Saturday, February 11, 2012
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — The LAPD is fighting crime from a high-tech war room that gives it eyes all over the city. The surveillance hub is now a model for police forces around the world and KCAL9 got an exclusive tour inside from Chief Charlie Beck.
“We are targets on our own soil,” says Beck. “We have to be ready.”
What began as a grass roots idea following the 9/11 terrorist attacks is now a state-of-the-art real-time analysis critical response center. It’s called RACR, and it’s located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles.
“This is a system that cuts through the red tape, that gets information to the people that need it,” says Chief Beck. He calls it “the brains of the department, twenty-four/seven.”
Police in the activity center monitor live feeds of city and traffic cameras, counter-terrorism information, and real-time crime mapping, with cutting edge software...[Full Article]
Labels: LAPD, Los Angeles
Friday, January 27, 2012
TG Daily
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) teamed up with US Special Forces troops Wednesday evening for a night of "multi-agency" counter-terrorism tactical exercises.
Residents of the sprawling city observed a Black Hawk helicopter and four OH-6 choppers flying over Los Angeles, with the fleet hovering above the US Bank building downtown and flying low over the Staples
Center.
Meanwhile, LA news station CBS KCAL9 managed to identify a Black Hawk making what appeared to be a practice drop off in a local park before flying off.
The LAPD issued an official statement explaining that the training exercises would help ensure the military’s ability to safely and effectively operate within urban environments.
Chief Warrant Officer David Duran told KCAL9 the Los Angeles training exercises could be a dry run for a future mission.
"They do a lot of mockup training... But it’s always best to get the closest terrain layout to what the objective is," he explained.
"If it’s a mountainous terrain, they go to the mountains; if it’s a desert terrain, they use the desert; if they’re in a coastal terrain, they use the coast. If it’s an urban terrain, you know, whatever’s needed."
Similar exercises - which were held in NYC, Miami and Boston - have prompted concern over what appears to be the rapid militarization of local police departments. Indeed, since 9/11, the DHS has shelled out more than $34 billion in federal grants arming precincts with military grade equipment and advanced tech.
For example, the New York Police Department (NYPD) and US Department of Defense (DoD) are currently testing a new system that uses terahertz imaging to detect hidden weapons.
Unsurprisingly, the use of such invasive technology has prompted a slew of concerned statements from privacy advocates who believe the arbitrary use of terahertz imaging violates human rights. To be sure, the system is capable of measuring energy radiating from an individual up to 16-feet away, while detecting anomalies like a firearm.
..[Full Article]
Labels: LAPD, Los Angeles, Special Forces, terahertz imaging
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — The Los Angeles Police Department teamed with military special operation forces Wednesday evening to conduct multi-agency tactical exercises in the skies above downtown LA.
Many questioned what was going on Wednesday night as a Black Hawk helicopter and four OH-6 choppers – or “Little Birds” – flew over the city, at one point hovering just above the US Bank building downtown and later flying low over the Staples Center as the Lakers played inside.
Someone could be seen sitting inside an open chopper with his legs hanging off the side.
Sky9 spotted the Black Hawk in the dark, making what appeared to be a drop off at a park before quickly ascending back into the air.
Throughout the exercise, the five rotorcrafts were staged at Dodgers Stadium.
The LAPD said the purpose of the training was in part to ensure the military’s ability to operate in urban environments...[Full Article]
Labels: exercises, LAPD, Los Angeles, military drills, Special Forces
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
UK DailyMail
America's second-largest schools district is giving students a break with a new policy ruling that homework can only count for 10% of a student’s grade.
Los Angeles is joining the growing list of school districts across the country that are downgrading the importance of time children have to spend working on assignments at home.
The idea is to allow students to spend more time with their families or on extracurricular activities such as sports or hobbies.
Parents are increasingly worried that the competition to get into good colleges is leaving their children exhausted with all their free time taken up doing hours of homework.
But teachers worry that the move penalises hard-working youngsters who are eager to improve by taking on extra studies at home.
Critics also say the Los Angeles Unified Schools District is effectively rewarding slackers who don’t bother doing their homework...[Full Article]
Labels: California, dumbing down, education, Los Angeles, school
Saturday, May 28, 2011
(credit: translogic.aolautos.com)
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — If you thought the patrol car in the 1987 action movie “Robocop” was high-tech, wait until you see what L.A.’s finest will be soon be driving.
