Alex Thompson

Garcetti and Greuel's Worst Days in Power

Setting aside promises, how have they behaved?

L.A. Hit-and-Run Crisis Uncovered by L.A. Weekly Prompts Official Demand for Answers from Charlie Beck and LAPD

Please read L.A.'s Bloody Hit-and-Run Epidemic and Victim Finds Hit-and-Run Driver Citing an L.A. Weekly probe that unveiled a hit-and-run crisis in Los Angeles, with drivers fleeing 48 percent of all crashes, Councilman Joe Buscaino asked the L.A. City Council to require LAPD to explain how it plan ... More >>

L.A.'s Bloody Hit-and-Run Epidemic

The city ignores a crisis of car-as-weapon crime in the streets

10 Great Photos from Past CicLAvia Events

In anticipation of this year's CicLAvia event, CicLAvia asked participants to submit photos from the past three events. We waded through mounds of great photos (check out CicLAvia's Flickr pool for even more shots) and picked out our ten favorites Check them all out after the jump.

Venice Shooting Behind Whole Foods: Young Victim in Hospital, Gunman on the Loose

Cops congregate under the iconic Lincoln & Rose mural at Whole Foods. ​A shooting around sundown, in a dark back-alley near 7th and Rose -- just behind Venice's fancy Whole Foods shopping hub -- left one unidentified man with a gunshot wound to the torso. More than a dozen LAPD investigators ... More >>

Occupy L.A. versus Zuma Dogg: OG City Activist Tries to Out-Shout Occupiers

ladailyblog.blogspot.comBattle L.A.: Who can free-speech louder?​Leave it to Zuma Dogg, perpetual public commenter at every single L.A. City Council meeting ever (rivaled only in civic involvement by John Walsh of the insane neckties and Einstein hair), to add even more confusion to the Occupy ... More >>

Venice 311 Founder Launches Koreatown 311

PHOTO BY SHANNON COTTRELLAlex Thompson, armed with her scanner and LA Weekly's "Best Police Blog" award.​Alex Thompson, that very controversial lady behind the Venice 311 police blog and Twitter account, has begun to expand her online empire -- just as she told the LA Weekly she would in "Clam ... More >>

Renowned Bike Experts Turned Away From L.A. City Cycling Workshop

ebbc.orgGreen bike lane in Long Beach.​The bike problems thicken for L.A. Two prominent bike afficienadoes, one of whom was a government employee, were asked to leave today when they tried to observe the Think Bike L.A. workshop. The reasons for this are not quite clear.

Illegal Immigrants Won't Usually Get Their Cars Towed at Police Checkpoints Under New Law on Jerry Brown's Desk

Alex Thompson​DUI checkpoints in California have doubled as all-you-can-tow buffets for cash-strapped cities. That's because the unlicensed drivers who happen upon them get their vehicles towed and impounded. If they don't have the cash to bail their cars out (often around $1,000 for 30 days a ... More >>

Venice 311 Commotion

New Venice Beach Live Cam Lets You Check Out Surf (or Tourists, Babes, Rooftop Parties)

VeniceBeachLiveCam.comDon't mind us! Just checkin' the surf!​This isn't Venice's first online surf watch -- but in the wide world of webcams, the brand-new Venice Beach Live Cam, sniffed out by crime blog Venice 311 today, is certainly king. And it does a lot more than surf watch. With insane ... More >>

Clamor Over Venice 311

Christine Dahab, Drunk Driver Who Plowed Through Group of 'Midnight Ridazz,' Gets off With Misdemeanor

Facebook via LA StreetsblogA witness photo from the scene.​One thing we've learned from living in L.A.: Don't mess with bikers. (We don't mean biker bikers -- we know those greasy, ear-splitting "fags" are really just big softies beneath all that passive-aggressive lane changing.) No, we're ta ... More >>

Best Police Blog: Venice 311

Release of 33,000 California Prisoners Will Create 'Wave of Crime' For L.A. if City Doesn't Act, Says LAPD Union

Alex ThompsonThe police union wants the city to reconsider cutting LAPD funding.​The union representing Los Angeles police is predicting certain mayhem for the city if a U.S. Supreme Court-ordered release of about 33,000 California prisoners goes through and, at the same time, funding and staf ... More >>

Drunk Driver Checkpoints Tonight, Saturday in Valley, South L.A.

Alex Thompson​It's late in the day, but we didn't forget about you potential drunk drivers. The LAPD will be out in force this weekend looking for you. They actually want you to know this in hopes that you'll just decide to take a cab or let your momma drive you home. Here's where the cops a ... More >>

Drunk Driver Checkpoints Tonight in Hollywood, Marina Area

Alex Thompson​Hot weekend, yeah? And for those of you who aren't going to Coachella, the LAPD will bring the Death From Above to you via DUI checkpoints in Hollywood and Marina Del Rey-adjacent. Fun. Here's the 411 on places to avoid ... tonight:

DUI Checkpoints Net 17,419 Cars, Mostly From Illegal Immigrants, Last Year in Calif: LAPD Leads The State With 1,008 Impounds

Alex ThompsonAfter your car in 2010?​Cops called it the "Year of the Checkpoint" in California. But it might as well have been called the Year of Taking Your Car. Because, while the number of DUI checkpoints in fiscal 2010 was double that of 2009, there were six cars impounded for every one D ... More >>

LAPD DUI Checkpoints This Weekend For Pacoima, Baldwin Hills Area

Alex ThompsonLAPD in your area.​The holidays are long gone, the Superbowl's in the record books, and Spring Break still isn't here yet. So you'd think the LAPD would give party people a break, maybe take a little breather between beer holidays. Right? Oh hell no. Don't think so. As long as t ... More >>

The Bikeroots

City Council candidate Stephen Box and L.A. bicyclists roll into the halls of power

LAPD Nervously Prepares For Big Critical Mass Bike Ride 'Somewhere' in Los Angeles Friday Night

​It was a clash that has altered the way the Los Angeles Police Department deals with bicyclists: In May an officer was captured on tape throwing a kick at a cyclist during an impromptu, two-wheeled demonstration by bicyclists in Hollywood that seemed to overwhelm cops. On Wednesday the depa ... More >>

L.A. Westside Subway Extension Debate

​CityWatch is refreshing for its willingness to allow advocates on each side of an issue to really air it out and allow readers to make up their own minds. Case in point, a debate over the Westside subway extension, which began last week with a Richard Lee Abrams attack on the subway, ominou ... More >>

Bike Dislike

Laid-back Santa Monica clashes with Critical Mass