,” Lacey said. “This could impact people who have already pled guilty, who maybe are currently incarcerated, who are awaiting sentencing, or who are, like I said, incarcerated pretrial on other cases.”
In an interview with LAist, Sanders said the case raises three troubling issues: There’s the concealment of evidence leading to Jacobs' initial arrest, Suarez’s 2019 assault that was never disclosed, and the question of whether the Long Beach Police Department has concealed Brady material in other cases.
“If that's your modus operandi, we've got an enormous problem here,” Sanders said.
The underlying arrest that led to allegations about concealing an assault
Long Beach police responded to the intersection of 52nd Street and Atlantic Boulevard after a man reported being held at gunpoint, with the robber driving away in the van he was repossessing.
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Megan Garvey
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LAist
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Just after 7:45 p.m. on March 18, 2025, Suarez and his partner Dylan Kelley responded to a call reporting a person with a gun at the intersection of 52nd Street and Atlantic Boulevard in Long Beach.
The alleged victim, identified in the filing by his last name, Ochoa, told the officers that he was attempting to repossess a black Dodge Sprinter van when someone threatened him with a gun, took the keys and drove off with the van.
Police later tracked down the van and detained Lonnie Jacobs and his brother, Lamar Jacobs.
According to court records, at the scene officers only presented Lonnie Jacobs to Ochoa.
Before seeing him, Ochoa stated that the suspect had braids, and body camera footage detailed in the court filing shows him gesturing to show long hair around his shoulders.
While looking at photos of the suspects in the van, Ochoa identified Lamar Jacobs. “That’s him! With the dreads!,” Ochoa is recorded saying on body camera footage.
Body camera footage shows Suarez confirming this description. “You said he had dreads? Can you remember if he has dreads?,” Suarez asks. The footage shows Ochoa nodding to confirm.
But Ochoa then identified Lonnie Jacobs in person, telling officers he recognized Lonnie Jacobs’ chain and ripped jeans as matching the person who pulled a gun on him earlier that night.
Jacobs’ court filings state that body camera footage shows both he and his brother wore the exact same chain, and they both wore ripped jeans that night.
In an interview with a detective for the District Attorney’s Office in August 2026 that is included in court filings, Ochoa said he was positive he identified a man with braids during the show-up.
Lonnie Jacobs in a still from a police body cam on the night of his arrest.
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Long Beach Police Department
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L.A. County Superior Court filing
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Lamar Jacobs in a still from the night his brother was arrested. An officer is handing him a chain identical to one around his neck.
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Long Beach Police Department
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L.A. County Superior Court filing
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His attorney argued this fact is inconsistent with the description and should have disqualified Jacobs as a suspect, or at least warranted more questioning. Furthermore, he alleges Suarez failed to correct another officer at the scene who questioned why Ochoa didn’t see the hairstyle of the man who allegedly pulled a gun on him.
By this point, Ochoa had already described the suspect as having braids to Suarez and Kelley, according to the body cam footage, but Suarez did not correct the other officer.
“He couldn’t tell by the haircut,” Suarez said, adding he said “everything happened too fast.”
Jacobs’ defense alleges Suarez’s response was “actively misleading his fellow officers.”
Furthermore, body camera footage also shows Suarez agreeing with another officer who expressed doubts that Lonnie Jacobs was the one who brandished the firearm.
A still of officers discussing the potential suspects on the night of Lonnie Jacobs' arrest. A court filing by his defense said officers, including Erik Suarez, expressed doubts that he was the correct person.
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Long Beach Police Department
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L.A. County Superior Court
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“Yeah I think it was him, too,” Suarez said, referring to Lonnie’s brother Lamar. Lamar Jacobs was never charged in connection with the case.
In filings to the court, the District Attorney’s Office said the officers had probable cause to arrest Jacobs because he was in the van described by the witness and matched at least some of the characteristics of the suspect.
How that led to the Georgia case coming to light
Once Jacobs’ defense reviewed the body cam footage, they began attempting to depose Suarez in the case. Although Lonnie Jacobs was never charged with threatening Ochoa, the arrest led to the charges of bringing drugs into a jail. If the initial arrest was illegitimate, the drug case would go away.
The court scheduled a hearing earlier this year to discuss the evidence, but the Long Beach Police Department told Jacobs’ defense that Suarez was out of the country.