AOL’s Translogic caught a sneak peek of the new squad car of choice for the Los Angeles Police Department: the Chevrolet Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle (PPV).
Billed as the “sum total of all the law enforcement community has learned about patrol cars to date” by the report, the PPV boasts a 6.0L V-8 engine with 355 horsepower, 18-inch steel wheels, and a host of gadgets that puts any Hollywood squad car to shame.
The Caprice, which replaces the long-used Ford Crown Victoria, is equipped with an infrared night vision camera, automated license plate scanner, and a touch-screen center console that replaces the older computers traditionally used by officers.
In addition to horsepower and firepower, the cruiser is also outfitted with the latest in information technology, with ethernet, Wi-Fi and an experimental wireless-mesh network in the trunk.
Even the bad guys can ride in comfort: cut-outs in the back seat are custom-made to accommodate any handcuffed suspect.
LAPD officials say vehicle wrapping was used on all-black sedans instead of traditional paint to minimize repair expenses and protect resale value. This brings the expected taxpayer cost to be about $20,000.
Drivers can expect to see the new 2012 Chevrolet Caprice PPV cruising city streets as early as mid-2011.
Labels: LAPD, Los Angeles, police
Saturday, February 19, 2011
WeAreChange LA interrupts Bill Maher again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoaCORyqSxc
Jeremy Rothe-Kushel of WeAreChangeLA was just beaten and arrested for interrupting a live broadcast of the Real Time with Bill Maher television show. Video from the live broadcast clearly shows Jeremy screaming "That's Battery! If you ask me to leave, I will leave on my own accord" There is no reason for his assault and illegal arrest.
WeAreChange LA have done this in response to last weeks Bill Mahers attack on the 911 truth movement.
This is actually the second time WeAreChange La has interrupted the Real Time with Bill Maher, last time gaining national attention for there actions when Bill Maher physically removed the activists. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5BJzE...
Labels: Bill Maher, Los Angeles, video, We Are Change, WeAreChange
Thursday, December 16, 2010
The LAX TSA Choir, a group of 17 singers and musicians, all of them employees of the TSA, have been surprising passengers with performances of holiday music and other tunes in the midst of one of the nation's busiest airports, reports USA Today .
The choir, according to USA Today, worked through an hour-long set list that included such holiday biggies, and I kid you not, as: America the Beautiful, God Bless the U.S.A. and Battle Hymn of the Republic...
[Full Article]
Labels: choir, LAX, Los Angeles, Transportation Security Administration, TSA
Monday, August 23, 2010
"Assault Intervention Device" comes to Pitchess Detention Center
Guards at the Los Angeles County jail complex in Castaic will start using a newfangled weapon that produces a deep burning sensation -- which is not to be confused with a “warm fuzzy feeling” -- in whomever it is aimed at.
The 7 1/2-foot-tall “Assault Intervention Device,” which sheriff's deputies demonstrated Friday at the Pitchess Detention Center, emits an invisible beam that causes an unbearable sensation, reported the Daily News.
The device will be mounted near the ceiling in a unit housing about 65 inmates, sheriff's Cmdr. Bob Osborne of the sheriff' Technology Exploration Program told the newspaper.
“We hope that this type of technology will either cause an inmate to stop an assault or lessen the severity of an assault by them being distracted by the pain as a result of the beam,” said Osborne. “So that we have fewer injuries, fewer assaults, those kinds of things.”...
[Full Article]Labels: Assault Intervention Device, county jail, laser, Los Angeles
Monday, August 16, 2010
Staff Tackles and Chokes Deaf Shopper for Shoplifting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fRv--C_vao
This is what I know now. Alex Pea was charged with Robbery and assalt. The news stations in California will let you know most of it.
