Email from Los Angeles Police Protective League Daily News & Updates   Law Enforcement News L.A. police are grappling with a new challenge: fire duty Since the outbreak of the Palisades fire, LAPD officers accustomed to chasing 911 calls and patrolling city streets have suddenly found themselves thrust into an unfamiliar yet pivotal role: part aid worker, part night sentry, part wingman for firefighters battling one of the most devastating blazes in the region’s history. Across the country, police have for decades been pressed into crisis response duty during wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes and tornadoes. Some experts predict law enforcement will increasingly be confronted with new climate-related challenges, which LAPD officers have been learning about firsthand over the last week. The LAPD has been grappling with how and when to enforce evacuation orders, and how to do their regular work investigating crimes while short-staffed. With around 750 officers deployed to the fire area, the crisis has strained a force already well below what leaders say are optimum staffing levels due to long-standing issues with turnover and recruitment. Los Angeles Times LA City Council Extends Contract Between LAPD and Metro for Security Services The City Council Wednesday authorized the LAPD to extend its existing contract for $113 million with L.A. Metro for security services through the end of the 2024-25 fiscal year. In a 12-3 vote, the council instructed the LAPD to move forward with the contract, which is expected to increase from $616.9 million to $730.8 million. Metro officials said the agreement would cover a one-year period from July 1, 2024, through June 30, and mostly accounts for wage increases for LAPD officers. There are not “any substantial changes” in services, according to Metro representatives. City Council members Eunisses Hernandez, Hugo Soto-Martinez and Ysabel Jurado voted against the matter, and there was no discussion. This marked the ninth amendment to an initial five-year contract that the agency executed in 2017 with LAPD for $369.3 million. Metro also has agreements with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department and the Long Beach Police Department. Metro’s System Security and Law Enforcement Department directs contracted law enforcement to address crime and patrol its entire system, among other duties. MyNewsLA Man killed, 9-year-old boy seriously injured when car crashes through L.A. apartment A hit-and-run driver crashed into an apartment building in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles overnight, killing a man and seriously injuring a 9-year-old boy inside one of the units. The incident was reported around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Park Western Apartments located at the intersection of Western and Russell avenues. Investigators determined that the driver was traveling southbound on Western and tried to make a left turn but lost control for unknown reasons and slammed into the apartment building, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department said. Video showed the sedan had crashed through a wall before stopping inside one of the apartment units. Two patients, described as a 50-year-old man and a 9-year-old boy, were trapped under the vehicle and required extrication, the Los Angeles Fire Department stated. The man, who has not been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene. The boy was taken to a local hospital in serious condition. A third patient, described as a 34-year-old woman, was hospitalized with what were described as minor injuries. The driver of the car, who police said fled the scene on foot, is still being sought. No description of the suspect has been released. KTLA 5 2 Men Sentenced in Connection to Johnny Wactor’s Murder Two men charged with lesser crimes in connection with last year’s killing of former “General Hospital” actor Johnny Wactor were sentenced Wednesday to state prison — one for four years and the other for more than five. Frank Olano, 22, was sentenced to five years and eight months behind bars in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom as a result of his no contest plea last October to one count each of being an accessory after the fact and receiving stolen property, and three counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, according to court records. Leonel Gutierrez, now 19, was sentenced to four years in prison for his guilty plea last September to one count each of attempted robbery and grand theft. Co-defendants Robert Isaiah Barceleau and Sergio Estrada, both 18, were ordered last week to stand trial on one count each of murder and attempted second-degree robbery stemming from the May 25, 2024, attack on the 37-year-old actor, and one count of grand theft involving the alleged removal of catalytic converter from another vehicle within two miles and