Police

Lucky to Be Alive

A couple's devastating encounter with Lee Baca's COPS HIT deputies

Bellflower Dad Who Threatened, Kidnapped Two Daughters Turns Up in Utah

Los Angeles County Sheriff's DepartmentKatelyn Litwin (left) and Natalya Litwin (right)​The was an Amber Alert out this morning for 34-year-old Bellflower man Stephen Andrew Litwin, who was believed by L.A. County sheriff's deputies to have kidnapped his two young daughters Sunday at about 10: ... More >>

Pomona Cops Dodge a Bullet

Accepting severe pay cuts, a police department survives to patrol another day

A Betrayal in Proud Pomona

Century-old police department fears the end of its own thin, blue line

Los Angeles County Murder Rate Down As City Rate Continues To Outpace 2009

​As the city of Los Angeles continued to see an uptick in homicides this year, the county sheriff's department reported that the murder rate was down so far this year for the areas it patrols. In fact county homicides were down 17 percent through the end of June compared to the same period in ... More >>

Ex-Cop Mayor Of Compton Gets His Police Department Back; Sheriff's Deputies Told To Take A Hike

​Almost ten years after it was shuttered, the Compton Police Department was revived. The Compton City Council late Tuesday voted 3-2 to reestablish its own department and stop contracting with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for police services. According to Fox 11 News, former Co ... More >>

Putting More LAPD Cops On The Streets Pays Dividends, Study States

​As budget-triggered reductions of Los Angeles Police Department cops affect the city for the first time since 2005, the union representing LAPD officers is touting a Rand study that concludes adding more badges to the force is well worth the cost. The report, issued last month, concluded tha ... More >>

Sheriff Will Monitor Parolees That State Won't

​The union representing Los Angeles Police Department officers made a rare move this week in praising the Sheriff's Department for stating it would essentially do the job of the state and monitor those convicts set free under state parole reform. " ... We thank Sheriff Lee Baca," reads a stat ... More >>

Long Beach Scoops Up Jim McDonnell For Chief

LAPDJim McDonnell.​As is tradition at the Los Angeles Police Department, some of those unsuccessful internal candidates for chief often end up moving on to helm their own departments in other municipalities. Such was the case today as the city of Long Beach appointed Jim McDonnell as its next ... More >>

Jerry Brown To Challenge Ruling Overturning Ban On Body Armor For Felons

Jerry Brown.​With Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck, San Francisco police Chief George Gascon and Los Angeles police union president Paul M. Weber urging him on, state Attorney General Jerry Brown says he'll petition the state Supreme Court to throw out a lower court ruling that overturned ... More >>

Cop Deaths Down In California; LAPD Had No Officers Down in 2009

​The number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty was down in California for 2009, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund reports. Eight officers statewide were killed, including one Culver City cop, Sgt. Curtis Massey, who was the victim of a wrong-way driver on ... More >>

Ruling Allowing Felons To Wear Body Armor Should Be Appealed, Officials Say

LAPPLPaul M. Weber.​The union representing rank-and-file Los Angeles police and the chief of the San Francisco Police Department are urging Attorney General Jerry Brown to appeal a state appellate judge's ruling that overturns a state ban on body armor for violent ex-convicts. They want to see ... More >>

Last Call Comes For Traditional Party Day At Police Bar

​Following the DUI death earlier this month of a police veteran who had been drinking on payday at a bar at the Los Angeles Police Academy in Elysian Park, officials announced that the watering hole would be closed for the traditional "payday Wednesdays" festivities there. Retired Deputy Chie ... More >>

Odelay: Beck Is Official As LAPD Chief

El Jefe.​Charlie Beck had a public swearing in as the 56th chief of the Los Angeles Police Department Thursday, and it was his father, retired LAPD Deputy Chief George Beck, who pinned the top-cop badge on his son for all to see in the plaza of the new Police Administration Building downtown. ... More >>

New Chief Banishes Rivals To Siberia (Just Joking -- He Remixes The Brass And Gives One Challenger A Promotion)

Chief Charlie Beck.​New Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck took less than a week as the city's top cop to rearrange his command staff. While you might rightfully have a sharp eye on what he plans to do with his fellow challengers for chief, Deputy Chief Michel Moore and Assistant Chi ... More >>

Sheriff's Boat Runs Aground On Dry Land

The Old West image of the local sheriff as a six-shot cowboy still endures, so you might give Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies a little leeway for any perceived lack of sea legs and water navigation skills. But a sheriff's boat was on dry land Wednesday when it hit an obstacle -- a freeway over ... More >>

Villaraigosa Chooses Beck as Next L.A. Police Chief

Charlie Beck will be Los Angeles' next police chief. The mayor is expected to announce his choice at a press conference at 11 a.m. this morning at the Getty House in Hancock Park. Charlie Beck​ Beck headed the LAPD's Detective Bureau and oversaw the testing of thousands of untested rape kits ... More >>

LAPD Interim Chief Named

Deputy Chief Michael Downing was today named the Los Angeles Police Department's interim chief. Currently, Downing is in charge of the department's counterterrorism unit. ​He will take over the coveted spot until a new chief is selected by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The Los Angeles Police Com ... More >>

