Showing posts with label local criminal activity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label local criminal activity. Show all posts

July 5, 2013

Lakewood, CA Fireworks Report July 2013


It has been 7 years since the explosion on Dunrobin and apparently memories have faded for all the good reasons to sell fireworks in Lakewood (and all the neighboring co-conspiring cities):

1. To piss off all the people in Long Beach that thought they were safe from Lakewood's mania..

2. To ensure that slave labor children in India and China continue to be gainfully employed with full OSHA safety regulations protecting them..

3. To make sure safety is job 1

4. Fireworks never start fires in developed areas!....

5. To ensure that LA Sheriff's dept. employees get enough overtime to get that new boat..

6. To make sure our pets are patriotic as well.

Long ago we said that if "civic" clubs in Lakewood really wanted to raise some cash (for uniforms!?) they would sell pot. Quite frankly that is much less offensive, toxic and dangerous than fireworks. How many people a year are injured by Pot? (this is not an endorsement of Pot use by the way; we are just making a point). Lakewood might go for that as after all its for a good cause. What you're selling is really not that important if its for a good cause, right?

Seriously folks we would like to know what is spent on "special" fireworks enforcement and advertising each year versus the net profits the "civic" clubs make on these fireworks sales. I suspect they are close. So the city should just give the money to the clubs and call its a wash.

Patriotism is not found in Chinese fireworks. Sorry. We had to laugh at a neighbor down the street who (unwittingly) flies a faded flag night a day that is shredded to pieces. Is he patriotic? Veterans and Boy Scouts would say no. But by God he was out there supporting the troops with Chinese fireworks! Amazing. You want to be be patriotic Lakewood residents? There are about 42,000 of you registered to vote in the city and about 3,500 you vote for city council every 4 years (if we even have an election). That is sickening and pathetic. How about starting there. I am going to guess that very few lighting the fireworks in Lakewood voted in the last City Council election.

We can wait until the environmental agencies catch up and overtake the fireworks lobby which has lots of friends in Sacramento. After all who could be against the "essence of Patriotism". Didn't George Washington support fireworks? Let me check Fox News on that... Its like speaking out against NSA "wholesale spying" which keeps you "safe"! So America (Lakewood) light your fireworks and turn on your phone's tracking. Be a proud American. Lets not call them fireworks. Lets call them PatriotBombs! (oh on second thought maybe not...) lol...

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™ click here to receive LAAG posts by email

April 29, 2011

Crime mapping in Lakewood gets a facelift (once it comes on line)

We of course were not surprised when the Sheriff's dept. (LASD) managed to once again drop the ball on crime reporting. We applaud the LASD in trying to find a cheaper (not sure how much cheaper or if better) alternative to crimereports.com which they have been using for some time as we reported. What bothers us the most is that the city of Lakewood NEVER even mentioned crimereports.com on their website or in any other literature we can find. Why? The Press Telegram did not even mention this safu below with the transition to crimemapping.com. We mentioned crimereports.com when we first happened upon it by accident in January 2009. Only time will tell if crimemapping.com gives us better detail and more customization than crimereports.com. In addition, one must remember that these third party privately run websites are only as good and as timely as the data supplied by LASD. One must also remember that these are only incidents that are reported AND where a report is taken or an incident number is assigned. In most cases people don't even bother to report stuff to Lakewood LASD as nothing good ever comes of it. And none of us will ever know how much of that crime goes unreported. (in speaking with some recent victims of Lakewood burglaries we were told by the victims that reporting it to Lakewood LASD was a total waste of time)

When we recently heard of a rash of residential Lakewood burglaries in March and April 2011 we became even more interested in the realtime crime data. Also we learned that the LASD Cerritos substation puts out a weekly crime related email with maps and a very nice one page summary of significant crime trends (and some insight) for residents to keep on the lookout for. Now what puzzled us is why is Cerritos substation putting out these weekly crime reports when Lakewood is not? Could it be that Cerritos has more crime than Lakewood? Hardly. They also have the same Sheriff service Lakewood does. Cerritos LASD also still uses crimereports.com and will be using crimemapping.com in addition to the email summaries they are sending out unlike Lakewood LASD. Its key to note that the emailed reports come from the CITY of Cerritos (crime_information@cerritos.us), not LASD (lasd.org). So there you have it. The difference is that the Cerritos city council acknowledges that crime exists in their city and they want their residents to be aware of an uptick etc in crime or abnormal pattern and the types of crime as well as where the hotspots are. Now on the other hand the Lakewood city council (which happens to have a Sheriff sitting on it) does not want to even acknowledge that there is any crime in Lakewood as this hurts reelection. So the best way to pretend there is no crime in Lakewood is to make sure the city never officially acknowledges any (by sending out crime reports like Cerritos) other than to say at the end of the year "crime is down..." Oh great. What about the rash of burglaries in North Lakewood. Oh well those just get merged into the overall yearly rate. Problem Solved. If you want to dig a little deeper you are on your own. The city of Lakewood is not going to help you and they are not going to ask LASD to help you either. Again as we said before there are lies, damn lies and statistics. Denial is not just a river folks. Again lack of transparency is very "apparent" when you take even a little bit of a closer look at what is going on in this city.


Sheriff's online crime data unavailable as department switches software
By Brian Day, Staff Writer
Posted: 04/28/2011
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_17952798

LOS ANGELES COUNTY - Online public crime information from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is temporarily unavailable as the agency switches to a new crime reporting software, officials said.

For more than a year, the sheriff's department has provided limited information about the type, time and locations of crimes reported to the department via the website Crimereports.com. Several other Los Angeles County agencies, including the Baldwin Park, Covina and Whittier police, also provide crime information to the public via Crimereports.com.

The department has elected to start using a new system, effective this weekend, officials said, and the process has had the unintended consequence of no online crime information being posted on Crimereports.com since April 18.


"We don't know what the glitch was, but we're going to get it fixed," Los Angeles County sheriff's Capt. Michael Parker said.

"It was supposed to be seamless," Parker added of the transition between crime reporting systems.

The sheriff's department has paid for services from Crimereports.com through Saturday, Parker said, so it was unclear why crime data is no longer being updated. Once informed of the issue, authorities began looking into it.

Starting this weekend, Parker said, sheriff's officials will post crime data on the website Crimemapping.com, which is already used by agencies including Pasadena, Los Angeles, Arcadia and Sab Gabriel police.

When sheriff's data begins to show up on Crimemapping.com this weekend, Parker said, it will likely take a week or two to work out all the bugs.

"We expect glitches, because that's what happens when you do a big transition," he said.


