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“It could have been a lot worse.” So said Los Angeles Police Department Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger of the downtown L.A. melee that followed the Lakers’ victory over the Orlando Magic last Sunday. If that’s the standard the LAPD is shooting for these days, the city is in big, big trouble. By the time the last of the Lakers’ “fans” were cleared from the streets that night, eight police officers had been injured, three businesses looted, and several cars and transit buses vandalized, all broadcast live from television news helicopters. You just knew there was a problem with LAPD’s response...

An appeals court Wednesday upheld the Los Angeles Police Department’s Special Order 40, a policy governing how officers interact with immigrants.

George Torres' future looked pretty bleak: The supermarket mogul had been stripped of his riches by government prosecutors, convicted in a massive racketeering case and was awaiting a potential life sentence in federal prison. But in a stunning reversal of fortune Tuesday, the government released its grip on Torres' assets, a judge tossed out the most serious convictions against him, and he was ordered set free -- at least for now. The turnaround came after prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles turned over tape-recorded conversations that contained information that was potentially beneficial to Torres' defense regarding at...

LOS ANGELES (CBS) ― Authorities are getting prepared for the possible riotous celebration that may accompany a Los Angeles Lakers NBA championship win on Sunday night. "We have the ability to put together resources very quickly if we go to (tactical) alert -- to pull resources in from around the city," Los Angeles police Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell said. McDonnell says the LAPD plans to deploy heavier than usual that night so the department will have the sufficient resources to deal with whatever happens. Staples Center usually shows away games on its outdoor big-screen televisions, but will not on Sunday...

LAPD Det. Stephanie Lazarus was led into L.A. County Superior Court at about 10 a.m. to formally face charges of premeditated murder in connection with the fatal shooting two decades ago of her ex-boyfriend's wife. Instead, her arraignment was continued to July 6. Lazarus, 49, was dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit; her curly hair was styled straight. She was represented by attorney Mark Pachowicz. She was wearing handcuffs chained to her waist, and sat in a chair with her legs crossed in the suspect pen. She spoke with her attorney through a narrow, barred window. Lazarus could face the...

Violent crime in Los Angeles is dominated by blacks and Hispanics. Straw-man arguments can't alter this uncomfortable fact. In sitting down to write this column, I had what we might call a Groundhog Day sensation, as though I’ve been here many times staring at the blank screen only to have the same words and arguments come to mind. Well, what else can a cop do? When the ACLU keeps trotting out its old horses, I must trot out my own. I refer to an op-ed in Thursday’s Los Angeles Times by the ACLU’s Mark Rosenbaum and Peter Bibring, in which...

Veteran detective's arrest in 1986 killing stuns the LAPD LAPD Det. Stephanie Lazarus had earned commendation for her work tracking stolen artwork and forgeries. Police allege Det. Stephanie Lazarus, 49, shot her ex-boyfriend's wife, then harbored the secret for more than two decades. By Andrew Blankstein and Joel Rubin June 6, 2009 Shortly after she sat down at her desk on the third floor of LAPD headquarters Friday morning, Det. Stephanie Lazarus was told a suspect in the basement jail had information on one of her cases. The 25-year police veteran went quickly downstairs. As Lazarus removed her firearm to...

"Who knew the badge, the holster and the iconic dark blue threads worn by Los Angeles police officers could make punching the clock so complicated? A federal judge ruled this week that Los Angeles Police Department officers should be paid for the time it takes them to put on and take off their uniforms and safety equipment, a decision that could cost the city millions of dollars in back pay and higher salaries." "In a 39-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Gary Feess found that the several minutes it takes an officer to dress for duty is a vital part...

The first wave of slayings haunted Los Angeles in the mid-1970s. The killer slipped mostly unseen through the night, preying on older women who lived alone. He raped them and squeezed their necks until they passed out or died. On the 17 who were killed, he placed pillows or blankets over their faces. The second wave hit a decade later in Claremont -- five older women raped and strangled, faces again covered. Even with at least 20 survivors, police never connected the two homicide-and-rape rampages nor solved either of them. The victims gave conflicting descriptions of the rapist, police in...

