Can't pick out the good guys from the bad guys

Well this makes complete sense now. The reason the LASD screws up so much is they hire bottom of the barrel people for $70,000+ of your tax dollars each year, which does not include gold plated pensions (to retire at 50) and lifetime healthcare for your family. Oh by all means hire more. Lakewood is falling all over itself to hire even more of these gems with its $800,000 in "Stimulus" money it is counting on (don't count your chickens before they hatch as they say) Just think each brand spanking new deputy sheriff we hire represents a whole career of mistakes (like taser deaths and shootings) that we we get to pay for on top of it. Oh and there wont be any stimulus money to pay for those lawsuits. Just since January of 2008 there were 36 lawsuits filed against the LASD in one district in federal court. That does not include state court filed suits or other personal injury claims that were settled before filing. The total is likely three times that number and that is just for 2008! Cops tell me that the reason for the high starting salary is to get high quality recruits. Well that theory is out the window. Sounds like union speak to me.

And this hiring has been going on since 2006? I guess that explains why things are going down hill so fast. It probably now takes two new deputies at twice they pay each to do the job of the one they replaced. And Baca wants to continue to highlight these guys in a reality TV show?

The news is certainly looking up for the Sheriff's department. What can the taxpayers do about it? Nothing as long as the city council does not care. Just hope you dont get tased


In new hiring push, Sheriff's Department gives jobs to deputies with criminal records
February 19, 2009
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/02/amid-an-aggress.html

Amid an aggressive push to bolster its ranks with thousands of new deputies, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department loosened its hiring practices and gave jobs to recruits who in the past would have been rejected, according to an LASD watchdog report released Thursday.

Among those hired were applicants with criminal records, drug and alcohol problems and financial woes. One recruit, for example, had been fired for excessive force from another police agency. Another was hired despite being a suspected car thief and resigned months later after being arrested on assault charges. A third candidate was a heavy marijuana and steroid abuser who had been arrested and convicted of underage drinking shortly before he applied to become an LASD deputy.

The report, written by the county’s Office of Independent Review, criticized the LASD for its 2006 decision to abandon a strict hiring policy, in which aspiring sheriff’s deputies were automatically disqualified if they failed to pass an exacting background check or any other part of the application process. In its place, the report found, the department adopted a more “holistic” approach that allowed applicants to be hired if officials determined they had reformed themselves or that past mistakes were insignificant.

The change came as the department was ramping up its hiring. Coming off several years of stiff budget constraints in which the size of the department shrank significantly, sheriff’s officials set out to make up for lost ground in 2006, more than doubling the number of hires from the year before.

“They had a mission and that mission was to hire deputies,” said Michael Gennaco, head of the Office of Independent Review, which oversees the LASD. “Unfortunately, it may have come at a price.”

-- Joel Rubin


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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Nordstrom "Rack" to open in Lakewood Center in Fall 2010

According to a press release dated Feb 18, 2009 Nordstrom, Inc. announced it will open a 33,400-square-foot Nordstrom Rack, a unit of the company's off-price retail division, at Lakewood Center in fall 2010. This will be the fourteenth Nordstrom Rack in the greater Orange County/Los Angeles area, including three new Rack stores scheduled to open in 2009 and 2010. The company also operates 16 Nordstrom stores in the Orange County/Los Angeles area, including a store at Los Cerritos Center in Cerritos, Calif. that will relocate to a brand new store within the mall in spring 2010. Nordstrom Rack is the company's off-price retail division offering savings of 30 to 70 percent on apparel and accessories. Apparently Lakewood is not upscale enough for a "regular" Nordstrom. Really, we assume it is only because Cerritos got theirs first and Lakewood's gamble on the Macy's store did not pay off. Oh well in this recession a "discount" Nordstroms will likely do better than a full price Nordstrom. But who knows what the economy will be like 2 years from now when it finally opens. No word on if a new store will be built or if it will occupy some existing space. Likely the former. Plus that will create JOBS! Also this appears to be a deal between the mall owner Macerich and Nordstroms and has nothing to do with any actions taken by the city council.

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

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™

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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

LASD "TV"

Again another classic Sheriff Baca management blunder. I guess all he was looking for was some quick private cash for some new sheriff toys or the hole in the CALPERS fund. Either way bad move. All the LASD TV show has done is lower morale even more among recruits and showcase how poorly they are trained. Great management decision right? All the show will be is Exhibit 1 in the upcoming taser trials.

So do you think there is any connection between the poor training and poor quality recruits they are getting and the taser incidents and shootings and all the other problems? Hmmm. I guess all they are interested in doing is hiring incompetents as fast as possible and giving them a gun and Taser. (FYI thats over $70,000.00 a year to start and that does not include the best healthcare and pension in CA)

Who is running the Sheriff's department? We can only hope when Baca finally calls its quits that who ever replaces him is not more incompetent.


Baca urged to cancel ‘Academy’
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/dec/06/local/me-academy6

Fox reality show humiliates recruits and violates their privacy, report finds. Sheriff’s spokesman defends show, which has provided $250,000 from licensee fees and profits from the first two seasons.

By Richard Winton
December 06, 2008

When Sheriff Lee Baca agreed to let Fox showcase the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Academy in a reality TV show, he won praise for generating more revenue for the county and raising the department’s profile.

But after two seasons, the department’s Office of Independent Review is calling on Baca to cancel “The Academy” because it subjects young recruits to on-air humiliation, invasion of their personal privacy, harassment and threats to their safety.

“The show worked to the detriment of the trainees,” Michael Gennaco, who serves as the department’s independent monitor, told The Times. “They didn’t have a real chance to say no to being televised. The show featured some of their personal lives and then people called them out as they worked in the jails because they recognize them from TV. It ended up being a real problem.”

