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Los Angeles
December 28, 2006
Even as the FBI's preliminary 2006 data shows crime trending back upward nationally and in big cities, L.A. is reporting a fifth consecutive year of decline under Police Chief Bill Bratton.
Bratton's now managed to quickly and consistently reduced crime rates while running the Boston, New York and Los Angeles police forces, meaning he's done it in three very different cities with very different police forces, and at very different demographic moments. In his words, "You can't be lucky seven times in a row. If I was, I'd be making a living hanging out at the blackjack table."
His success in L.A. comes as the study found significant per capita increases in violent crime in several Southern California cities with populations of more than 100,000, including Lancaster, Orange, Inglewood, Santa Clarita, Ontario and Moreno Valley.
For the full year, Orange County's two largest cities, Anaheim and Santa Ana, recorded increases in violent crime, officials said Tuesday…
The last time LAPD statistics showed the current tally of 123,700 Part I crimes (which include violent crimes, burglaries and car thefts) was in the early 1960s. On a per capita basis, the number of reported serious crimes per 10,000 people was on the level not seen since the early 1950s, according to department figures.
The question remains: why aren't more cities following Bratton's example?
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October 27, 2006
An East Coaster identifies The L.A. Times' ongoing identity crisis. David Geffen looks to buy the paper—is this the end of Times?Geffen's not alone in looking to take papers private, as Jack Welch pursues the Boston Globe (will his wife edit the paper?) and Yusef Jackson goes after the Chicago Sun-Times (which would then be a safe bet to back his father and brother, no?), and now local politician Ted Venetoulis is heading a group looking to purchase the Baltimore Sun.Staying in Baltimore, the status quo is striking back—will Mayor O'Malley's new enemies make him a victim of his own success as he runs for governor?Over in D.C., Democratic nominee and presumptive next maor Adrian Fenty continues his magical mystery tour. Having already visited with O'Malley, Daley and Bloomberg, he's now gone to L.A. to talk about local control of schools and other issues with Mayor Villaraigosa.
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April 16, 2006
NYT: April 15, 2006
Appeals Court Bars Arrests of Homeless in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES, April 14 — A federal appeals court panel ruled on Friday that arresting homeless people for sleeping, sitting or lying on sidewalks and other public property when other shelter is not available was cruel and unusual punishment.
The 2-to-1 ruling, by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, essentially invalidated a 37-year-old ordinance that the police have used to clear homeless people off the streets.
Legal experts said the case, which they believed to be the first involving the rights of homeless people in public spaces to reach the federal appellate level, would be closely followed by cities nationwide.
The Eighth Amendment, barring cruel and unusual punishment, prohibits Los Angeles "from punishing involuntary sitting, lying, or sleeping on public sidewalks that is an unavoidable consequence of being human and homeless without shelter," Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw wrote. The Los Angeles police responded by releasing a statement that said: "The condition of being homeless in and of itself is not a crime and should not be treated as such. But the criminal element that preys upon the homeless and mentally ill will be targeted, arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
(crime/courts)
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