Once in place, Crimamapping.com will retroactively pull all crime data from the previous six months

The switch is designed to provide better information to the public at a reduced cost to the sheriff's department, Parker said.

"We have changed systems because we found a system that was less expensive and was able to provide more information to public," he said.

Read more: http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_17952798#ixzz1KwU1TI7F



Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™ click here to receive LAAG posts by email

April 8, 2011

justice really slows down when the criminal is a deputy sheriff

This story below just popped up today on the news wires and in the interest in thoroughness (unlike some media) we wanted to post a follow up as we had posted on this years ago. A few things the nice little news article below does mention. First this first surfaced in October 2008 as we first noted and that was for a crime going back to 2001!  And just now Deputy Dyer is pleading no contest..in April 2011... two and half years later? Are you kidding me? For a no contest plea? What took so long? There was no trial. The no contest plea is used when the criminal wants to avoid the plea from being used against him in any later civil action. It is good to see that he is paying the money back. Ill bet he serves no jail time on this regardless of the three year potential. I also note he is apparently paying the money back with no interest? Nice. I guess the taxpayers can foot that bill as all the cities are hurting right now (many due to paying guys like Dyer). Also he must have a really sweet pension from LASD as a reward for all his good years of thievery in order to cough up $550,000 so fast. (44k in back taxes likely means you have a substantial income). I see he paid for the investigation costs. But was he given a free defense attorney via the LASD union (ALADS) which in the end comes out of your pockets? One final note. In a way its a good thing Lakewood never tows any cars...we would just have this to worry about as well.


Retired deputy pleads no contest to embezzling $450,000
From wire service reports
Posted: 04/08/2011 07:28:42 AM PDT
http://www.dailybreeze.com/latestnews/ci_17801387

A retired Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy pleaded no contest Thursday to a felony count for embezzling about $450,000 in towing fees that were intended for the city of La Puente.

Joseph Dyer, 56, pleaded no contest to one count of a public officer crime, according to Deputy District Attorney Amy Pellman Pentz.

Dyer is facing three years in state prison when sentenced May 31 by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen Marcus.

Dyer supervised the impound program at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Industry Station and collected towing fees from residents between June 2001 and December 2007 that should have been paid to the city of La Puente, according to the District Attorney's Office.

Dyer's wife, Lydia, 47, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of filing a false tax return and was immediately sentenced to one year of probation.

The couple repaid the sheriff's department $554,588, which included the loss along with $100,000 toward the costs of the investigation, according to the District Attorney's Office.

They also paid just over $44,000 in back taxes to the state's Franchise Tax Board, according to the District Attorney's Office.


Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™ click here to receive LAAG posts by email

April 23, 2009

Sheriff's fail to timely warn parents of school molester

The print media failed to pick up on the anger most Lakewood parents have expressed at LASD (Lakewood Sheriff's) in TV news reports. Most were rightfully upset when they realized that this crime occurred on April 14 2009 (Tuesday) yet nothing was released to the media until the story appeared on the news on April 22, 2009 (Wed). No excuse for the delay was given by LASD. It seems to us that if you want to catch a perpetrator you get the sketch out the same day the crime it occurs, not EIGHT days later. This is especially true if you want to warn parents and teachers to protect against the perpetrator who could strike again. Way to go Lakewood Sheriff's department. I guess the school kids were not the only ones on vacation last week.

Sheriff's (LASD) Search For Lakewood Child Molester
LAKEWOOD, Calif. (CBS) ―

Sheriff's deputies want the public to be on the lookout for a man who exposed himself to a 12-year-old girl attending a spring break program at a Lakewood elementary school.

The girl was walking down a hallway at Samuel Gompers Elementary on April 14 when she was approached by the man, Sheriff's spokeswoman Sgt. Diane Hecht said.

The man put his hands on the girl's hips, then exposed himself and began laughing. He walked out of the school a few seconds later, Hecht said.

The suspect was described as a man between 18 and 25 years of age. He is approximately 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs about 160 pounds. He has crooked teeth, spiked blond hair and blue eyes, as well as a tattoo of a snake or dragon on the left side of his neck. He was also wearing a hoop earring.

He drove away in a champagne-colored, four-door Chevrolet Tahoe.

Anyone with information about his identity or whereabouts can call Sgt. Dan Scott of the Special Victims Bureau at (562) 946-8282, or a 24-hour tip line at (866) 247-5877.


Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

February 17, 2009

Taser Reunion.

Talk about timing. Well obviously the filing of this Dupree taser lawsuit could not have been a coincidence. On the heels of the February 14, 2009 taser death in Lakewood here comes the Federal lawsuit for last years screw up which paralyzed the victim. Sheriff's Baca's former bodyguard made the call to use the taser. Seriously you could write novels and TV shows using the real life antics of the Sheriff's Department. As long as there is no crime or serious incidents they are fine. But once something happens that requires command decisions or judgement or follow thru, look out. Disaster is just around the corner. But hey no worries. The taxpayers just bail out the Sheriff's and the screw up officers move on to their next screw up. Great system. Cost effective too.

We keep saying it over and over. The screwups have to go. These are the same types of screwups that started this website in March 2006. That was when the Sheriff's could not connect the dots on "fireworks man" Brian Miller who finally blew his house up with illegal fireworks and damaged others. Many people filed complaints for years. Nothing happened. The same incompetence is at work with Dupree. Even if these incidents dont affect you directly they are getting costly for us to pay as this all gets added to Lakewood's "LASD bill" at the end of the year. This and all the screw ups from the rest of the other LASD stations. So what can we do? Nothing I guess as our city council is powerless over them or fearful of them (apparently) and one of their own sits on the city council so its a little hard for the City Council to criticise LASD. Internal investigations are a complete waste of time unless outside investigators are involved. I don't know what it is. I would like to blame management but I don't think that is all of it. I think its just poor training, too large of an agency, poor over sight and management practices due to poor management vision, an aging infrastructure built upon unnecessary secrecy, and people that are just not qualified to do the job, which is sad given that they are some of the highest paid in the country.

The information below is from www.officer.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=45457 (a pro police website) LAAG comments are in italics

On Tuesday [2/17/09], sheriff's officials said five deputies, including a lieutenant, were disciplined for their roles in the case. The lieutenant was demoted to the rank of sergeant, officials said. [LAAG: this incident occurred in Feb 2007 and the deputies were just now disciplined TWO years later? Or was that just an announcement date? If the latter when exactly did the internal investigation conclude?]

Michael Gennaco, head of the Office of Independent Review, which monitors the Sheriff's Department, said the top supervisor was demoted for his actions in approving the Taser usage because the decision "fell below the performance expectations for the department."