Three Finalists For LAPD Police Chief Named

Charlie Beck​The three finalists for police chief of the Los Angeles Police Department are Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell, Deputy Chief Charlie Beck and Deputy Chief Michel Moore. The three finalists were chosen unanimously by the police commission after a three-and-a-half hour closed-door m ... More >>

LAUSD’s Finest Shakeup

Police Chief Manion relinquishes powers but old blood is still at top

Weathermen’s Ticking Time Bomb

The investigation into a cop killing in the ’70s leads to a Chicago law professor involved in the early stages of Barack Obama’s political career

Ex-LAUSD Super Accused of Using Fake Badge to Pull Woman Over

Ruban Zacarias, who left as the top dog of the Los Angeles County Unified School District in 2000, plead not guilty did not enter a plea* today in response to a charge of impersonating a police officer, the Los Angeles District Attorney's office reported.Zacarias, 80, is accused of using a school po ... More >>

LAUSD's Finest: Los Angeles School Police

How an oblivious school board lets a tiny, scandal-ridden force endanger L.A. kids

Bratton Successor: Insider LAPD Brass Who Want to Replace Him

Nothing against the interesting list the Los Angeles Times published today, of the Los Angeles Police Department's top brass who want to replace the departing Bill Bratton. But the chances that City Hall would somehow have a permanent new chief in place the day Bratton leaves for New York, which is ... More >>

Murder Was the Case: L.A. Homicide No. 145, LAPD Officers Involved in Fatal Shooting

A robbery suspect was killed last night after an altercation with Los Angeles Police Department officers in West Los Angeles. According to preliminary reports, the officers encountered the robbery suspects at the corner of Iowa and Purdue avenues around 11:15 p.m. on July 6. One of the suspects wa ... More >>

Greig Smith Hits Back Over LAPD Hiring Freeze

Now it's getting interesting. Last Friday night, 12th District City Councilman Greig Smith released his own salvo over a proposal to freeze the hiring of LAPD officers during Los Angeles's budget crisis, claiming Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was engaging in "scare tactics and fear mongering." Office o ... More >>

Hundreds Attend Funeral for Slain Sheriff's Deputy

Family and friends along with hundreds of law enforcement officers attended a funeral today at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown L.A. for a sheriff’s deputy who was gunned down outside his home in Cypress Park. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Juan Escalante, 27, was shot to ... More >>

Officer Involved Shootings Reach 27 this Year

With Monday's fatal shooting of postal worker Kevin Wicks by an Inglewood police officer the number of deaths this year at the hands of law enforcement in Los Angeles County has hit 27, according to the LA County Coroner. That means roughly four deaths a month involving police officers. The startl ... More >>

Major Law Enforcement Crack down Nets the Gangsters of Drew Street

A multi-agency task force of 500 law enforcement officers swooped down on members of the avenues gang on Drew Street early this morning. The crackdown netted 32 members or associates of the “Drew Street” clique of the avenues. The operation, which began at 4 a.m., stemmed from a massive 157-pa ... More >>

Maywood Hires a Convicted Ethics Professor as Interim Police Chief

For a town looking to repair its police department's reputation as corrupt and brutal, Maywood took the unusual step Friday of holding an emergency session to hire as its interim police chief Al Hutchings, a former Maywood and LAPD officer convicted of bilking LAPD for fraudulent overtime. Mayor ... More >>

A Classic Diversion

Chief Cayler Carter is publicly sacrificed, but the screwups on May 1 began with Bratton

Bratton's Mea Culpa Tour

�You�ve obviously not been watching your own news channel,� Bratton said acidly to the KTTV reporter. �I�ve already apologized. I don�t feel the need to answer your specific question, or apologize to you.�

Revenge of the White Cops

The meaning of the Inglewood verdict

Lighten Up, Bloomberg

The demonstrators yelled a lot, so what?

Light of Justice

Federal judge agrees to take another look at secret deal in Inglewood brutality case

Fast Justice

Lessons from New York�s handling of a police shooting

The Untouchables

Lasting, sad lessons of Rampart

Chief of Police � It�s Never Been My Total Identity

Web exclusive: the L.A. Weekly�s interview with Bernard Parks, candidate for the 8th Los Angeles City Council District

The Rampart Verdict

The deeper meaning of LAPD�s biggest scandal may never be known

Rewriting the Book

Commander George Gascon and Captain Sergio Diaz attempt a revolution from within

Just the Facts, Ma'am

Everything you wanted to know about the LAPD

Tale of the Tape

Kroeker's recorded comments about gays haunt his bid to be LAPD chief

The Cop Who Stopped the Punch

No Movie for Rafael Perez

Can�t Claremont Just Get Along?

Of Rodney King, Jesse Jackson and Irvin Landrum Jr.

Beating History

Hahn better hope voters forget his mistakes dealing with Daryl Gates and Rodney King

Keeping the Peace

LAPD really knows how to sock it to �em

A $500,000 Lesson

Culver City cops just don�t get it

Pay Boost Sought for Police Watchdog

Commission flip-flop means higher pay all around

To Expel an Inspector

How the LAPD cleansed itself