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No rescue unit was available at the nearest fire station when the Bel-Air emergency call came in - in part because of budget-related idling of trucks. Next-nearest unit took 10 minutes to arrive.

A 3-year-old boy died in a...

The revised package falls $230 million short of the $1.2 billion in cuts to prisons in the July budget deal. It's unclear whether the Senate or governor will go along with the plan.

After more than a week of political hand-...

The civilian panel overseeing the Los Angeles Police Department will begin holding community meetings next week to ask Angelenos what qualities they would most like to see in the next police chief.

"Public input is critical in this process," Police...

The Station fire, which has destroyed 21 homes and killed two firefighters, was burning within a quarter of a mile of Mt. Wilson as firefighters prepared for another long, hot day.

Inspector Edward Osorio of the Los Angeles County Fire Department...

All inmates booked into jails throughout Los Angeles County will have their immigration status checked beginning today, but federal officials said they don't have the resources to deport all illegal immigrants with criminal records who are identified.

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Chief of staff Robin Kramer is leaving and being replaced by the city's anti-gang czar, the Rev. Jeff Carr. Also departing is the No. 2 policy advisor.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced Thursday a shake-up of...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger responded Thursday to a slackened California Highway Patrol 911 response system and ordered that furloughs of the agency's dispatchers be rescinded.

"The California Highway Patrol has been working very hard to manage furloughs...

A controversial prison bill that would have reduced California's inmate population by 27,000 has been significantly watered down by state Assembly lawmakers who pushed aside a plan to allow some prisoners to finish their sentences at home.

Assembly...

Skid Row beat cop Deon Joseph wants successful African-American and Latino-American adults to tell local kids that they're "JustLike U."

Los Angeles Police Department Senior Lead Officer Deon Joseph sees plenty of what's wrong as he goes about his duties...

The state is closing California's largest youth prison as the population of juvenile delinquents in state custody continues to decline, corrections officials announced today.

The facility, the Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino, will be...

Michael Berkow, the former head of LAPD's internal affairs unit, has resigned as chief of police in Savannah, GA to join a division of the company that recently hired LAPD chief William Bratton. Berkow says he was approached about the job in April, which would...

The mayor wants to select a permanent replacement for William J. Bratton by the time the chief leaves Oct. 31. But the Personnel Department's timeline for the process makes that seem unlikely.

The search for Los Angeles'...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called members of the Assembly gutless Wednesday for not passing his package to cut prison spending.

"They don't have the guts to now make these decisions because they're more worried about their safe seats rather than the safe...

An appeals panel says the Federal Bureau of Prisons has not adequately explained why inmates who have committed murder, rape and other violent crimes can't participate in the program.

A Federal Bureau of Prisons policy excluding murderers,...

Employees of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation were informed that layoff notices would be going out this week to 1,300 workers statewide, including about 1,200 in the Division of Juvenile Justice and 100 in adult programs, spokesman...

After a recent upsurge in anti-Semitic violence, including the shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in June and a failed bomb plot targeting New York synagogues in May, Los Angeles city officials and community leaders are on alert for the approach of...

Fighting to protect students facing "wanton gang violence," Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. and Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich have won a court-ordered preliminary injunction creating a 1.4 square-mile gang-free zone around Fremont High School...

Orange County will attempt to revive its landmark lawsuit seeking to rescind generous retirement benefits granted to deputy sheriffs in 2001, supervisors decided Tuesday.

The board voted 4 to 1 to appeal a superior court decision against their suit,...

After less than three years on the job, Savannah Chatham Metro Police Chief Michael Berkow submitted his resignation on Friday.

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With the upcoming City Council vote on the proposed replacement of Los Angeles' e-mail and records retention software with Google services, the public needs to know that the move may pose significant risks to city employees and Angelenos.

The theoretical...

Top Los Angeles law enforcement and elected officials acknowledged today a recent rise in the number of killings in South Los Angeles and announced plans to bolster anti-gang activity in the area.

Speaking at a news conference at the LAPD's 77th Street...

In these economy times, laid-offs and cutbacks are becoming a reality throughout the entire American economic system. Usually, these problems only affect the private sector, but now it is beginning to affect vital government positions such as local police...

Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich wants to give police the ability to arrest "taggers" simply for hanging out together, without having to catch them in the act -- raising thorny constitutional issues as he lays the groundwork for a campaign to tackle the...

Attorney General Eric Holder Monday called on law enforcement officials to embrace new techniques for fighting crime, but with an eye toward ensuring innovation is actually producing results.

Speaking to a conference on gang violence and crime prevention...

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, has dramatically altered a prison proposal passed by the state Senate, removing some of the most contentious provisions of the Senate bill - including a plan for a new commission to set sentencing guidelines.

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The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Monday it will issue 1,300 new layoff notices in Sacramento, Amador, Fresno and elsewhere after the assumed $1.2 billion cut to the department's budget.

Department chief of staff Brett H....

The action was taken by Assembly Speaker Karen Bass. It was unclear whether Senate leader Darrell Steinberg would go along with the limited version. The sentencing review is one of his priorities.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass on Monday...

Willie Horton's shadow haunts the Capitol as lawmakers wrestle with how to cut $1.2 billion from state prisons without endangering public safety.

More than two decades after Republican presidential candidate George H.W. Bush used televised ads of...

The proposal, opposed by the GOP, would cut the time lesser offenders spend behind bars and on parole. The bill stalls in the Assembly, where a watered-down version may be considered.

After an impassioned debate over the cost and benefit of...

PASADENA - Area police officials are part of a chorus of state law enforcement officers opposed to the governor's plan for the early release of 27,000 prison inmates.

The plan, which the state Senate passed Thursday, would also set up a commission to...