Friday, May 18, 2012
The time it takes 911 operators to dispatch firefighters has been getting substantially slower, too.
An audit by City Controller Wendy Greuel released Friday found that Los Angeles firefighters responded to emergency medical calls an average of 12 seconds slower since Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council cut the fire department's staff size in 2009. The San Fernando Valley saw an even higher increase of 20 seconds. The audit also found major underlying problems with the quality of the data. Greuel's audit also comes the same day the City Council begins discussing the city budget, which includes money for a study of how best to fix the department's broken response-time data system. Analyses of response times is "the most important tool we have to show success or failures," said Councilman Mitch Englander, who chairs the Public …
LAPD warns that other vehicles have also been targeted.
A significant increase in the theft of catalytic converters has occurred in the area policed by the Topanga Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, particularly from Toyota pickup trucks, police said Thursday. Other vehicles have also been targeted. The Topanga Division serves Canoga Park, West Hills, Winnetka and Woodland Hills. Anyone with information on the thefts was asked to call the Topanga area Auto Detectives at 818-756-4820.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Officials were unable to narrow down the search to a specific area.
A planned search this weekend for missing Fox distribution executive Gavin Smith has been called off. A spokesman for the Smith family says the search could not be narrowed down to a specific area to comb. "After consultations between the L.A. County Sheriff's Department and the Gavin Smith family, it has been decided that there will be NO search this weekend," said Howard Bragman in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. "There is not a specific area of defined interest to make this effort productive at this time." The 57-year-old Fox distribution executive was last seen leaving a family friend's home in Oak Park between 9-10 p.m. on May 1. Smith drove away in a black Mercedes-Benz E420 sedan with license number 6EKT044. Smith had just …
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Volunteers are being asked to help look for the missing Fox studio executive on May 19-20.
The family of missing Gavin Smith is asking the public to help look for him during a search this weekend, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The 57-year-old Fox distribution executive was last seen leaving a family friend's home in Oak Park between 9-10 p.m. on May 1. Smith drove away in a black Mercedes-Benz E420 sedan with license number 6EKT044. The search, coordinated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, will take place on May 19-20 in undisclosed "remote areas," according to the Hollywood Reporter. More details are to be released soon on a website launched by Smith's family, the reports the website. Smith had just returned from a motion picture industry trade show in Las Vegas before he went missing. He lives in West …
The 35-year-old special agent, who works in the FBI's Los Angeles division, vanished Friday around 7 a.m.
The family of missing FBI agent Steve Ivens reached out to him in an open letter released Tuesday by Burbank police. "Steve is more than just a missing person," wife Thea Ivens wrote. "He is a father, a husband, a son, a brother, a nephew, a friend and a colleague in this community." The 35-year-old special agent, who works in the FBI's Los Angeles division, went missing Friday around 7 a.m., according to Burbank police. He was last seen at his home in the 1700 block of Scott Road and is believed to have walked to the Verdugo Hills, Sgt. Darin Ryburn said. Police said Ivens had been despondent and possibly suicidal, and noted a handgun was missing from his home. His wife wrote: "Steve, if you are out there listening right now, your wife …
Dorothee Burkhart is wanted in Germany on a host of fraud charges.
The mother of a man suspected of setting dozens of fires in Hollywood, West Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley over New Year's weekend will face an extradition hearing Thursday. Dorothee Burkhart, 53, is fighting extradition to her native Germany, where she is wanted on a host of fraud charges. Attorneys for both sides are expected to argue before U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles F. Eick, who rejected a request to free Burkhart on bail pending today's proceedings. The woman has described herself as the sole link between her "mentally ill" son, Harry, and "the outside world." Her 24-year-old son faces trial on dozens of arson-related charges stemming from the series of fires that terrorized Los Angeles over four nights at the start of the …
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Statistics expert recommends adopting a plan modeled on the police COMPSTAT system to record response times.
Austin Beutner may have dropped out of the Los Angeles mayoral race, but his campaign clearly revealed the disparity between reported fire department response times and actual response times. And Councilman Mitch Englander, chairman of the city's Public Safety Committee, has been critical of the inaccuracy in reported LAFD response times. Englander, a reserve police officer, has introduced a motion calling for the fire department to adopt FIRESTAT LA, a computerized system similar to the police department's trusted COMPSTAT data system. This morning, the Los Angeles Times reports on an audit that calls on the LAFD to stop using its flawed data software until the problem is fixed. It also recommends an overhaul of the unit that analyzes …
Monday, May 14, 2012
Freeway ramps were closed, and De Soto Ave. was blocked at Rinaldi St. in Chatsworth.
A young woman was killed and another driver was injured Monday in a three-vehicle crash in Chatsworth, authorities said. Paramedics were sent to the north end of De Soto Avenue near the Ronald Reagan (118) Freeway at 6:28 a.m., said Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department. Detective William Bustos of the Los Angeles Police Department's Valley Traffic detective unit said Brandi Todd, a 21-year-old Simi Valley resident, was traveling at a high rate of speed when she lost control of her 2007 Scion TC. The car collided with the rear of a Frito Lay commercial truck driven by Gerson Sarmiento, 38, a resident of Winnetka, and the force of the collision caused the Scion to spin counter-clockwise into the southbound lanes of De Soto …
34.271681
-118.588981
11100 de Soto Ave, Chatsworth, CA
Scene of fatal accident.
/articles/one-dies-another-injured-in-crash-on-de-soto
/locations/7011828
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Firefighters rescue 34-year-old man suffering serious injuries.
A 34-year-old bicyclist suffered serious injuries Sunday when he fell off a trail into a small canyon near Hollow Springs in Porter Ranch, a fire official said. Firefighters and paramedics were dispatched to the scene of the injury at 12299 N. Tampa Ave. at 10:39 a.m., said Erik Scott of the Los Angeles City Fire Department. Paramedics rushed the man, suffering from serious injuries, to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, Scott said.
34.295619
-118.551089
12299 Tampa Ave, Porter Ranch, CA
Scene of bicycle accident.
/articles/bicyclist-falls-into-canyon-in-porter-ranch
/locations/7000588
The man is being sought by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department in the Verdugo Mountains.
The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department issued an alert Saturday night seeking a despondent and potentially suicidal missing FBI agent who was last seen in the Verdugo Mountains area. The Burbank Police Department and FBI are conducting a search, and he could be in the Toluca Lake, North Hollywood, Studio City or Sherman Oaks areas. He is also being sought by more than 40 LASD personnel from the Altadena, Montrose, Santa Clarita and Sierra Madre Search and Rescue Teams including reserve deputies and volunteer rescuers, Special Enforcement Bureau - Emergency Services Detail deputy paramedics, bloodhounds, and helicopter crew have been assisting in the search. The 35-year-old white male is on foot and despondent, according to police. The man …
mario r. velasco
5:50 am on Saturday, May 19, 2012
Keep on praying, don't lose faith, ask for patience and assurance in our hearts that those that suffer are blessed with compasion from our merciful Lord. Anything we ask in His name, shall be given. My family, church,friends and neighbors will never stop praying for Gavin's family. more ›