Gennaco said the department has since enacted a policy for cell extraction in the station jails to prevent such events from occurring again. "When a Taser is used on someone on top of a bunk, it doesn't take much to realize the outcome will be a person falling," he said. [LAAG: so lets get this straight; the incident is in Feb 2007 and LASD still did not have a policy regarding using a taser in custody situations and they are the largest jailer in the USA? Great management and forethought for one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the country. Just wing it I guess and rely on "quick thinking" deputies and the taxpayers to "remedy" bad situations]


Man paralyzed in Taser incident sues L.A. County Sheriff's Department
12:36 PM, February 17, 2009
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/02/jail-bunk-bed.html

A man left paralyzed below the chest after he fell from the top bunk of a jail bed at the Lakewood sheriff's station when a deputy used a stun gun on him sued the department today for violating his civil rights.

Blake Dupree filed the federal lawsuit for battery, assault and negligence against the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, several deputies and two sheriff’s supervisors for the incident, much of which was captured on videotape. The two supervisors are the subject of an internal misconduct investigation for authorizing the use of a stun gun because Dupree refused to come out of his cell and submit to electronic fingerprinting.

According to the lawsuit, Dupree was standing from four to seven feet above the concrete jail floor on a bunk with his hands raised in a defensive posture Feb. 27, 2007, when he was stunned with a Taser gun, which delivers a 50,000-volt shock. The suit alleges Dupree fell and, instead of giving him medical treatment, sheriff’s supervisors ordered him to stand up and deputies carried him to the fingerprint area and dumped him on the floor.

“Defendants’ actions rendered Plaintiff paraplegic. Plaintiff has no use of his mid to lower torso or legs, and limited use of his arms,” wrote Dupree's attorney, Justin Sanders. "Deputies knew Dupree’s muscles would be incapacitated by the electro-muscular disruption of the Taser rendering him unable to break his fall."

Sheriff Lee Baca told The Times last year that "common sense" should have dictated that using the Taser on Dupree was inappropriate while he was on the bunk and likely to fall as a result of being shocked. The suit was filed after settlement negotiations broke down with the 22-year-old Dupree in Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey.

After the incident, the Sheriff’s Department launched an investigation to determine whether use of the Taser violated department policy, Sanders said. Department rules prohibit using the device on "persons in danger of falling or becoming entangled in machinery or heavy equipment which could result in death or serious bodily injury."

Despite the prohibition, the policy allows for supervisors to decide whether use of a Taser is warranted on a case-by-case basis. Lt. James Tatreau Jr., who authorized the use of the device on Dupree, was reassigned to administrative duties along with an unnamed sergeant. Tatreau, a former driver and bodyguard for Baca, had previously organized a game called "Operation Any Booking," in which deputies competed to see how many people they could arrest.

Dupree had been arrested after he allegedly took his mother’s car without her permission. At the jail, he acted erratically and refused to cooperate, deputies said. According to Sheriff’s Department reports obtained by The Times, Dupree was given a verbal warning by Tatreau, who had conferred with the sergeant on the scene, and a deputy was ordered to fire the equivalent of a warning shot by activating the Taser, allowing Dupree to hear its buzz.

After the warnings, Dupree stood on the bunk and began to move toward the edge, in the direction of the deputies, according to sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore. It was then that a deputy shot Dupree with the Taser, causing him to fall to the floor.

-- Richard Winton


Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

Update on Lakewood Taser Death

Click here for our prior posting

Lots of Speculation out there. All the speculation about the deceased being on drugs has no basis. We will know that after today's autopsy. We should also know the cause of death. We had an anonymous poster send us information claiming that she was the fiance of this man, was present at the event and that that she had been with him all day and he had not taken anything but cold medicine. We have no information on this mans size. We do know he was black from the LASD press release and that multiple taser"s" were used per the press release. We have also checked his name (from the story below) and we know that the only residence address that shows up for him is near the 10 freeway and LA Brea Ave. in Los Angeles. So its not clear what he was doing near Del Amo and Bellflower Blvd. at the time of the incident. We do not know how many Sheriff's were present or if video or pictures were taken or who the witnesses were. LASD has not posted its taser policy if they even have one. Figures. It is also not known what taser training the Lakewood deputies involved had. All we could find of interest was a 2002 press release from taser regarding LASD purchases of "292 additional ADVANCED TASER® M26 less-lethal weapons" and this report from Merrick Bob of the "Police Assessment Resource Center" (he also investigates LASD "events gone wrong") on the November 2006 UCLA Library taser event which looks pretty detailed as far as Taser policy and use guidelines. All we know from the Oakland BART shooting and many others is that you better have video of the entire event as close calls on excessive use of force usually are made in favor of the cops as far as most juries that have decided the issue as most juries think cops never make mistakes as this story documents quite well. As we said before if you see LASD grab your video camera. It is not clear who it may help in the end but we do know that it changes jurors perceptions of the event. Its not perfect as we know the jurors are not in the "heat of the moment" and are second guessing what was done but we do think having an objective "eye" on the police operation never hurts the truth.


Man who died after being Tasered is ID'd
From wire service reports
Posted: 02/17/2009 06:37:24 AM PST
http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_11721856

LAKEWOOD - Authorities today identified a man who died after being pepper-sprayed and shocked with a Taser by sheriff's deputies in Lakewood.

An autopsy was pending today to determine the cause of death of Chenard Kierre Winfield, 32, of Los Angeles, said coroner's Lt. Larry Dietz.

Deputy Art Spencer said the sheriff's department got a report of a disturbance or fight near Silva Street and Dunrobin Avenue about 10:15 p.m. Saturday.

Deputies found a "very large" man running naked in the street, who then "advanced on the deputies in a threatening manner," prompting them to use pepper spray and at least one Taser stun gun on the man, Spencer said.

Once the man was handcuffed, deputies noticed that he was not breathing and started cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, according to Spencer.

Winfield was declared dead at a hospital, Dietz said.

A video crew at the scene reported that law enforcement officers, talking via radio, described the man as possibly under the influence of PCP.

According to an Amnesty International report in December, 334 people shocked with Tasers by law enforcement died in the United States between June 2001 and August 2008.

California and Florida were the states with the highest numbers of law- enforcement-related Taser deaths during the seven-year period under study --55 and 52, respectively.


Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

February 15, 2009

Another serious taser incident (death) in Lakewood

click here for our story update posted 10:30 am 2/17/09

Here is what we want to know after reading the very sketchy details from below. It seems pretty obvious that a naked guy does not have any concealed weapons of any kind. Also safe to assume he has some mental issues or drug or intoxication issues going on. So how does he end up dead? Had to use both pepper spray and taser and handcuffs? Why would two or more Taser guns be needed? Why ask for another taser? Too bad it was dark and no video was taken. We highly recommend videoing any LASD "unusual events" or arrests. Rest assured we will get no useful details from LASD on this. We will start the countdown for when the deceased's heirs file a wrongful death lawsuit against the county (taxpayers). They will have to get in line however as there are quite a few ahead of them. This seems to us to be standard operating procedure over at LASD. When in doubt do as much harm as you like to innocent people if there is a chance that the officer could end up in a non lethal scuffle. At LASD when you kill a guy for no reason the officers usually get put on "administrative leave" which means a paid vacation for three-6 months for those of you that cont speak "LASD speak". Oh by the way what ever happened to that February 27, 2008 taser incident (involving victim Blake Dupree)in LASD custody? Hmm never heard another thing about it. I guess the LASD needs to read where the Orange County Grand Jury recommended in June 2008 that deputies no longer use the weapon if other means to control inmates are available. Its all in its annual report, "The State of the Orange County Jails". So do we assume there was a quiet settlement of million with no wrongdoing admitted by LASD? Comments LASD?



Nude man in Lakewood dies after LA Sheriff's Deputies use Taser
Posted: 02/15/2009 01:13:44 PM PST
http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_11711712
By Kelly Puente

Staff Writer

LAKEWOOD - A man running naked on a quiet Lakewood street died after sheriff's deputies shocked him with a Taser gun, authorities said Sunday.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Art Spencer said Lakewood deputies responded to a disturbance call in the 5700 block of Silva Street at 10:15 p.m. Saturday.

Spencer said deputies found a "very large" man running naked in the street and acting irrationally.

Deputies tied to calm the man but he remained belligerent, Spencer said. When he advanced at them in a threatening manner, Spencer said deputies used pepper spray and at least one Taser stun gun to subdue him.

Shortly after the man was handcuffed, deputies realized he was not breathing and began to administer CPR, Spencer said. The man, whose identify has not been released, was pronounced dead at a hospital.

No deputies were injured, Spencer said, adding that the incident is under investigation. Deputies have not said how many Taser guns were used. No further information was available Sunday.

Residents in the suburban neighborhood said the silence was suddenly broken Saturday night when a nude man began wandering down the street, banging on doors and cars.

Neighbors Norma Ramirez and Nancy Wright were both in their homes when they heard police sirens and a helicopter.

Wright said she opened her door to a flood of more than two dozen sheriff's deputies on her
street. Neighbors gathered outside while authorities set up yellow crime scene tape in front of three houses, Wright said.

"(Deputies) told us to go back inside our homes, but we just kind of stepped back a little," Wright said.

The women said they heard from other neighbors that a man had been wandering down the street and darted through a gate into someone's backyard after police arrived.

Ramirez said she heard a deputy shout, "Get me another Taser!" followed by another deputy shouting, "We need CPR!"

Paramedics arrived shortly after, she said.

Wright and Ramirez said they did not know if the man was a neighbor, or someone who had wandered into the area.

"It's scary," Wright said. "You don't see things like this in our neighborhood."


Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

January 28, 2009

LASD just collects eveidence, they dont solve crimes

How anybody could have any faith in the Sheriff's department is beyond me. What is even sadder is Lakewood taxpayers shell out 9 million a year for all this incompetence. They even have the gall to tell us that part of the 9 million is for the "benefit" of their crime lab and accompanying expertise. As was pointed out in an earlier story "CSI" is PURE fantasy. The actors in those shows actually care about solving crimes and solve 100% of them. If I didn't know better I would think CSI was paid for by the Sheriff's department as a PR campaign. but then again they are not smart enough to do that and don't need to bother anyway as they have most Lakwoodians believing they are "effective and efficient" crime fighters/deterrents. Here is an example of a case that will NOT be solved with DNA. Quite frankly if I know of anyone who has suffered from a serious crime I tell them to hire private labs and investigators. Forget relying on the Sheriff's department. All the train wrecks at LASD make metro rail trains look good. If you are a criminal what message is this sending? That you will likely get away with your crime (well unless you hurt a cop) then they spare no expense.

Update 4-24-09: PBS "Now" show did a really good expose on this issue called "Justice Delayed". Mostly dealt with LAPD but they also mentioned the problem with LASD. It really makes you realize the scope of the problem on a human scale. Basically billions has been spent on the problem with very little to show for it. I guess we need more criminalists than cops on the street as the cops on the street are not the ones that solve crimes. Just ask the CSI TV folks.

From the Los Angeles Times
Wider scope of backlog in L.A. County sheriff's DNA testing is revealed
815 sexual assault cases with untested DNA and no suspects have been tallied so far; statute has expired on 51 of them.
By Joel Rubin

January 28, 2009

DNA evidence has gone untested in more than 800 rape and sexual assault cases even though detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and other smaller agencies have no suspects in those crimes, authorities acknowledged Tuesday.

The number is far larger than officials had anticipated and revealed a breakdown in the way the Sheriff's Department went about testing genetic evidence until recent reforms were enacted. For months, sheriff's officials sought to downplay concerns over a massive backlog of untested DNA evidence by suggesting that the crimes had been resolved by other means.

Compounding the problem was the revelation that in 51 of the 815 cases tallied so far, the genetic evidence has sat untested in county storage freezers for more than a decade -- so long that state laws now prohibit officials from arresting anyone even if belated genetic testing were to definitively identify a suspect.

"You've got a bunch of evidence sitting there that is potentially a smoking gun," said L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky to a contrite Cmdr. Earl M. Shields, who oversees the department's Technical Services division. "It could be the silver bullet to getting a suspect in a sexual assault case, and it's just sitting there."

Shields reported the troubling figures as part of a presentation to county supervisors on the sheriff's ongoing attempt to work through a backlog of untested samples of semen, saliva, blood and other genetic evidence collected from victims after an alleged sexual attack. Currently 4,738 of the so-called sexual assault kits in county storage facilities remain untested -- about 20% of them from other police agencies in the county that rely on the sheriff's crime laboratory for DNA analysis.

Sheriff's officials have managed to gather information on only about two-thirds of the backlogged cases so far, meaning that the number of investigations without any suspects or those that have fallen out of statute is likely to rise.

Until late last year, the Sheriff's Department had followed a policy of testing DNA evidence only when investigators in the case requested it. After coming under pressure from advocacy groups and the Board of Supervisors about the growing backlog, Sheriff Lee Baca announced in November that the department's lab would test DNA evidence in all cases regardless of whether the analysis was requested.

