The end of summer DUI crackdown is behind us and it's time to breathe easy, right Angelenos? Never! Think about it. Halloween is coming and the holidays aren't too far off. That's prime drunk-busting season, people. The LAPD is just getting warmed up. This weekend they have checkpoints and DUI patr ... More >>
In 2011, much of the inaugural edition of Radar L.A. -- the biennial festival of new works by renowned international and L.A.-based theater companies and artists -- was centered around downtown's LATC on Hill St. and REDCAT in the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex beneath Bunker Hill. Radar 2013 inc ... More >>
A online tip led the LAPD to a suspect in the hit-and-run death of a 33-year-old man in Venice, the department said. See also: Chief Beck's Hit-and-Run Crisis. Kara Kiehle, 33, was booked on suspicion of "hit-and-run fatal," cops said. Sheriff's inmate data shows she was booked Friday evening in l ... More >>
A Superior Court judge said today that the LAPD can't order its officers not to impound the cars of people caught driving without licenses. See also: Taking of Illegal Immigrants' Cars is Mandatory For LAPD, Judge Says. The department's rule, Special Order 7, was implemented following complaints t ... More >>
Update: The LAPD today said only that "Choi has returned home to her family." First posted at 8:06 a.m. Tuesday. Headline has changed. Cops this week were searching for a missing Koreatown teenager. Though there was no apparent evidence of foul play in the disappearance over the weekend of 19-year ... More >>
Ever wanted some of that Vegas action without the four-hour-plus drive time? So, apparently, did some folks in Koreatown, where the LAPD busted "several residences" for allegedly hosting illegal gambling operations, the department announced this afternoon. Ten suspects, including alleged "gaming ma ... More >>
The annual Labor Day Weekend DUI crackdown put 2,313 of you in jail in L.A. county, an increase from the 2,098 alleged drunk drivers nabbed during the same period last year, the sheriff's department says. That's quite a way to wind down the summer. But cops aren't quite done with the season yet: Th ... More >>
See also: Chief Beck's Hit-and-Run Crisis. Three people, including a 3-year-old, died in hit-and-run collisions over the weekend, police said. In the case of the toddler, a 50-year-old unlicensed driver identified as Froebel Sanchez was arrested on suspicion of hit-and-run with injuries, according ... More >>
The LAPD this week released security video (on the next page) of a suspect they say is an old perv who snapped "upskirt" photos of unsuspecting girls at the Westfield Topanga mall this summer. The man was actually confronted and chased off by the mother of a 7-year-old victim, cops say, but continu ... More >>
In recent years if you were an illegal immigrant in L.A., and there are many of you, you faced losing your car for at least 30 days if you were stopped by the LAPD. Under the urging of then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the department last year changed that policy and said you could pretty much keep ... More >>
Your midsummer DUI checkpoint cheat sheet will take you to some interesting places we'd like to call The Real Eastside and the Deep Valley (an Opposite Land version of the Deep South with lots of guns and cowboys who are brown instead of white). Not too many hipsters in these parts, we reckon, but ... More >>
Demonstrating that this is the easiest way ever to steal a car, a thief drove off with at $200,000-plus Mercedes SLS AMG roadster that was left running at a valet stand this week. The fine German two-seater had OnStar or a similar service (Mercedes vehicles come equipped with one called MBrace) tha ... More >>
See also "L.A.'s Bloody Hit-and-Run Epidemic." After prolonged controversy over Los Angeles' hit-and-run crisis, and the Los Angeles Police Department's response to it, the L.A. City Council's Public Safety Committee today told the LAPD to get more serious about hit-and-runs, recommending a major p ... More >>
See also: Chief Beck's Hit-and-Run Crisis. Graphic, disturbing video of the hit-and-run death of an elderly bicycle rider in Koreatown was released this week by the LAPD (see it on the next page). The 90-year-old victim, Joo Yoon, died at a hospital shortly after the April 27 collision, according ... More >>
Bands of young people hit the streets for the third night in a row in Los Angeles in the name of "justice for Trayvon Martin," with a few committing vandalism and even apparently beating a victim next to an Arco gas station on Crenshaw Boulevard at Slauson Avenue. LAPD Officer Cleon Joseph said he ... More >>