less than a half-hour before Wactor’s killing. MyNewsLA New task force to fight crime related to LA area's devastating wildfires As the Los Angeles area reels from the ongoing wildfires, local and federal law enforcement agencies are teaming up to crack down on wildfire-related crime across the region. The Joint Regional Fire Crimes Task Force will focus on looting, burglary, impersonation offenses, arson, illegal drone activity and fraud "targeting both disaster victims and those wishing to make charitable donations," according to an announcement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California Wednesday. “We will not permit victims to be re-victimized,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. “Our community has suffered tremendously, and we are here to support them." Since the fires started last Tuesday night, more than 50 people have been arrested — nine of which have been charged — in connection with looting, burglary, impersonation or curfew violations, authorities said. Fraud has also been a central issue as both victims and good Samaritans struggle to navigate where their money is going. The task force intends to investigate not only individual acts of fraud, but price gouging for essential needs, contractor fraud and the misuse of federal programs, including through Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration. NBC 4 LAPD arrests 2 people who admitted to setting fires outside of wildfire zones in Southern California The Los Angeles Police Department has arrested two individuals on Tuesday who admitted to setting fires outside of the wildfire zones. At a news conference on Wednesday, Chief Jim McDonnell said two people were arrested for arson in connection to fires outside of the impacted areas caused by the Eaton and Palisades fires. At about 5:15 p.m. LAPD officers responded to a radio call near the intersection of Glenoaks and Van Nuys boulevards. McDonnell said when officers arrived a citizen had already detained the possible arson suspect and extinguished the nearby fire at a tree. The person was taken into custody and booked for arson. "During the investigation, the suspect admitted to starting the fire because he liked the smell of burning leaves," McDonnell said. Later that evening around 9:30 p.m. in the area of Santa Monica Boulevard and Vermont Avenue the fire department responded to reports of a person setting multiple piles of trash on fire. Fire crews quickly put out the flames and officers took the individual into custody and booked her for arson. CBS 2 Aryan Brotherhood on trial: Prison gang leaders ordered 5 L.A. County murders, feds say They died inside and out of prison, stabbed beneath the sweltering Central Valley sun and gunned down on darkened streets in Pomona, Lomita and Lancaster. One was a pimp, another an extortionist with ties to Israeli organized crime. Two victims were members of a white supremacist gang. An imprisoned robber was killed by his cellmate. Another man was found dead in a stolen truck. What they had in common, authorities say, was that they’d run afoul of three reputed members of the Aryan Brotherhood. Kenneth Johnson, Francis Clement and John Stinson will stand trial beginning Wednesday on charges of racketeering and murder. The defendants have pleaded not guilty and denied being affiliated with the Aryan Brotherhood, a gang formed nearly 60 years ago by white inmates at San Quentin. Prosecutors say they have traced seven homicides — two behind bars, five on the streets of Los Angeles County — to Johnson, Clement and Stinson. The case has been cloaked in secrecy. Prosecutors have not even publicly named the victims; The Times identified them through public records and law enforcement sources. Los Angeles Times ‘He didn’t swerve or brake’: Texas officer killed while using cruiser to protect drivers from fleeing suspect An officer has been killed in a head-on crash while protecting other vehicles from a wrong-way driver, KBTX reported. The Jan. 15 incident began with a forgery call at a bank in College Station, according to the report. When officers confronted a woman attempting to cash a fraudulent check, she fled in a black Jeep, leading police on a high-speed pursuit. The pursuit was terminated when the suspect began driving south in the northbound lanes, but Department of Public Safety troopers continued to follow as the vehicle entered Grimes County, according to the report. The Jeep collided head-on with Navasota Police Department Sgt. Mark Butler’s marked Chevrolet Tahoe, according to the report. Butler was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The suspect was declared deceased at the scene. Her identity has not yet been released. Witnesses captured cellphone footage of the Jeep’s reckless, high-speed path, showing no signs of slowing before the collision, according to the report. One man witnessed the incident that led to Butler’s death