At the time, the Sheriff's Department -- as well as the Los Angeles Police Department, which came under similar scrutiny -- tried to minimize the significance of the size of the backlog. Both agencies indicated that the vast majority of untested kits were from cases in which investigators had determined the genetic evidence was not needed.

In November, Shields told supervisors that he expected an inventory of the sheriff's backlog would uncover very few, if any, examples in which investigators had no leads on suspects and had not asked for DNA testing. "There should not be any [such] cases," he said. "We're hoping that that number will be zero."

On Tuesday he conceded under questioning from Yaroslavsky that "we were hoping the number would be much smaller." Without detailed information on each investigation, Shields was at a loss to explain why so many investigators had not asked for the evidence to be tested. He speculated they might have decided they "didn't have a valid, prosecutable case" because the accuser recanted or other fundamental problems arose.

"It was a judgment call on the part of the investigator," he said.

Sarah Tofte, a researcher with Human Rights Watch who has been pressing local law enforcement agencies around the country to address backlogs, questioned that logic. "Investigators may think that a victim's account lacks some veracity," she said, "but when someone reports to police that she's been raped, the default should always be, 'Let's test this kit and see what we find.' "

Unexamined evidence kits hold potentially crucial information. Through a complex scientific process, DNA analysts can extract a person's genetic code from the collected samples and compare it to those of known felons that are kept in federal and state databases. When the DNA sample collected at a crime scene or from a victim's body matches a DNA profile of someone in the database, it can offer prosecutors nearly irrefutable proof of the person's guilt. The evidence can also be used to confirm that someone has not falsely confessed to a crime or link someone to other unsolved cases.

LAPD Deputy Chief Charlie Beck declined to reveal how many cases for which LAPD detectives have no suspects and have not pursued DNA testing. A recent inventory of the LAPD's untested kits has been completed, but the results are not yet final, he said.

Like the LAPD, the Sheriff's Department has struggled to devise a financially feasible plan to eliminate its DNA backlog. Both agencies are currently increasing the number of in-house lab analysts to handle the constant influx of new cases, while also plotting out ways to outsource the backlogged cases to private labs. Each kit costs about $1,000 to process.

Shields told L.A. County supervisors that he would soon present Baca with a proposed plan and said it would take "years" to clear the backlog. In an interview, he declined to provide specifics.

Time is a major factor: More than 100 sheriff's cases are within six months of reaching the state's 10-year statute of limitations, Shields reported.

joel.rubin@latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-me-dna-missed28-2009jan28,0,6848082.story

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

Suspect impersonating Sherriffs?

This is a bad start to the new year, just yesterday there was a horrible home invasion robbery. And today was the state of the city address. (No doubt there were a number of Sheriff's over there for a free lunch as opposed to patrolling) Hopefully this offender is not a repeat offender. This story as written below also does not make sense as they noted that he presented himself as a police officer (Sheriff maybe?) but then below they note "He was wearing a gray sweat shirt with red writing and black sweat pants with white stripes down the sides." How do you pull off being an officer dressed like that. Something is not right here. Also lets hope that this is not a real cop. Finally there is not much hope of catching this guy if we leave it up to "CSI" Lakewood Sheriffs.

Fake Cop Rapes, Kidnaps Girl, 14, In Lakewood

Sheriff's deputies Tuesday asked for the public's help in finding a man dressed up as a police officer before raping and kidnapping a 14-year-old girl in Lakewood.

The man shined a flashlight at two girls and presented himself as a police officer as he got out of a sport utility vehicle Friday at about 8:45 p.m. in the 12000 block of Gradwell Street, near Hawaiian Gardens, according to Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Al Garcia.

The suspect then punched one girl, who fell to the ground, as the man grabbed the other girl, forcing her into his vehicle, Garcia said.

He drove north on Claretta Avenue, then raped the girl before dropping her off near where he first grabbed her, Garcia said.

The man was described as white, 20 to 30 years old, bald, about 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing 200 pounds. He was wearing a gray sweat shirt with red writing and black sweat pants with white stripes down the sides.

He was driving a white, four-door older sport utility vehicle with tinted rear windows.

Investigators asked anyone with information on the case to call the Special Victims Bureau at (866) 247-5877.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

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January 27, 2009

Another home invasion robbery

If more than a few of these occur we are going to be concerned. We also suspect many of these are not reported in the media. This is a story we did last year on another one. We will see if this shows up on the new crime reports page This home invasion is near Norwalk Blvd and Del Amo.

From wire services
Posted: 01/27/2009 06:44:16 AM PST

LAKEWOOD - Four armed bandits staged a home invasion robbery in Lakewood today, reportedly taking some $5,000 in cash and several other items.

The robbery occurred in the 20800 block of Belshire Avenue near 207th Street about 1:30 a.m., said Lt. Minh Dinh of the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department's Lakewood Station.

Armed with handguns, the four bandits tied up the home's occupants before fleeing with four I-phones, $5,000 in cash, some wallets and keys, and other miscellaneous items, deputies told an On Scene Video camera crew at the robbery scene.

Dinh said the holdup was under investigation and that detectives were interviewing the victims.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

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January 11, 2009

CrimeReports.com..first impressions

Leave it to the City of Lakewood to make sure its citizens are the last to know about new developments that really affect them. We noticed over on www.LBReport.com that LBPD unveiled a third party crime stats website that looks pretty good so far. It is called CrimeReports.com. Users can log in to receive customized crime reports and set up an auto emailed report telling them crimes that have been reported with a certain distance from their selected address. Clearly it took some real private sector brains and capital to put this together using raw data supplied by a number of local agencies, including LASD and LBPD. LAAG has been requesting this type of site from the city for some time. It looks like this was a joint effort by multiple cities and agencies but for some unknown reason Lakewood did not want to tell its residents about the service. Nothing on Lakewood's website as of today nor any emails from the city on this new site. Of course we saw no mention of the site on the LASD.org site either which is not really surprising as the LASD.org site wins the prize for the poorest design, poorest user friendly navigation and poorest up to date information of any law enforcement agency of that size (8,000 officers and counting). Given that this CrimeReports.com site was given information by most if not all LASD contract cities, you would have thought that they would have wanted to get the word out. The CrimeReports.com site appears to have data all the way back to July 1, 2008, however we are still trying to determine when the site went live for Lakewood residents to use.

Here are things we like from what we can see so far:

* alerts can be set up and emailed to you;
* it is multi jurisdictional so that you can see crime occurring just over the city border and how your city fares compared to other cities and neighborhoods;
* it seems to be fairly up to date showing crime occurring in the current day; this will likely vary depending on when the LASD releases crime data and when the site owner updates the map; this is likely an automated schedule;
* it is Google maps based so its user friendly;
* it includes registered sex offender information and a fairly good selection of crimes;
* users can drill down by crime, location and time;

Limitations or areas requiring further study or refinement:

* Not clear on how many total days the crime info is kept in the system in a viewable way;
* Not clear how to get printable reports (as opposed to mapped reports);
* Not clear how information gets into this site or its accuracy;
* Clearly this is reported or officer observed crimes but does not report all call data where a report was not generated;
* Not clear what crimes are not on the report, such as quality of life issues i.e. noise complaints, fireworks, parking issues;
* Not clear how far back the data goes or how long it will be available on the site;
* Not clear what this is costing Lakewood taxpayers or if it is included in the LASD $9 million a year contract cost to Lakewood. From the CrimeReports.com website they report the following monthly fees:

For Universities $49/month
Up to 50K citizens $99/month
Over 50K citizens $199/month (likely Lakewood so $2400 per year)

"Custom pricing applies to agencies serving contract jurisdictions. Please contact us for additional information"

If all this costs is 2400 a year its a good deal as that is about what one day of vacation time costs the city for one LASD deputy!!

Once we work with the site in more detail we will report further. Once you have used the site please give LAAG your feed back on this crime site at updates@LAAG.us

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

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November 30, 2008

What's new...more LASD proposed spending with little accomplished

LAAG does not approve of LA County Executive Officer Fujioka's $400,000 a year salary but I guess he is earning part of it by using some common sense. It looks like he has nixed a so called "gang operations center" which Sheriff Baca was promoting as part of this anti gang "proposal" (polite word for it). Baca has proven before that he is not a manager and not a cost containment or "under budget" guy nor is his department known for that.

Our problem with new "operations centers" for LASD is that they seen to turn into more "relaxation" centers than they do work centers. The $20 million dollar new substation built in Lakewood (with a huge LASD motorhome to go with it!) has not been responsible for one more arrest in Lakewood (nor would taxpayers know as no current detailed crime stats are posted for Lakewood). We need less "palace building" and more "police patrolling". The more you build these "centers" the more likely deputies will want to congregate in them as opposed to being on the street.

Sheriff Baca is also seeking "Patriot Act" types of leeway. Next I suppose we will hear the line that they want to use "enhanced interrogation" techniques. The problem with all this waiving of Constitutional protections is that it does not ever appear to yield to much in the way of real crime reduction and is often abused when placed in the hands of law enforcement with no checks whatsoever (by judges) on its abuse.

Also every time Sheriff Baca proposes something to the county its all take and no give. The taxpayers give him millions and what do they get in return from the Sheriff's?...nothing, well at least no tangible commitments in writing. Just empty promises. Not more work per deputy but more deputies hired with less work now done by each. The old union technique (also used effectively by the teachers unions in their mantra to reduce class size). Here is an example of what we get when we dole out more money to the LASD.

Another thing we dont see is more realtime crime statistics from LASD to back up this need. The devil is in the details as they say.


From the Los Angeles Times
Delays plague L.A. County's anti-gang program
The county's chief executive is expected to announce two pilot programs next month, more than a year after deadline.
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-gang30-2008nov30,0,7862190,full.story

November 30, 2008

Los Angeles County leaders, who more than a year and a half ago promised to revamp their $105-million-a-year gang intervention effort, are still months away from a new strategy, hobbled by repeated delays and haggling over details.

William T Fujioka, the county's chief executive, is scheduled to unveil his plan for county supervisors Dec. 16, more than a year after the deadline first set by the supervisors. In contrast, Los Angeles city leaders moved forward months ago and have a dozen programs in place.

After much infighting, the county plan includes pilot sites in the Florence-Firestone neighborhood north of Watts and in the Pacoima area, where Los Angeles County sheriff's officials are working with Los Angeles and San Fernando police to combat gangs.

It remains unclear, however, how they will be structured, funded or monitored. Critics fault Fujioka and his staff for dragging their feet and downsizing the so-called Gangs and Violence Reduction Strategy while residents of unincorporated areas of the county targeted by gangs repeatedly asked for more help.

"It shouldn't have taken this long," said civil rights lawyer Connie Rice, whose public policy group, the Advancement Project, issued a report in January 2007 that called for a massive, coordinated regional effort to fight gangs and spurred a rethinking of both city and county efforts. The $593,000 report was commissioned and paid for by the city of Los Angeles.

Fujioka and his staff have been tight-lipped about details. The presentation has been pushed back twice this month as they met with Sheriff Lee Baca and his staff and supervisors' staffers to hash out details.

At next month's meeting, Fujioka plans to ask for four more months to develop the strategy and cost estimates, according to copies of his proposal released this month to supervisors' staffers.

Central to that draft is a controversial gang emergency operations center proposed by Baca that would allow county staff to waive confidentiality laws and share information about individuals involved with or at risk of becoming involved with gangs.

Late last month, Baca made a rare appearance at a supervisors' staff briefing and spent two hours pushing the center, which he proposed a year ago. He has asked for $3 million in his proposed budget for technology and staff to run the program.

"For every week or two that goes by, we don't know if we could have prevented a gang murder or a crime with the absence of this program," he said.

Supervisors' staffers have been insisting for months that the sheriff cannot waive confidentiality to fight crime. Earlier this month, a shouting match broke out between supervisors' and sheriff's staffers at a meeting to consider the latest draft of the strategy.

Fujioka said last week that the sheriff's proposed center no longer is part of his gang proposal, calling it too costly and unnecessary to the pilot programs. He declined to release a copy of his amended proposal until he presents it to the board.

"I'm not going to support" an emergency operations center, Fujioka said. "I don't see success as contingent on having a center."

Rice said the county's anti-gang strategy is being whittled down.

"Every letter I see, the program gets smaller and smaller," Rice said. The city of Los Angeles, she noted, "is already off to the races."

Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke first called for a reevaluation of the county's anti-gang strategy in May 2007, a month after Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced the city's new gang reduction plan based on the Advancement Project's report. The day after Burke's call for action, supervisors voted to have county staff review the report, as well as the city plans, and report back in four months with a new county strategy.

The review was hobbled by numerous stops and starts.

Fujioka took over the project after he became county chief executive in July 2007. Two months later, he appointed a committee of city, county and community officials, including Rice. Committee members gave him their recommendations in February, then stopped meeting.

Meanwhile, Gary Hearnsberger, head deputy district attorney, stepped down as the chairman of the county's Interagency Gang Task Force, a committee that is supposed to monitor anti-gang programs. The task force also stopped meeting in February and reconvened briefly earlier this month only to be briefed by Fujioka's staff on the new strategy and select a new chairman, Peter Shutan, deputy city attorney. It plans to meet monthly.

The last countywide spending report on anti-gang programs was released in July 2007. Supervisors requested an update in June but Fujioka postponed it, even after he received supervisors' approval to hire a county analyst to work on the strategy; the analyst is to be paid between $97,000 and $127,000.

Fujioka also postponed a cost analysis of the new strategy, due in June, until later this month.

His staff said they have not started it.

Asked about the delays, Fujioka said that perfecting a new strategy -- one he hopes to expand to other areas of the county at some point -- was not a short-term effort.

"This is not a six-month, two-year program. This is a paradigm shift, changing the culture in the county," Fujioka said.

Most recently, Fujioka said, he postponed unveiling the gang proposal from this month until December "out of courtesy" to new Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who takes office Monday.

He noted that the county continued to develop and fund anti-gang programs while the new proposal was being developed.

"It's not as if the county is completely frozen," Fujioka said.

"It's important that what we roll out works and that we get buy-in from all the different departments," he added.

He said that to blame his office alone for delaying the proposal would be "unfair" and "inaccurate."

Supervisors have been hesitant to criticize Fujioka's effort.

A spokeswoman for Supervisor Gloria Molina said her boss likes what she has heard about the strategy but has questions about how the county plans to hold anti-gang programs accountable for spending.

So far this much is clear: The county's initial plan will be much smaller in scope than what Los Angeles has in place.

Under the city's plan, proposed seven months ago, gang prevention programs are centralized in the neediest 12 gang-reduction zones, neighborhoods where gang violence is four times the citywide average.

Program managers in each zone, the last of whom started work last month, will receive $1 million a year in prevention funds, enough for each to target at least 200 children.

The county efforts are slated to start in Florence-Firestone, base of operations for the rival Florencia 13 and East Coast Crips gangs, and Pacoima, where an injunction is in place against the Pacoima Project Boys.

Fujioka said he chose the two neighborhoods because they are next to city gang reduction zones and will allow for city-county partnerships, and because they will show the new strategy can work in gang-dominated areas and those where gangs are at a tipping point.

"One could always say we'll do it in five areas, the five supervisory areas, but then you run the risk of spreading yourself too thin," Fujioka said. "We want the first effort to be successful."

Supervisors' staff said they "haggled" over which neighborhoods to target first.

Last year, Supervisor Don Knabe asked that the pilots include the Harbor Gateway area of his district, where some high-profile racially motivated crimes have occurred in recent years.

Knabe's staff argued that the area was as much of a "tipping point" community as Pacoima.

Fujioka said he ultimately decided against including Harbor Gateway because the area had not seen as much violent, gang-related crime as Pacoima, based on statistics provided by the Sheriff's Department. Harbor Gateway was also not adjacent to a city gang reduction zone.

The city's newly appointed "gang czar," the Rev. Jim Carr, served on the committee that developed the county strategy and said it would not move forward unless supervisors accepted a formula for placing anti-gang programs in neighborhoods where they are most needed, across district lines. He noted that City Council members compromised and placed gang reduction programs in eight of 15 council districts.

"We'll see if the county is able to also make that jump," Carr said. "I think it's the only way. It needs to be done based on need, not politics."

In Florence-Firestone, Maria Ortiz, a mother and elementary school aide, said she and her neighbors need help now.

"They're scared," she said. "They don't want their kids to join" gangs.

Ortiz began asking the county to intervene a few years ago after her family was intimidated by Florencia 13 gang members living on their block. Now, she said, other parents regularly ask her what steps they should take to keep their children out of gangs.

She directs them to the sheriff's substation. Deputies there coordinate after-school programs and have donated movies for children to watch during summer vacations. They count on discretionary money from the supervisors to run athletic programs.

Capt. James Hellmold, the substation commander, said deputies want to help at-risk youth but are short-staffed. He said they are looking forward to more resources and a plan from the county.

"We're sort of piecemealing these concepts," he said. "It's hard to engage in mentoring a kid in soccer games when you have somebody getting mugged on a street corner."

Hennessy-Fiske is a Times staff writer.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

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November 21, 2008

Graffiti and illegal use of fireworks lead to more serious crime study shows

This is an article that all cities and counties need to read. It is related to what LAAG has been saying all along. Blight and the increase of "reduced quality of life" crimes (like noise, litter code violations that lead to blight, fireworks etc.) lead to more crimes via a general feeling of lawlessness. This is the biggest complaint we have about the LASD and most cities they patrol. Small crimes and blight issues are not reported and not acted upon by cities and law enforcement and as a result overall crime increases. the biggest problem we have seen in Lakewood is the fact that even more serious crimes are going unreported as residents have totally given up on the LASD even responding at all to calls. Or if they bother showing up it is over an hour after a crime in progress is reported (usually property crimes). The officer responding sees no crime, takes no report and thus the crime statistics published by the sheriff are unrealistically low as most crime is never reported. This also increases the LASD's already dismal "crime solving rate" which they dont like to discuss. Their response to most property crimes is "hope you had insurance". Meaning you know were are never going to solve this.

We think the graffiti issue below is known by cities (which is why Lakewood has had to develop a graffiti program) but they dont like to discuss the connection to crime. Nor do they like to discuss the flip side of the issue: that more graffiti is evidence of (or rather the result of) a higher overall crime rate and as graffiti increases so does crime in that area. Why? Because graffiti is a sign of other criminals getting away with a crime and is a sign to other criminals that they can get away with other related crimes and escape detection and capture as well.

The full article form "Science Journal" is available to purchase online here

Graffiti study bolsters 'broken windows' theory
Dutch researchers find that in the presence of graffiti and trash, people are more likely to commit small crimes.

By Karen Kaplan
November 21, 2008
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-sci-graffiti21-2008nov21,0,4825718.story

In a series of real-world experiments, people exposed to graffiti, litter and other cues of lawlessness were more likely to commit small crimes, according to a study published today that bolsters the controversial "broken windows" theory of policing.

The idea is that low-level offenses like vandalism and panhandling create an environment that breeds bigger crimes. According to the theory, authorities can help head off serious violence by keeping minor infractions in check.

Dutch researchers tested the psychological underpinnings of the theory and found that signs of social disorder damped people's impulse to act for the good of the community, allowing selfish and greedy instincts to take over. The results appear in the journal Science.