See also: Teen Kidnapped From Westfield Topanga Mall in Broad Daylight, Sexually Assaulted. The kidnapping and sexual assault of a 19-year-year as she left work at the Westfield Topanga mall sent shockwaves through the community. But the LAPD moved fast and today, eight days after the heinous crim ... More >>
Updated at the bottom with a photo of the suspect. First posted at 2:05 p.m. Tuesday. Police today were looking for a man who fatally shot a phone-store owner in front of witnesses in Arleta last night. The victim, ID'd by the L.A. County coroner's office as 34-year-old Nestor Porfilio Hernandez, ... More >>
A suspect who allegedly robbed a marijuana dispensary opened fire on police, riddling an LAPD cruiser with bullets in Northridge, police said. (See a photo of the cruiser on the next page). Police last night said two suspects had been arrested and another was detained in connection with the robbery ... More >>
See also: Crazy Lady Photographed During Van Nuys Dognapping. Maybe it's the heat. Or the economy. But dognapping is becoming a serious crime in Southern California. In no time at all it seems we've gone from stealing dogs out of backyards to swiping pets from adoption events to straight-up canine ... More >>
A man who has been called Teardrop Rapist has been attacking women in L.A. since 1996. The last attack that we know of was reported one year ago this month. But police still fear he's active, and so this week the LAPD, the FBI and the city of L.A. announced that the reward for information leading t ... More >>
See also: LAPD Detectives Shot in Ambush at Wilshire Division. The mysterious man in black who ambushed two LAPD detectives in the early morning Tuesday was captured on security video that was subsequently released by the department this week. The cops, returning from burglary "detail" duty about ... More >>
Updated at the bottom with a suspect dead, a fourth officer hit, and other details. Headline has changed. First posted at 8:15 p.m. Tuesday. A third police officer was shot today in a incident apparently unrelated to the attack on two detectives outside the LAPD's Wilshire Division station this mor ... More >>
See also: Was Black USC Party Unfairly Raided By LAPD? Some students said the LAPD approached two adjacent parties much differently: One, a predominantly black and Latino event, got a riot-gear response. The other, a mostly white celebration, saw police politely knock on the door. Of course, the d ... More >>
The LAPD today said that after a "comprehensive review of the firing of former LAPD Officer Christopher Dorner" his termination was determined to have been legit. The department was practically forced to take a second look at Dorner after his "manifesto" hit the press during a rampage that killed f ... More >>
A transgender woman was kicked and pummeled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and some of it was caught on video. The LAPD this week released the security footage of a douchebag in a YSL t-shirt and two to three other winners (one of them is seen smiling) with the hope that someone might recognize the ... More >>
Three panhandlers were arrested for the shocking stabbing murder of a 23-year-old woman in Hollywood, the LAPD announced today. The three were still in the process of being booked, so their identities could not yet be released, a detective told the Weekly. The attack happened ...
Updated at the bottom with details about the passengers from the L.A. Fire Department. First posted at 2:54 p.m.See a photo of the chopper after the jump. In this city of buzzing aircraft -- news choppers, police, tourist rides and rich-guy toys -- it's amazing that this doesn't happen more often. ... More >>
An LAPD review of Christopher Dorner's firing wasn't supposed to be wrapped up until the end of the month, but civil rights attorney Connie Rice has seen a draft and told the Associated Press it concludes the killer cop was justly terminated. The second look at Dorner's brief career at the LAPD was ... More >>
Turns out the LAPD is not only "majority minority," but it's also dominated by Latino officers. That's according to the latest data about the department's sworn personnel, which was circulated this week by the Latin American Law Enforcement Association, a.k.a. LA LEY:
Chaminade High School in West Hills was on a three-hour lockdown this morning after police received reports of a man possibly with a gun near campus. The man in question turned out to be a student with a camera tripod. That's good news. Yet while students and parents in the San Fernando Valley h ... More >>
What the hell is wrong with people these days? Los Angeles has seen its second report of a dognapping in as many weeks. The latest involves a woman who went into a Van Nuys yard, took pictures, and then took a 5-year-old Siberian Husky.