BrianHamiltonTV found an Alejandro Rea listed as booked for robbery on 8-7
http://app4.lasd.org/iic/ajis_search.cfm
(enter name to search)
Booking No.: 2432405
Last Name: REA
First Name: ALEJANDRO
Sex: M Race: H Date Of Birth: 04/09/1982
Age: 28 Hair: BLK Eyes: BRO Height: 510 Weight: 200
Charge Level: F (Felony)
Arrest Date: 08/07/2010
Arrest Time: 1830
Arrest Agency: 4206
Agency Description: LAPD-HWD DIVISION
This is what I know, The two guys who are deaf were in the Clothing store XXI and apparently they were shopping, Staff must have seen them do something to suspect them of stealing, but that doesn't have any support or facts. Before I started filming. The Big Black dude in Jeans who mighta been a store detective jumps and tackles the large hispanic deaf guy. from there I remembered my new phone and turned on the camera,
There was who looked to be the manager of XXI that said to turn off the camera because they didn't want to get exposed for harassing and dealing with a situation that turned sour.
From there, you get to see the turn of events and then in the aftermath, the sorting out of exactly what happen. From what I saw that you guys can't, the deaf guy in the white shirt was apparently assuring the store with receipts for what he was carrying.
If you guy are better than I at figuring this out or have the facts then PM me and I'll post it in the Description here below. Also if this was a whole misunderstanding, then those deaf people have a case and someone needs to help them. And if you are the ones who were in this situation, then contact a lawyer and have them look at this video. It's proof positive that the Black guy did not know how to restrain you, More over, he was nearly choking you to death by the purplish color you had on your face.
Here is some info about the store. I have no info about any of the people involved, so good luck.
XXI
6801 Hollywood Blvd
#1C-134
Los Angeles, CA 90028
Neighborhood: Hollywood
(323) 462-8500
www.forever21.com
Labels: assault, California, deaf, Hollywood, Los Angeles, security, shopplifting
Monday, July 12, 2010
Camp Pendleton Marines went to one of LA's toughest neighborhoods
A tough-talking, muscular Los Angeles police sergeant steadily rattled off tips to a young Marine riding shotgun as they raced in a patrol car to a drug bust: Be aware of your surroundings. Watch people's body language. Build rapport.
Marine Lt. Andrew Abbott, 23, took it all in as he peered out at the graffiti-covered buildings, knowing that the lessons he learned recently in one of the city's toughest neighborhoods could help him soon in the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
"People are the center of gravity and if you do everything you can to protect them, then they'll protect you," he said. "That's something true here and pretty much everywhere."
Abbott was among 70 Camp Pendleton Marines in a training exercise that aims to adapt the investigative techniques the LAPD has used for decades against violent street gangs to take on the Taliban more as a powerful drug-trafficking mob than an insurgency.
The Marines hope that learning to work like a cop on a beat will help them better track the Taliban, build relationships with Afghans leery of foreign troops and make them better teachers as they try to professionalize an Afghan police force beset by corruption.
The troops believe they can learn valuable lessons from the LAPD, which has made inroads into communities after highly publicized abuses, from the videotaped beating of Rodney King to corruption in an anti-gang unit.
"Their role is to win the hearts and minds of the community and that's what they did," said Marine Staff Sgt. Brendan Flynn, who also works as a Los Angeles police officer and will be deployed to help train Afghan police.
The weeklong exercise -- unbeknownst to the public -- involved Marines dressed in jeans and T-shirts observing drugs busts, witnessing prostitution arrests and even following a murder case. It was the largest group of Marines to embed with the city's officers...
[Full Article]Labels: Los Angeles, Marine Corps, Marines, police, posse comitatus, U.S.M.C.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Three Los Angeles-area reporters who said they were physically assaulted by LAPD officers at a 2007 rally have won their day in court.
A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury has awarded one of the journalists, Fox camerawoman Patricia Ballaz, $1.7 million for lost earnings and medical expenses. Another reporter, NPR journalist Patricia Nazario, won $39,000 for medical and other expenses. The jury deadlocked on the award for a third reporter, Fox reporter Christina Gonzalez.
During court testimony, Ballaz testified that police "threw [Gonzalez] around like a rag doll" as they pushed through a crowd of reporters and protesters during an immigration rally near L.A.'s MacArthur Park on May 1, 2007...
[Full Article]Labels: LAPD, Los Angeles, police brutality
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
If Los Angeles wants to boycott Arizona, it had better get used to reading by candlelight.
That's the message from a member of Arizona's top government utilities agency, who threw down the gauntlet Tuesday in a letter to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa by threatening to cut off the city's power supply as retribution.