Community policing strategies based on the "broken windows" theory have taken root in cities across the U.S. and around the world since it was proposed in 1982.

Most famously, New York City saw a 50% reduction in crime in the 1990s after then-Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and then-Police Commissioner William J. Bratton -- now head of the Los Angeles Police Department -- cracked down on squeegee-wielding panhandlers and the like. They credited the "broken windows" approach for their success.

An array of social scientists examined the city's crime statistics, and many of them concluded that factors like the booming economy and decline of crack cocaine were actually responsible for the dramatic improvement.

Kees Keizer, a graduate student at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, thought psychology and sociology could add to the debate. Human behavior is influenced by three competing instincts: to act in a socially appropriate manner, to do what feels good in the moment and to maximize one's resources. Keizer predicted that when there's less motivation to be socially appropriate, the other two impulses would take over.

To test this, he attached fliers for a fake sportswear store to the handlebars of bicycles parked in a shopping area. With no trash can nearby, shoppers returning to their bikes could either take the fliers with them or litter.

A wall near the bicycles had a sign indicating that graffiti was forbidden. When the wall was indeed graffiti-free, 33% of people left the fliers on the ground or attached them to other bikes. After Keizer painted graffiti on the wall, the percentage of litterers rose to 69%.

Keizer said littering jumped because the socially appropriate instinct -- to deposit the flier in a trash can -- was overtaken by the feel-good instinct to let someone else throw it away.

In other experiments, the presence of four shopping carts strewn about a parking lot in violation of posted signs boosted the percentage of people who littered to 58%, from 30%. The sound of illegal fireworks increased the percentage of litterbugs near a busy train station to 80%, from 52%.

To see whether social disorder would induce citizens to steal, Keizer left an envelope containing 5 euros (about $6.26) hanging conspicuously from a mailbox. When the mailbox was clean, 13% of passersby stole the envelope. When the mailbox was surrounded by trash, the percentage jumped to 25%, and when the mailbox was covered in graffiti, it rose to 27%.

"It is quite shocking that the mere presence of litter resulted in a doubling of the number of people stealing," Keizer said.

James Q. Wilson, the political scientist who developed the "broken windows" theory with George L. Kelling, said the Netherlands experiments bolstered his hypothesis.

"If public authorities worry about order, it affects the way people behave," said Wilson, now the Ronald Reagan Professor of Public Policy at Pepperdine University in Malibu.

But Bernard Harcourt, a professor of law and criminology at the University of Chicago who has done studies debunking "broken windows," said Keizer's scenarios were too quaint to take seriously.

"We don't care about those kinds of trivial, manipulated delinquent acts," he said. "What we care about is violence."

Kaplan is a Times staff writer.

karen.kaplan@latimes.com

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

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October 6, 2008

LAPD innovation needed at LA Sheriff's Dept.

Once again LASD (Los Angeles County Sheriff's Dept.) is way behind the times and LAPD (Los Angeles Police Dept.), an organization just as large as LASD and just as bureaucratic. Yet with forward thinking leadership via "Broadway Bill" Bratton (appointed not elected no less) we get some pretty innovative ideas. His crime mapping idea borrowed from his ideas while in NYC seems to be making progress. The latest idea is the tip site. We like the idea and will monitor its progress. Another idea is LAPDTV which this week is airing live crime scene work from the excavation of a possible burial site of a murder victim from the 1960's. Pretty innovative stuff. LAAG likes government transparency. That is very hard to come by with LASD. We all know what happens without oversight (i.e. the subprime mortgage financial mess).

Don't expect anything like this from LASD which is still policing in the 1970's. Time for some fresh leadership at LASD. Too bad we have to leave LASD leadership election up to the voters.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-text18-2008sep18,0,2533933.story
From the Los Angeles Times

LAPD unveils new tipster tool: anonymous text messages
Chief William J. Bratton says he hopes the new technology will generate more crime tips from the public.
By Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

September 18, 2008

Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton on Wednesday unveiled a new system allowing people to provide anonymous crime tips to police through text messages and the department's website.

Bratton said he hoped the new technology, which protects the sender's identity, would generate more crime tips to the LAPD from the public.

"Far too often, victims and witnesses are too afraid to come forward out of fear of retaliation. Today, we're changing that," said L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who appeared at a news conference with Bratton.

Villaraigosa demonstrated the new text message system, sending an anonymous message from a cellphone saying he had witnessed a robbery and that the suspect had entered a grocery store at 8th Street and Broadway. After sending the message, the mayor received a reply assigning him an alias, which he could use to contact police and provide additional information.

Messages from tipsters are delivered to the Los Angeles Police Department's Regional Crime Center, the agency's information hub for daily operations through which tips are relayed to detectives and patrol officers in the field. The system also allows officers to communicate with the anonymous sender via text messages, according to LAPD Capt. Joel Justice.

Justice said the text message system was already used by police in New York, Boston and San Diego.

Tipsters send text messages to 274637 -- which spells the word CRIMES -- then type LAPD. The message is routed through a national system to Los Angeles police. Tipsters will also be able to convey information on www.lapdonline.org by clicking on the WebTips icon.

At the news conference, law enforcement officials said they hoped the public would use the system to assist police in cracking high-profile crimes, such as the Aug. 2 slaying of L.A. County sheriff's Deputy Juan Escalante, who was attacked outside his Cypress Park home, and the string of 11 slayings in South Los Angeles dating back to 1985, which police say were committed by a serial killer.

"We need more clues than we have now," said LAPD Deputy Chief Charlie Beck, who is overseeing the serial killer investigation. "We will solve this crime, but we would rather solve it sooner rather than later." richard.winton@latimes.com


Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

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August 11, 2008

Likely Homicide near South St. and Woodruff St.

You can bet we will not hear anymore on this from LASD (Lakewood Sheriffs). They tend to sweep things like this under the rug. No details on if the body was in a house or just on the street. But if being investigated by homicide detectives I think it is likely that it is an obvious homicide. The 5900 block of Edgefield Street is right next to the intersection of Woodruff St. and South St. This is the LASD press release


Aug 11, 2008 4:45 am US/Pacific
Woman's Body Found In Lakewood
LAKEWOOD, Calif. (CBS) ― The death of a woman whose body was found in Lakewood was being investigated today by homicide detectives, a sheriff's deputy said.

The woman's body was discovered in the 5900 block of Edgefield Street,
near Woodruff Avenue, about 6:15 p.m. Sunday, said Deputy Byron Ward of the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau.

No further details were immediately available, he said.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email