Updated at the bottom with the officer charged. First posted at 4:02 p.m. Monday. An LAPD officer was arrested today on suspicion of lewd conduct in a case involving underage victims, authorities told the Weekly. The officer was arrested in the Santa Clarita area, a sheriff's official said. Accord ... More >>
The final black cloud over the Los Angeles Police Department has lifted. A 2001 consent decree that put LAPD under federal oversight following allegations of false arrests, excessive force and unreasonable searches and seizures in the wake of the Rampart scandal is officially over:
Cops are on the lookout for two or three robbers who have targeted joggers around the Silver Lake Reservoir in recent weeks. So far the LAPD has only recorded two such crimes, including one last week, but the M.O.s are similar and there's no telling if the suspects will attack again:
Cops are spread thin in this country-sized city of nearly 500 square miles. Call one and she might come -- if you have a serious emergency. But in the San Fernando Valley, LAPD has found the cash to put police to good use dealing with the scourge known around the Southland as ... teen house parties ... More >>
If you rob a store -- and we don't recommend it -- make sure it's not around the corner from a police station, because this is what happens: You get shot at not by one officer but by as many as three. Then you die. That's the story from the LAPD this week after man allegedly robbed a market on Skid ... More >>
Some USC students were angry with the LAPD over its riot-gear response to a student party near campus over the weekend. The end-of-the-school-year event appeared to be attended by African American students. Another party, across the street, did not meet with the same response, according to one repo ... More >>
The LAPD, the L.A. County Sheriff's Department and other law enforcement agencies in Southern California routinely scan millions of license plates via patrol-car-based devices that can track your whereabouts. What do they do with the info? It's not entirely clear, but the record shows that cops ha ... More >>
The gun debate in this country can probably be defined by two kinds of people: Those who think having fewer assault-type weapons around means safer streets, and those who think such a thing would be detract from the fight against criminals. (Because bad guys get ripped to pieces by legit homeowners ... More >>
A man was seen sitting in a pickup near a San Fernando Valley elementary school blowing kisses to the children recently. Of course, police would now like to have a chat with this well-wisher. In fact, they believe the perv might have done something like this before, according to an LAPD statement:
So you're driving down the street delivering newspapers and all of a sudden police open fire on you without much if any warning. You're wounded and your delivery truck is finished. What's your damage? You get a new truck, sure. But there's a lot of medical treatment and emotional stress. Here's wha ... More >>
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said a few years back that he didn't like publicizing the exact locations of his department's DUI checkpoints. But the LAPD did just that. Until now, it seems. For the first time in our memory the department's weekend checkpoint list sent to media outlets omits these inters ... More >>
The guy said it was a joke. But the LAPD's bomb squad doesn't play around. And so, after a man entered Hooters in Hollywood today and said he had bomb in his lunchbox, the area was evacuated and Hollywood Boulevard was shut down, police say:
CicLAvia, Los Angeles' celebrated outdoor bike ride, has the misfortune of being scheduled the weekend after Boston's tragic terror attack. It starts Sunday at 10 a.m. and runs from downtown to Venice. Like the Boston Marathon, the route runs along many miles (about 15 in this case) of streets line ... More >>
It's upskirt season in Los Angeles. The combination of warm weather and accessible technology (smartphones, tablets) has conspired to create a tidal wave of perversion in the Southland. The latest victim was going about her business at a Panorama City ampm market when she noticed a creep taking s ... More >>
As cops start to consider the school graduation season, they're ramping up DUI checkpoints and patrols. The LAPD plans a strong anti-drunk-driver presence on the streets this weekend starting tonight. The department is even telling you where its officers will be, hoping that you'll stay home or tak ... More >>
Updated at the bottom with one of the reasons cops think the suspect had intent to rape. First posted at 9:04 a.m. A Valley High School teen who pulled a girl into a restroom to kiss her was in jail today for alleged kidnapping with the intent to commit rape, cops said. The LAPD says in a statemen ... More >>
The LAPD has a lot on its plate, what with all the gangsters, burglars, traffic scofflaws and various other idiots in a city the size of some entire countries. But L.A. City Councilman Bernard Parks wants cops to do one more job: Figuring out how energy drinks can be placed in special sections, wit ... More >>
See also: SWATting, a Deadly Political Game. Swatting has hit the homes of Rihanna, Justin Timberlake, Ashton Kutcher, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs and others. And, while it probably is pretty funny to the braces-wearing little buttheads who dial 911 with app-enabled masked numbers to report that their fa ... More >>
Tobias Summers, the man wanted for the shocking abduction of a 10-year-old Northrdige girl, was seen crossing the border into Mexico, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck told reporters today. The search has focused on Mexico, authorities say, but so far Tobias remained elusive:
