Twin Towers Correctional Facility – Los Angeles County Jail

By Robert Holguin

ATHENS, Calif. (KABC)
— A law enforcement “surge” operation is being carried out by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department four nights a week to combat gang activity.
The surge was under way in Athens Friday night.
This is the mobile command post here behind me… The sheriff’s department is essentially able establish a mobile substation inside neighborhoods where gang activity is heating up.
At the nerve center for the gang enforcement team, the sheriff’s department says this effort has already made a huge difference in some of L.A. County’s most troubled neighborhoods.
Story continues belowAdvertisementFirst they talk strategy. The sheriff’s deputies have just gotten word that a large group of gang members are gathering. The deputies form a plan, then more than two dozen deputies swarm into an Athens neighborhood.
It’s exactly how the gang enforcement team is designed to work, a surge of law enforcement in order to combat gang activity.
“It kind of gives them a sense of ‘a cop on every corner,'” said Sgt. John Hanson, a member of the sheriff’s department. “And for that period of time that we’re there, it’s not unusual for us to get 10 or 12 people coming up to say, ‘Hey, I appreciate you guys being here. Can you stick around for a while?'”
Hanson says the so-called “get team” has been around for 15 years. But since February, the 40 deputies and five sergeants now work under one lieutenant in a platoon formation. They operate Wednesday through Saturday, hitting the streets of L.A. County in hopes of saturating neighborhoods where gang activity is spiking.
“Instead of taking time to draw up a plan and bringing resources together that might take two or three weeks, we can deploy that night,” said Hanson.
The deputies in the enforcement unit are handpicked from the station from gang areas. They work alongside members of the Probation Department.
Inside the command post, crime analysts are working to map out the areas the team will target.
“Gang saturation is very specific,” said L.A. County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Crystal Miranda. “We focus on the gangs. The deputies in this enforcement unit are from the actual stations that we patrol.”
Friday night, the team responded to a car-to-car shooting, a stabbing and parole violations. Relatively speaking, a quiet Friday night.
Saturday night, the team will be in Bellflower.
(Copyright ©2009 KABC-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

Neighbors thought dead man was Halloween display
The Associated Press
Posted: 10/16/2009 09:01:19 PM PDT
Updated: 10/16/2009 09:01:20 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES—Residents of a Marina del Rey apartment complex say they saw a lifeless body slumped on a neighbor’s patio, but didn’t call police because they thought it was part of a Halloween display.
Mostafa Mahmoud Zayed had apparently been dead since Monday.

Cameraman Austin Raishbrook, owner of RMG News, told the Los Angeles Times he was at the scene Thursday when authorities arrived. The 75-year-old man was slumped over a chair on the third-floor balcony of his apartment with a single gunshot wound to the eye.

A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigator says the case is an “apparent suicide.”

Raishbrook says neighbors told him they noticed the body Monday “but didn’t bother calling authorities because it looked like a Halloween dummy.”

Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com

From the LA Daily News

Deputy Sheriff Sentenced for DUI
By Steven Mikulan in crime
Wed., Sep. 30 2009 @ 4:15PM

Our sister publication the O.C. Weekly has a wrap-up today on the tale of L.A. County deputy sheriff Robert Andrew Moran. Make that convicted deputy sheriff Moran, as a judge sentenced him to six months in jail for causing an injury accident while driving under the influence last year. What made this case a cut above the usual DUI-cop story was that the vehicle Moran was driving at the time was a marked, LASD SUV, and that Orange County deputies allegedly tried to cover up the crash, which took place in the O.C. town of Stanton.

“An eyewitness at the scene,” writes the O.C. Weekly’s Matt Coker, “previously told the Weekly’s R. Scott Moxley that some unnamed Orange County sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene and tried to help their LA County colleague by quickly giving him water before any field sobriety tests could be given by other officers working the accident. The local deputies also tried to prevent for as long as they could the blood test that would ulimately seal Moran’s fate, Moxley was told.”

The O.C. Weekly piece concludes by noting that a lawyer for Moran, who is currently on unpaid leave, says the deputy will seek reinstatement. According to the O.C. Register and other sources, Moran has served nearly all of the six-month sentence under home confinement since pleading no contest last February. Earlier this year the L.A. Times carried a piece about the L.A. County Office of Independent Review’s claim that alcoholism is a growing problem within the department, and that alcohol-related arrests of LASD employees have nearly tripled since 2004.

From the Contra Cosa Times

CANOGA PARK – In an abrupt reversal, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday appeared to back a plan to freeze hiring at the Police Academy at least throughout the rest of this year.

Villaraigosa had previously denounced the idea of a freeze at the Los Angeles Police Department, adamant that the size of the force be maintained at 10,000 officers.

But in a news conference Monday at LAPD’s Topanga Station in Canoga Park, Villaraigosa sided with the City Council’s Public Safety Committee, which has recommended not hiring cadets in November and December to help reduce the LAPD’s record $129 million budget deficit.

“I care more about results than process,” Villaraigosa said. “I will support any proposal that maintains the police force at its current level. But I will oppose any measure that puts our police department in jeopardy and goes back on the promise that we made to the people of this city to make public safety the No. 1 priority.”

In endorsing the hiring freeze, the committee has noted that the pace of retirements and resignations at the LAPD has been slower than expected, and the Police Academy already has about 1,000 prospective applicants in its candidate pool.

Speaking ahead of a City Council vote on police hiring that was scheduled for today but could be delayed, the mayor said his administration’s progress in fighting crime could be set back with force reduction.

“This is progress we can’t take for granted,” Villaraigosa
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said, citing the city’s best per-capita crime rates since 1954. “Crime in Los Angeles is at a record low because our police force is at a record high.”

Villaraigosa said he could accept a slower rate of hiring for the Los Angeles Police Department in the face of the city’s projected $400 million budget shortfall.

“What I can’t accept is our going one officer lower” than the current staff of about 10,000 sworn officers, the mayor said.

Villaraigosa won support from neighborhood councils five years ago to impose a trash collection fee to pay for expanding the LAPD. The mayor said Monday he hopes that solving the budget crisis by trimming other services would allow the LAPD expansion to resume eventually.

He said he is “optimistic we can avoid a fight.”

Villaraigosa appeared with Councilman Dennis Zine, council president Eric Garcetti, LAPD brass and community leaders at the Topanga Station, itself a monument to the force’s growth by more than 800 officers citywide in the past four years.

The station’s opening in January is credited for many of the 316 officers added in the San Fernando Valley in the past three years.

Michel Moore, the LAPD’s deputy chief for the San Fernando Valley, said a decrease of 10 percent in violent crime in the Valley means there have been 488 fewer violent crime victims in the past year than in the previous 12 months.

In addition to proposing the cancellation of two months of academy classes, Zine suggests using officers restricted to light duty – because of injuries and other reasons – to perform LAPD civilian jobs unfilled because of budget cuts.

Los Angeles (myFOXla.com) – The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles Police Department were both recognized by the National Law Enforcement Challenge for the department’s safety strategy, it was announced Saturday.

The sheriff’s office finished first in its category, and LAPD tied for first with San Francisco Police, the sheriff’s office announced.

“Saving lives, reducing injuries, traffic collisions and property damage through innovative strategies is important work,” said Sheriff Lee Baca. “The dedicated men and woman of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department appreciate the recognition that comes with this award and will continue to work hard to make the streets safer.”

A three-year study of traffic safety effectiveness in the department’s jurisdiction was part of the department’s submission in the competition.

The department placed first among three agencies its size — more than 1,000 deputies — competing for the award. Hillsborough County, FL placed second and San Diego County placed third.

The City of Los Angeles tied for first place with San Francisco for municipalities of its size — more than 1,250 officers.

More than 530 agencies overall competed for awards.

The annual NLEC is sponsored by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to promote traffic safety and public recognition of exemplary traffic safety programs.

See full story at

From Reuters
Tue Jun 9, 2009 2:19pm EDT

LOS ANGELES, June 9 /PRNewswire/ — Los Angeles County Sheriff Department
detectives from the Special Victims Unit have launched an Internet safety
program for children and parents, thanks to a partnership with Verizon.

Approximately 80 parents attended a ceremony on Saturday (June 6) at the
Sheriff’s Compton Youth Activity League to launch the program. At the event,
the Sheriff’s Department hosted the first Awareness is Power Internet Safety
course, and Verizon presented a check for $41,000 to support the program.

“It is an honor to partner with Verizon to establish this Internet safety
program,” Sheriff Lee Baca said. “This program will give children and their
parents the tools they need to have a safe and secure Internet experience
while exploring the limitless possibilities of the digital world.”

The Awareness is Power Internet Safety program will be available at the
Sheriff Department’s 14 Youth Activity League centers throughout the county
and will serve approximately 4,500 children and adults. Two courses, one
geared for children and the other for adults and parents, have been developed.
Curriculum topics will include social networking sites, chat rooms, parental
controls, e-mail, text messaging, legal downloading and financial Internet
safety.

In addition, to help manage their children’s Internet experiences, Verizon is
making it easier for parents to find and access the online parental controls
and resources for customers of the company’s online, FiOS TV and wireless
services. The enhanced Web site, www.verizon.net/parentalcontrol, gives
parents using Verizon Wireless, Verizon FiOS TV and any of Verizon’s
high-speed Internet services the ability to make decisions about their
families’ wireless, TV and online use.

John Johnson, vice president for Verizon Wireless, said: “Advanced broadband
technology powers today’s online world for business and family entertainment.
The challenge for parents is managing that experience for their children so
it’s a positive one. Our online tools, tips and software help make this
happen. Verizon’s grant is another step in the right direction as we partner
with the Sheriff’s Department to educate parents and children alike.”

The Verizon Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon Communications,
supports the advancement of literacy and K-12 education through its free
educational Web site, Thinkfinity.org, and fosters awareness and prevention of
domestic violence. In 2008, the Verizon Foundation awarded more than $68
million in grants to nonprofit agencies in the U.S. and abroad. It also
matched the charitable donations of Verizon employees and retirees, resulting
in an additional $26 million in combined contributions to nonprofits. Through
Verizon Volunteers, one of the nation’s largest employee volunteer programs,
Verizon employees and retirees have volunteered more than 3 million hours of
community service since 2000. For more information on the foundation, visit
www.verizonfoundation.org.

About the Sheriff Youth Foundation
The Sheriff’s Youth Foundation was created in 1985, based upon the belief that
crime prevention programs focused on youth are the key to developing safer
communities. The Foundation’s objective is to increase community safety by
fostering self-esteem and a sense of purpose, assisting youth to find value in
themselves, to feel a sense of direction, and define who they are. The
foundation supports two countywide programs; Success Through Awareness &
Resistance (STAR) Program and the Youth Activity Leagues (Y.A.L.).

About Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global
leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications
services to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers.
Verizon Wireless operates America’s most reliable wireless network, serving
more than 86 million customers nationwide. Verizon’s Wireline operations
provide converged communications, information and entertainment services over
the nation’s most advanced fiber-optic network. Wireline also includes
Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to
customers around the world. A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse
workforce of more than 237,000 and last year generated consolidated operating
revenues of more than $97 billion. For more information, visit
www.verizon.com.

VERIZON’S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and
biographies, media contacts, high-quality video and images, and other
information are available at Verizon’s News Center on the World Wide Web at
www.verizon.com/news. To receive news releases by e-mail, visit the News
Center and register for customized automatic delivery of Verizon news
releases.