Gennaco said in his report that most of recruits who took part in the show said they would have preferred not to have been involved. Some recruits interviewed by Gennaco said they felt the show was a source of humiliation, with its tendency to focus on those struggling to meet the demands of the 18-week training.

“The show was dominated by scenes of drill instructors screaming at recruits” for such infractions as not polishing shoes, not tucking in their shirts or being careless with equipment, Gennaco said in the report.

The show also showed embarrassing moments when recruits were kicked out of the academy.

Gennaco also expressed concern that criminals were identifying deputies after watching the show. “Some of the recruits who were recognized by inmates reported having a sick feeling at the moment of this recognition because they believed the inmate saw them as vulnerable,” he said in the report.

A spokesman for Baca defended the show, saying that the sheriff disagrees with Gennaco and would like to see a third season filmed.

“The sheriff thinks it is worthwhile because of the transparency that the show provides. It is vital for the public to see the rigors a trainee goes through to become a deputy sheriff,” said Steve Whitmore, Baca’s spokesman. [LAAG; oh it shows transparency alright...like walking outside without your pants on; not what we had in mind when we speak of transparency]

“In this day and age, law enforcement needs to get used to it, when they do their job it is going to be television. As the sheriff likes to tell deputies, ‘When you are out on the street you’re doing your job on CNN.’ ” [ LAAG: too bad the "taser" deputies did not remember that]

The sheriff, he said, believes the issues raised by Gennaco can be addressed.

The report found the show also brought benefits, including boosting the department’s profile nationally, giving the public insight into policing and generating $250,000 from licensee fees and profits from the first two seasons. [LAAG: that barely covers the junket to the Obama inauguration]

County supervisors asked Gennaco to examine the TV show as well as a series of dire state inspections that led Baca to close the academy to new trainees in May for 30 days while problems were addressed.

Roxane Marquez, spokeswoman for county Supervisor Gloria Molina, said Gennaco’s audit “mirrors the supervisor’s concerns from the moment she heard about the show… . It’s sad that the supervisor’s concerns are now a reality.”

State inspectors had dubbed the show an inappropriate and unnecessary distraction that disrupted the learning environment and forced the Sheriff’s Department to change the one scenario of one test after it was broadcast.

Far from the gold standard training program featured on the Fox reality television show, the academy was nearly decertified as a state accredited facility to train police officers earlier this year because it was so poorly run, according to Gennaco’s report.

He found serious deficiencies in training and testing methods that were the result of attempts to fulfill the sheriff’s goal to train 1,000 new recruits, and an arrogant academy management that failed to listen to concerns raised by state inspectors since the fall 2007.

At the heart of the issues was management’s sloppiness with record keeping, and instructors who gave recruits answers to tests, allowed trainees to graduate without taking the required physical conditioning classes and allowing recruits to retake tests until they passed.

“The department’s hiring pushed in the past two years undoubtedly placed pressure on the academy – explicit or implied – to graduate recruits. The testing violations noted in the [state] report are partially explained by this atmosphere of accelerated hiring,” Gennaco wrote.

Although improvements have been made across the board in recent months, problems remained.

In an October 2008 class, Gennaco noted, 41 recruits had to undergo remedial training for failing the initial weapons test. All but five passed the retesting and became deputies, he stated.

Winton 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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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

(the few) Retail Bright Spots

Well the day is finally approaching. Costco will be opening in Lakewood Center on February 26, 2009 (thurs) at 8am according to fliers mailed out this week. I guess in this bad retail climate they don't want to wait for a weekend opening. They have been handing out 10.00 discounts for membership signups in the Mall. We will report further on the opening. We were noticing how vacant the mall was the other night in the area of the all but closed Circuit City, the long ago closed Lakewood Center South Theaters and the construction zone of the Costco. It is rather ironic that 8 months ago people were complaining about all the increased traffic Costco would bring. What a difference a little recession makes!

Bellflower and South St. is still trying to improve. The old Vons parking lot repaving is underway but quite frankly it is moving at a snails pace. Still no word on new tenants.

The Denny's opening in the old Bakers Square looks finished. Once we got city hall to speed up the permits the workers were working weekends and until 9pm at night to finish up. Opening is supposed to be February 15, 2009. They also resurfaced the parking lot. This intersection can use a bright spot and we hope this helps draw in more businesses. Ironically Denny's had its start in Lakewood in 1953 under the name Danny's Donuts.

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

Macy's and Home Depot, flagships of Lakewood Mall, cut further

Its no secret that retail sales are cratering and that the two lead tenants in the Lakewood Center Mall are not doing well.

Macy's Inc. said this week that it's cutting 7,000 jobs - including 5,100 in its stores - and centralizing some of its corporate operations in an effort to reduce costs amid an increasingly difficult retail environment. The company also projected earnings for the fiscal year just beginning that are well below analysts' estimates. The company does not plan to close any additional Macy's or Bloomingdale's locations other than 11 Macy's stores whose shutdown was previously announced. Looking at the rest of the year, the department store operator expects to see "a very challenging environment" through 2009. As such, the retailer forecast same-store sales, or sales at its stores open at least a year, to fall between 6% to 8% for the year.

Home Depot, the No. 1 home improvement retailer, announced Monday that it is shutting down its high-end decor EXPO business and shrinking its support staff, with both moves resulting in a reduction of 7,000 jobs. Additionally, the retailer said it will reduce support staff, impacting about 2,000 employees and resulting in a 10% reduction in the company's officer ranks. Home Depot currently operates 2,274 stores. Home Depot expects sales for the year ending this month to drop by 8% and earnings per share from continuing operations to decline by 24%, excluding charges associated with the latest job cuts and store closings

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

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™

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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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