Olson took part in two bank robberies to help fund the SLA, according to court documents. During the Carmichael robbery, Olson "entered the bank with a firearm and kicked a nonresisting pregnant teller in the stomach. The teller miscarried after the robbery," the documents said. In August 1975, Los Angeles police found homemade bombs under two squad cars. They were designed to explode when the car moved, but neither device detonated. Authorities cast the attempted bombings as payback for the bloody shootout that left Atwood and other SLA members dead. A probe into the gunbattle helped police arrest Hearst, the...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A saga that began in the violent cauldron of California's 1970s radical counterculture and took a dramatic turn into a quiet middle-class neighborhood in Minnesota is about to come to an end. Sara Jane Olson, who was a fugitive for a quarter-century after attempting to kill Los Angeles police officers and participating in a deadly bank robbery near Sacramento as a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, is scheduled to be released from a California prison next week.

LOS ANGELES — The driver of a white Bentley who led police on a three-hour slow speed chase on Los Angeles freeways has stopped on a street in Universal City north of Hollywood, but has yet to surrender to authorities. California Highway Patrol and police officers with guns drawn are surrounding the car, which has its trunk open. Los Angeles police Officer Karen Smith says the chase began shortly before 8 p.m. Monday on Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood before the car pulled over on the same street more than three hours later. Smith says the driver is wanted for...

OAKLAND -- To an outraged public that watched an amateur video of the scene, it looked like an open-and-shut case of police brutality. But after lawyers for four white Los Angeles police officers dissected the video footage and told jurors to put themselves in the shoes of officers under stress, a jury delivered not-guilty verdicts in the 1991 beating of black motorist Rodney King. After six days of riots and 54 deaths, federal prosecutors filed civil rights charges and won convictions against two of the officers.The King case becomes a cautionary tale for prosecutors now that Alameda County District Attorney...

This was by far my favorite show. I really don't watch TV at all anymore except at break on work, but I would always go out of my way to catch up with "The Shield". Thoughts: When Mackey confesses to his crimes, hearing everything he's done at once is a real shocker. We have seen some of the things he has through the episodes, but he always has something "good" he does as well (like saving that priest from blackmail, getting that young gang banger into a juvi program, etc). But when we hear everything at once, it really hits...

It pays to riot in Los Angeles. The actual price is $13 million. if you break the law, hit police offices and reporters, yell obscenities, willing to sue the city. You can make a lot of money from a city that cares more for rioters than cops. It must be frustrating to police—they do their job and lose their jobs. Those that hit them with bottles and sticks, those who ORGANIZED the riot, now become rich people. On the backs of the poor of LA, criminals become rich and police look for new jobs. LA has a deficit of $400...

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles police say a security guard at a Scientology building shot and killed a man wielding a sword.

Police officers have requested that marchers not block traffic, but when these requests have been ignored, police commanders prohibited officers from taking any action to restore order. Thus in parts of Hollywood and West Los Angeles, where afternoon commutes can be hellish on the best of days, drivers unfortunate enough to be caught in any of these protests have found themselves helplessly delayed as marchers flooded into the streets, even as dozens of LAPD officers looked on from nearby waiting for orders that never came. It’s interesting to note that the Los Angeles protests have been confined to such liberal...

Like most police officers in America, I have thus far found myself immune to the many and varied charms of Barack Obama. Cops, regardless of their political affiliation, tend to be conservative, certainly few more so than I. Furthermore, we can spot a con job, and though Senator Obama has a smoother delivery than most who have risen from the fetid pond of Chicago politics, he nonetheless strikes me as a man who, should I find myself in his company, would have me checking for my wallet and watch after he had gone. But a strange thing happens to a...

..."The LAPD has been repeatedly criticized for its huge backlog of untested DNA evidence, but officials have said that they lacked the money to move faster on the cases. Chick's report, however, found that the logjam existed even though the department had received nearly $4 million in grants in recent years to address the problem. According to the city audit, there are 217 rape kits that have sat on the shelves in LAPD property rooms that are beyond the 10-year statute in which to prosecute the crimes. "They are totally useless and that number is growing every day." Chick said."...

I am looking for a freeper in the LA area who would be willing help me out. I received a latter in the mail from the LA Police Department. They have recovered a firearm that was stolen from me over a decade ago. They would like to return it to me however there is a catch. I, or my "agent," has to pick up the firearm at a LA police station. They will dispose of the firearm at the end of October if I do not pick it up before then. My problem is that I live is San Jose...