and prevented his own. “I don’t believe we would have made it out if it wasn’t for the officer,” Jonathan Crider told KBTX. “He selflessly gave himself up so nobody else would perish.” PoliceOne Minn. woman pleads guilty to buying guns used to kill officers, medic Burnsville police officers and firefighters filled a federal courtroom Tuesday as a woman pleaded guilty to illegally purchasing the firearms used to fatally shoot three of their co-workers last February. The victims’ families were also there. Ashley Anne Dyrdahl, 36, admitted to two of the 11 charges against her. Prosecutors said she bought the firearms used by her boyfriend in the killings of officers Matthew Ruge and Paul Elmstrand and firefighter/paramedic Adam Finseth, and to injure Burnsville police Sgt. Adam Medlicott. The sentencing guidelines call for a prison term of 2½ years to three years and one month, followed by one to three years of supervised release, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Calhoun-Lopez said in court. It will be up to U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell to decide her sentence after a pre-sentence investigation is completed, and he’s not bound by the sentencing guidelines. Blackwell said what Dyrdahl did went beyond purchasing firearms and, while she may have not intended the “tragic consequences,” her actions played a role. Pioneer Press Public Safety News Safety concerns still linger as some evacuees of Los Angeles fires begin returning home As some evacuees from the Eaton and Palisades fires begin to return home on Wednesday, a week after their neighborhoods were devastated by the destructive blazes, health officials say there's still plenty of cause for concern. Thousands of homes were destroyed in each fire, leaving countless people without a place to stay. For those that are somehow fortunate enough to return, air quality and safety remain top of mind. "Our house is standing," said Zoe Kahn, who temporarily had to flee from her Pasadena home last Tuesday when the Eaton Fire erupted to torch more than 14,000 acres. "But, there's significant smoke damage." Even though their neighborhood is no longer under an evacuation order, she says that her family isn't quite ready to get back. "We are having our house professionally cleaned, and then hiring an industrial hygienist to assess any toxins that are in the home still so that we can make sure it's safe for us to move back in," she said. The Kahn's are just one of many local families living near burn scars that are concerned about what they can't see and what dangerous chemicals may still remain. CBS 2 L.A.’s ‘off the charts’ dryness keeps risk of new fires high. Rain is desperately needed Winds are expected to continue dissipating this week, but it’s shaping up to be a short reprieve for fire-scarred Southern California. There’s a growing risk that significant fire weather could return in Los Angeles and Ventura counties starting early next week. But even more than winds, the region faces danger from extreme dry conditions and lack of rain. Southern California is seeing one of its driest starts to a winter on record. Much of the region has received just 5% or less of its average rainfall for this point in the water year, which began Oct. 1, said Alex Tardy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in San Diego, which also issues forecasts for Orange County and the Inland Empire. Downtown L.A. has received just 0.16 of an inch of rain since Oct. 1 — 3% of the average at this point in the season, which is 5.56 inches. The record low for this 3½-month time period in downtown L.A. was for the water year that began on Oct. 1, 1903 — when only a trace of rain was detected through Jan. 13, 1904, according to data shared by Tardy. Los Angeles Times Local Government News LA Council Confirms Wilmington Woman to Harbor Commission The Los Angeles City Council Wednesday confirmed Wilmington resident Yolanda De La Torre as the newest member of the Harbor Commission, a five-member body overseeing the Port of L.A. In a unanimous vote, the council confirmed De La Torre to fill a vacancy left by the departure of Michael Munoz. She will serve a term ending June 30, which may be extended further. Mayor Karen Bass nominated De La Torre for the position last year. Appointments to commissions are made by the mayor and confirmed by the City Council. Prior to her appointment, residents of the Harbor area and Councilman Tim McOsker, who represents neighborhoods such as San Pedro and Wilmington, raised concerns over the board’s composition. Commissioner Ishmun “Lee” Williams of San Pedro was the lone representative for residents of the Harbor Area. 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. Listen To Our Podcast Los Angeles Police Protective League | 1308 W 8th St | Los Angeles, CA 90017 US Unsubscribe | Update Profile | Our Privacy Policy | Constant Contact Data Notice