Mayor Karen Bass’ Plan For Rebuilding The Size Of The LAPD Has Fallen Short So Far

When Mayor Karen Bass laid out her budget proposal for the Los Angeles Police Department last year, she had big plans for rebuilding the size of that agency’s workforce. The mayor’s budget called for the LAPD to end the 2023-24 budget year with about 9,500 police officers — a target that would require the hiring of nearly 1,000 officers over a 12-month period. Now, a new assessment from City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo — the city’s top budget analyst — shows the department is falling well short of its staffing goal. By June 30, the end of the fiscal year, the department is expected to have 8,908 officers, according to Szabo’s projections. That would leave the LAPD with its lowest sworn staffing levels in over two decades. Szabo’s report, issued Tuesday, is likely to fuel calls for the council to scale back the LAPD’s hiring goal. Even before it was released, some at City Hall had begun arguing that the annual budget calls for hundreds of officer positions that have little to no chance of being filled. “I do not think 9,500 is realistic,” Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez said Wednesday. “We can’t be in denial about this. It is not realistic. And the reason it’s not realistic is because ... people who are entering the workforce do not want to be police officers.”

Los Angeles Times

60-Year-Old Woman Booked On Murder Charge In Deadly Canoga Park Hit-and-Run

A 60-year-old Canoga Park woman has been arrested for a fatal hit-and-run collision late last month. The deadly crash occurred on Jan. 31 at around 1:10 a.m. when a silver 2005 Toyota Camry and a dark-colored sedan were traveling at a high rate of speed on Topanga Canyon Boulevard, near Vanowen Street when they collided, sending the Toyota into a light pole. The driver of the dark-colored vehicle, later identified by police as Kenya Obinna, continued southbound on Topanga Canyon Boulevard, failing to stop, identify herself or render aid. Medical personnel with the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to the scene of the crash and pronounced the driver of the Toyota, a man in his 20’s, deceased. Detectives with LAPD’s Valley Traffic Division arrested Obinna on Feb. 15 near the 7600 block of Canoga Avenue on charges of murder. Authorities did not provide any information on how investigators were able to locate the 60-year-old.  

KTLA 5

Parts Of Downtown LA Seeing 300% Increase In Graffiti In Recent Weeks, Officials Say

Nearly 30 floors of three towers are covered with graffiti at the Oceanwide Plaza development, and their appeal to taggers may be increasing vandalism throughout downtown Los Angeles. All week, Los Angeles Police have surrounded the site 24 hours a day. LAPD Chief Michel Moore reported Tuesday that they’ve spent more than 3,000 hours at the site in recent weeks, which adds up to at least $150,000. Despite the added security, taggers have not been deterred. “I’m going to get my art up no matter what it is,” one tagger said. “The cops, even as much as they want to try and stop us, they’re not.” NBCLA cameras were rolling Wednesday and caught a tagger in the act. Afterward, he said he wasn’t able to get into the Oceanwide development so he decided to spray paint a different building. “We’re just moving spots, hitting different walls,” he said. Downtown business leaders have noticed the graffiti doesn’t stop with Oceanwide, and it’s picked up all over. Blair Besten, the Executive Director for the Historic Core Business Improvement District, which covers 65 blocks downtown, says he's noticed an increase in vandalism. “Significantly so,” Besten said. “In some districts, triple the amount of graffiti calls for service. Our graffiti has probably gone up about 200% since this hit the news.”

NBC 4

L.A. Creates Task Force To Address Copper Theft

With copper theft impacting thousands of lights and other pieces of city property, the Los Angeles City Council authorized the creation of a task force on Wednesday. The Los Angeles Police Department and Bureau of Street Lighting will work together to combat “the spike in copper wire crimes in downtown L.A., Boyle Heights, El Sereno, and Lincoln Heights,” LAist reports. Councilman Kevin de León told KTLA last month that the city has spent tens of millions of dollars to repair the damage caused by these thefts, which often involve thieves using saws to break through metal panels. When speaking with KTLA’s Jacqueline Sarkissian, he pointed to areas of the 6th Street Bridge where thefts had occurred. “In my district alone, we have about 3,700 lights that are completely out,” de León said. “We are on the 6th Street Bridge right now … half of the bridge is completely dark because these thieves have broken into the metal panels.”

Yahoo! News

Stolen Vehicle Suspect Arrested After Brief Chase In Sun Valley Area

Authorities arrested a man after he attempted to runaway on foot during a brief pursuit in Pacoima Friday morning. LAPD first spotted the stolen vehicle driving northbound on the 405 Freeway through Sun Valley before it turned into a pursuit. The suspect was driving a silver Honda and was weaving in and out of traffic on the I-5, reaching speeds over 90 mph. Officers on the ground lost the driver briefly before the LAPD chopper caught up with the vehicle around 6:30 a.m. California Highway Patrol units were also called in to assist. The driver then got off the freeway and pulled into The 76 gas station near 13131 Foothill Boulevard, where he left the Honda at a gas pump and jumped in the back seat of a black BMW. It is unknown whether the suspect knew the driver and if the suspect was armed. When the BMW stopped at an intersection, the suspect jumped out and attempted to runaway on foot before officers caught up with him.