Gary Pierce, a commissioner on the five-member Arizona Corporation Commission, wrote the letter in response to the Los Angeles City Council's decision last week to boycott the Grand Canyon State -- in protest of its immigration law -- by suspending official travel there and ending future contracts with state businesses.
Noting that a quarter of Los Angeles' electricity comes from Arizona power plants, Pierce threatened to pull the plug if the City Council does not reconsider.
"Doggone it -- if you're going to boycott this candy store ... then don't come in for any of it," Pierce told FoxNews.com.
In the letter, he ridiculed Villaraigosa for saying that the point of the boycott was to "send a message" by severing the "resources and ties" they share.
"I received your message; please receive mine. As a statewide elected member of the Arizona Corporation Commission overseeing Arizona's electric and water utilities, I too am keenly aware of the 'resources and ties' we share with the city of Los Angeles," Pierce wrote.
"If an economic boycott is truly what you desire, I will be happy to encourage Arizona utilities to renegotiate your power agreements so Los Angeles no longer receives any power from Arizona-based generation."...
Letter: Arizona's Reply To Los Angeles Boycott (PDF)
Labels: Arizona, boycott, electric, Los Angeles
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Voluntary Disarmament: Gun Buyback Programs Increase Nationwide
Some of my colleagues on the web are saying that Fox News Chicago reporter Tera Williams "revealed her bias" about the relative efficacy of Chicago's absurd gun buyback program.
In yet another TV report on this meaningless program, reporter Williams was interviewing a Chicago resident on his thoughts about the whole thing. The resident told her, "it's a good way to start," to which Williams said "Something's better than nothing, right?"
Well, no it's not, Ms Williams. This program has been a complete failure for making a dent in the violence and shootings in the City of Chicago. While other great cities of the nation have seen falling murder rates over the last decade, Chicago has seen its rate rise. Even as this waste of money and time of a program was started in 2006, the murder rate has not been positively affected by the program. In fact, this year the city has already experienced over 100 shooting deaths and we aren't even at the half way point in the year yet...
[Webmaster - Gun buyback programs are becoming more prevalent nationwide. Churches are frequently used to spearhead these initiatives. Fascist and Communist regimes have always sought to disarm the populace before unleashing the full force of their tyranny. They are afraid of resistance from the masses. How many criminals and "gang-bangers" do you really think will be turning in their weapons? All these programs do is sucker the sheeple into giving up their means of self-protection.]
Brooklyn Holds Gun Buybacks At Local Churches
BROOKLYN, N.Y. (WPIX) - Hundreds are expected to drop their weapons Saturday at part of Brooklyn's gun buyback program.
Workable handguns or assault weapons can each be exchanged for a $200 bank card, with no questions asked. Rifles and shotguns can be turned over for a $100 bank card, while BB guns, pellet guns and air pistols can be traded in for a $20 bank card.
There is no limit on the number of guns each person can turn in, but no more than three can be exchanged for the bank cards.
Participants are reminded to carry their guns in plastic or papers bags, or in a shoe box. Those traveling by car should transport the guns in their trunk.
The program is a joint effort by Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes, along with the NYPD, local lawmakers and church pastors...
City To Buyback Guns At Several Locations
LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- Los Angeles residents can receive a gift card or prepaid credit card worth up to $200 Saturday by turning in guns today at a number of locations across the city.
Under L.A.'s one-day Gun Buyback program -- which will run from 10 a.m. through 3 p.m. -- residents will be able to surrender their firearms in exchange for a Ralphs grocery store gift card or a prepaid Visa card.
The amount of the gift cards will depend on the type of firearm. For assault weapons, the amount can be $200; for handguns, shotguns and rifles, up to $100.
"Last year, we reclaimed 1,700 guns and assault weapons (in) the most successful gun buyback program in the United States of America," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said last month while announcing the program.
"The LAPD is focused on this. Our Gang Reduction and Youth Reduction Office is working with intervention workers to really reach out. Our hope is that this is going to be even more successful that last year."
Opponents of gun control have questioned the value of gun buyback programs, expressing doubt that a significant amount of criminals will turn in their guns...
[Webmaster - Los Angeles Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, is opposed to Arizona's attempt to curtail illegal immigration and he has called for a boycott of Arizona.]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNFO9zzxFsE
Labels: 2nd amendment, Brooklyn, buybacks, Chicago, gun control, guns, Los Angeles
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