The defense subpoenaed Suarez through the Police Department again and on June 15, the department told the team that Suarez had resigned.
An investigator for Jacobs’ defense searched for his address to subpoena him at home. That search, according to the court filing, uncovered the assault charges in Georgia in 2019, two years after he joined the police force in Long Beach.
In the motion to dismiss the charges against Jacobs, his defense argues it is “plausible” that Suarez resigned from the police force out of concern he may have been questioned about his alleged misconduct that led to Jacobs’ arrest.
“However, it is also now apparent that Officer Suarez has been living with another secret that may also have propelled a decision to abandon his police officer position,” the defense wrote.
Through discovery, Jacobs’ attorney said in court filings they learned that Suarez had traveled to Georgia where he watched the Atlanta Braves beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3 on Aug. 17, 2019.
According to an incident report attached to court filings, a witness saw Suarez wearing a Dodgers jersey in a Waffle House, “talking shit” and arguing with the victim.
“Suarez then walked up to the table where the victim was seated and began punching him in the face until the victim was left unconscious on the ground,” the filing describes. According to the incident report and other filings from that case, Suarez continued to punch the victim while he was unconscious.
The most recent filing from Jacobs’ defense says Suarez was arrested walking away from the restaurant.
According to a description of the crime by Barry Morgan, a Cobb County assistant solicitor general, Suarez “caused the victim significant injuries, including orbital fracture, fracture of the maxillary sinus, traumatic orbital hematoma, and concussion.”
A memo details injuries caused by Erik Suarez in a 2019 assault. A grand jury indicted him on two felony counts. He later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and served a year of probation.
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Cobb County Superior Court
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via L.A. County Superior Court filing
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“Defendant beat the victim while the victim was on the ground, apparently unconscious,” the description explains. “This should be aggravated battery.”
On April 1, 2021, a grand jury indicted Suarez on two felony counts of aggravated battery, accusing him of “seriously disfiguring” the victim and rendering his right eye useless.
Right before trial, Suarez pleaded guilty in November 2022 to reduced misdemeanor charges of battery, was ordered to stay away from the victim and Cobb County, and was ordered to take anger management classes. He was sentenced to 12 months, which he was allowed to serve on probation.
According to Jacobs’ defense, “Suarez’s actions in Georgia triggered immediate reporting responsibilities related to his employment” with the Long Beach Police Department.
The court filing explains that the Long Beach police manual requires officers to inform their watch commander when they are arrested by another department or under a criminal investigation.
It’s not yet clear when the department learned about Suarez’s arrest. But Jacobs' defense argues that if the department learned of the arrest between 2019 and 2026, “this would have clearly triggered Brady responsibilities in this case and numerous others.”
That information is relevant to the case against Jacobs, the filing argues, because “it is entirely logical that the same officer who beat a victim into unconsciousness and then cavalierly walked from the scene would just as thoughtlessly arrest a man for whom no probable cause existed — concealing that the victim previously identified another suspect who possessed features irreconcilable with the defendant’s culpability.”
When does law enforcement need to disclose misconduct?
While law enforcement has a legal requirement to proactively disclose Brady material that could help defendants build their case, California law exempts most police personnel records from disclosure, except under certain circumstances including findings of unnecessary use of force and misconduct while on the job.
Jacobs’ defense attorney, in the Sept. 8 filing, alleges Long Beach police purposefully placed evidence related to Suarez’s conviction in his personnel file, where it could be protected from disclosure.
He wrote this “enabled the agency to hide mandated discovery related to Officer Suarez’s conduct from what have likely been hundreds of defendants during the nearly seven-year period between the time of Officer Suarez’s August 2019 arrest and June 2026.”
Furthermore, the filing argues “there is every reason to believe that the hiding of Brady evidence extends far beyond Officer Suarez’s conduct and is the product of a long-established undisclosed policy designed to conceal Brady evidence.”
The filing points to a June 2021 news article wherein a spokesperson for the LBPD told reporters that it does not maintain a formal list of officers whose case involvement triggers Brady disclosures, but that it “continues to comply with its obligations to share such information.”
By that time, Suarez’s assault case was nearly two years old and, according to Jacobs’ defense, had never been disclosed.
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