CBS 2

Oklahoma Man To Plead Guilty To Making Bomb Threats To LA Schools

An Oklahoma man who grew up in Los Angeles is expected to plead guilty Friday to a federal charge alleging that he telephoned bomb threats to five Los Angeles schools, including two elementary schools, and also threatened to shoot the children as they exited one of the elementary schools. Marcus James Buchanan, 44, of Blackwell, Oklahoma, is expected to make his initial appearance this afternoon in United States District Court in Wichita, Kansas. Buchanan is charged with one count of making a threat through interstate commerce to damage or destroy buildings by fire or explosives. According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, during a period of less than two hours on the morning of February 28, Buchanan called in bomb threats to two elementary schools, two middle schools, and a high school in Los Angeles. In a call to one of the elementary schools, Buchanan allegedly threatened to shoot the children as they exited the building.

Westside Current

Wyoming Officer Fatally Shot While Trying To Serve A Trespass Warning

A police officer serving a trespass warning has been fatally shot in northern Wyoming. Sgt. Nevada Krinkee died at a hospital after being shot Tuesday in downtown Sheridan. The male shooter barricaded himself in a home a few blocks away after the shooting, Police Chief Travis Koltiska said in a release. A standoff between the suspect, whose identity was not released, and state and local police agencies continued into Tuesday evening. No further information was immediately released by the police department. Krinkee was a six-year veteran of the police department of Sheridan, a city of 20,000 people about 10 miles (17 kilometers) south of the Montana line.

Associated Press

3 D.C. Officers Shot By Barricaded Suspect

Three police officers were shot in Washington and a fourth suffered minor injuries after someone suspected of animal cruelty opened fire on them Wednesday morning, authorities said. The officers are expected to survive the wounds and were being treated at area hospitals after the shooting in the nation’s capital, the Metropolitan Police Department said. The fourth was hurt at the scene, but not shot. The shooter remained barricaded inside a home in the southeast part of the city hours after opening fire on police, a police spokeswoman said. Officers were attempting to make an arrest on an animal cruelty warrant, but the suspect refused to leave the home, police said. As officers tried to get inside, the person opened fire. The three officers suffered gunshot wounds in the hand and foot, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith said. “This remains an active situation and the individual has continued to fire from that location,” she said. Crisis negotiators were speaking to the suspect, Smith said as she pushed lawmakers to pass legislation that would strengthen penalties for gun offenses in the nation’s capital. The police union confirmed three of its members had been shot.

Associated Press

7 LA Firefighters Injured After Truck's Fuel Tank Explodes

A burning truck's fuel tank exploded on Thursday while Los Angeles firefighters were trying to battle the blaze, injuring seven of them, including two critically, authorities said. The explosion of one of the truck's natural gas tanks occurred shortly before 7 a.m. in the Wilmington neighborhood, fire department spokesman Nicholas Prange said in an interview. Six firefighters were taken to a hospital, he said. In TV news helicopter video, discarded firefighting gear could be seen at the site where the injured crew members were initially treated. The vehicle was the tractor portion of a big rig and was fueled by compressed natural gas carried in two 100-gallon tanks, one of which exploded, said Capt. Erik Scott, also a department spokesman. "That explosion was significant," he said. "The ball of flame was as high as these telephone poles, and it actually did explode one of the transformers nearby."

FOX News

Risk For Chronic Fatigue Soars Among Those Who Had COVID-19, Study Says

People who have had COVID-19 have a significantly higher risk of suffering chronic fatigue than those who haven’t had the disease, a new study published Wednesday shows. “Our data indicate that COVID-19 is associated with a significant increase in new fatigue diagnoses,” according to the study, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. “Physicians should be aware that fatigue might occur or be newly recognized [more than a year] after acute COVID-19,” the report said. Specifically, the study looked at electronic health records of more than 4,500 patients in Washington state who had COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021 and compared them to patients who hadn’t had COVID. The study found the risk for chronic fatigue was more than four times greater in those who had the illness. Scientists also looked at a more broad definition of fatigue, which includes chronic fatigue as well as diagnoses of weakness and malaise. The study found that the risk of fatigue among COVID-19 patients was 68% higher among people who’d had COVID than those who hadn’t.

Los Angeles Times

3 LA Council Members Look To Prepare For Street Safety Measure

Three Los Angeles City Council members introduced a motion Tuesday requesting a series of reports aimed at preparing the city for the possible passage of a street safety measure on the March ballot. Voters will decide whether to approve the Healthy Streets LA ballot measure, a resident-led initiative that would require the city to install street modifications described in its Mobility Plan 2035 whenever street improvements are made to at least one-eighth of a mile of roadway. The city’s Mobility Plan is a 20-year city planning document for improving L.A. streets, and enhancing public safety and promoting other modes of transportation such as walking, biking, or other transit options. If voters approve HLA, if the city were to resurface a street, it could trigger the measure, requiring the city to make other modifications, such as adding ADA-compliant curbs, new bus lanes or bus stops, new crosswalks and protected bicycle lanes.

MyNewsLA

About the LAPPL: Formed in 1923, the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) represents more than 8,900 dedicated and professional sworn members of the Los Angeles Police Department. The LAPPL serves to advance the interests of LAPD officers through legislative and legal advocacy, political action and education.