The LAPD Union’s blog asks why the disturbing rise in attacks on police officers—including the LAPD—in a year when crime overall is down. The LAPL does not pretend to have answers but asks for others to enter the conversation. Indeed, it is an important conversation to have.
Here’s a clip:
Chief Beck, speaking on KPCC, said the rise in violent assaults against the LAPD is of great concern. He said he cannot pinpoint exactly why the crimes are on the rise, but thinks it may have to do with new technology that has helped officers get to crime scenes earlier. “We don’t spread police resources like paint, we put them where the crime is,” he said.
“One of the things that’s happened in Los Angeles is that police, because we’ve been able to reduce crime and because our information systems are better and our analysis of those are better, we make contact with a lot of people who are intent on committing violent crime and the means to do that,” said Beck. “When you engage people at the enforcement level at a greater frequency, then you increase the number of forceful contacts that you have.”
A few weeks ago Chief Beck was on KPCC with Patt Morrison for his monthly Ask the Chief segment and he talked about the rise in violence against officers:
“This isn’t just somebody resisting arrest or taking a swing at an officer, or any of that,” said Beck. “This is about being attacked by means likely of bodily injury.”
Beck went on to say that a 40 percent shift to ambush style attacks on officers amounts to a “spectacular change.”
“You have a selected target, you lie in wait, and then you affect the act, and that has happened in an alarming rate across the United States.”
The most immediate example, he said was the killing of an officer sitting alone at a light when a gunman approached his vehicle and shot him to death.
Beck said overall crime is down in L.A., but that the rise in violent assaults against the LAPD is of great concern.
JURORS IN COMPTON GANG TRIAL SAID MEMBERS OF SHERIFF’S ANTI-GANG UNIT LIKELY LIED ON THE STAND
The LA Times’ Jack Leonard has the story. I remember when this arrest occurred and it sounded sour at the time. ** Here’s a clip from the opening:
When Compton jurors recently deliberated the fate of a man charged with possessing a concealed firearm, they thought the evidence was overwhelming — not that the man was guilty but that the Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who testified against him had lied.
Jurors said a video of the arrest and inconsistent testimony from deputies left them no choice earlier this month but to vote for acquittal. The five jurors who spoke to The Times said authorities should investigate the deputies from the sheriff’s anti-gang-unit who were involved in the case.
“These were not minor inconsistencies…. These were outright fabrications,” said juror Ted Rhodes, 28, a construction project manager. “It’ll be an injustice … if someone isn’t held accountable.”
Read the rest. It’s quite interesting.
Here’s a link to the video of the controversial arrest posted on the Times site.
***CORRECTION: Upon additional checking, I found I had confused this case with another controversial case involving the LAPD, which was similar but was ultimately decided in the officers’ favor. The rest of the above story stands—aside from my faulty memory.
NEW STANFORD STUDY LIFE WITH PAROLE IN CALIFORNIA SAYS MOST GET OUT IN 20 YEARS AND DON’T COMMIT NEW CRIMES
The SF Chronicle has the story. Here’s a clip:
The study also found that prisoners who are denied parole must wait an average of five years for their next hearing, up from two years in 2007, mostly because of a new, voter-approved victims’ rights law.
The board is less likely to approve release at an inmate’s first hearing than at future hearings, the study found, and is less than half as likely to grant parole when a victim’s relative attends the hearing.
The report also cited a recent study of 860 convicted murderers paroled in California since 1995. Only five had been sentenced for new felonies since then, none for crimes carrying life sentences, the study said.
By the way, in California lifers (with parole) constitute one-fifth of California’s prison population, a higher percentage than any other state.
LONGFORM.ORG’S GUIDE TO GREAT ARTICLES ON THE ISSUE OF THE DEATH PENALTY
And while we’re thinking about the Troy Davis execution issue, a death penalty reading list from the excellent Longform.org (via Slate)—dating back as far as 1960. Check it out.
COMMUNITY DIALOGUE ON CALIFORNIA PRISON REALIGNMENT THURSDAY, SEPT. 22ND
There is a meeting for the purposes of a community dialogue on California prison realignment–the State’s plan to return people from state prison back to counties.
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011 from 6-9pm at Chuco’s Justice Center
Los Angeles County Probation Department Chief, Donald H. Blevins will be to hear from the community regarding “realignment.”
Chuco’s Justice Center is located at 1137 E. Redondo Blvd. Inglewood, CA 90302, on the border with South Central Los Angeles one light west of Florence and Crenshaw.
The meeting is sponsored by the Youth Justice Coalition and the Reentry Task Force.
Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images