History of Super Glue...Very Interesting

Superglue came into being in 1942 when Dr Harry Coover was trying to isolate a clear plastic to make precision gun sights for handheld weaponry. For a while he was working with chemicals known as cyanoacrylates, which they soon realized polymerized on contact with moisture, causing all the test materials to bond together. It was obvious that these wouldn’t work, so research moved on. Six years later, Coover was working in a Tennessee chemical plant and realized the potential of the substance when they were testing the heat resistance of cyanoacrylates, recognizing that the adhesives required neither heat nor pressure to form a strong bond. Thus, after a certain amount of commercial refinement, Superglue (or “Alcohol-Catalyzed Cyanoacrylate Adhesive Composition”, to give it its full name) was born. It was later used for treating injured soldiers in Vietnam – the adhesive could be sprayed on open wounds, stemming bleeding and allowing easier transportation of soldiers; adding a delicious layer of irony to the story in that a discovery made during an effort to improve the killing potential of guns ended up saving countless lives.

Lindsay Lohan was booked by LA Sheriff at 5 AM this morning!

Community Message has been issued by the LASD - HQ Newsroom (SHB), Los Angeles County Sheriff.
Thursday May 26, 2011 8:57 AM PDT
Lindsay Lohan was booked at 5:02 a.m. today (May 26, 2011) at the Century Regional Detention Facility
Lindsay Lohan was booked at 5:02 a.m. today (May 26, 2011) at the Century Regional Detention Facility, and was fitted with an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet and released to serve her time in home detention. Ms. Lohan will be under the supervision of the Sheriff’s Department and her release date is expected to be around June 29. She will serve about 35 days on home detention.

The process that took place this morning is known as an “over-the-counter” booking and therefore no booking photo was taken. No past booking photo will be released.

Ms. Lohan pled no contest to a misdemeanor theft charge and was found to be in violation of the terms of her probation. Ms. Lohan was previously sentenced to 120 days for violation of probation, but received no additional time for the theft charge. Ms. Lohan has chosen to serve her time in home detention with an electronic monitoring program offered through the Department’s Community Based Alternatives to Custody program.

There is no further information.

Steve Whitmore
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Spokesperson
(323) 573-2387


Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau - Newsroom
(323) 267-4800
SHBNewsroom@lasd.org
www.lasd.org


Leroy D. Baca, Sheriff
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department

High court orders drastic prison population reduction in California

High court orders drastic prison population reduction in California

By Bill Mears, CNN Supreme Court Producer
May 23, 2011

Washington (CNN) -- The Supreme Court has affirmed a federal order telling California to reduce its overflowing prison population, a situation the majority said "falls below the standard of decency."

The 5-4 ruling Monday from the justices come in a classic battle over state versus federal authority, focusing on whether U.S. courts can step in and essentially run state prisons when officials have repeatedly violated basic constitutional guarantees afforded inmates.

The issue came down to a sharply divided debate between public safety concerns and individual rights, a debate that goes into how the three branches of government should balance competing state interests.

The swing vote was Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote of the "continuing injury and harm resulting from these serious constitutional violations," including as many as 156,000 people crammed in correctional facilities designed to hold about half that many.

He noted "needless suffering and death have been the well-documented result. Over the whole course of years during which this litigation has been pending, no other remedies have been found to be sufficient."

In dissent, Justice Samuel Alito warned any mass release of inmates to alleviate overcrowding would be "gambling with the safety of the people of California."

The state now has a two-year window to comply, with the clock starting Monday. Officials have not fully explained how their ongoing inmate reduction plan will need to be modified to meet the federal order.

Prison overcrowding is a nationwide problem, but California's dilemma is unique in its massive scope and time frame. There is general agreement that the prison conditions across California are disturbing and long-standing:

Prisoners are stacked three deep in 6- by 9-foot cells designed to hold only one. Open spaces meant to be gymnasiums and clinics have been transformed into crowded encampments with bunks and unsanitary conditions. Suicides occur once every eight days on average.

California has the nation's largest prison system, and the state says it has reduced the prison population to meet overcrowding concerns. But a special federal court panel had ordered 36,000 to 46,000 more inmates released or transferred quickly, about a quarter of the total.

Despite some recent drops, the prison population in the state has increased by about 75 percent in the past two decades.

Two lawsuits -- one filed in 1990, the other in 2001 -- say overcrowding is the core cause of what has become a domino effect of unsafe and unhealthy conditions for those on both sides of the iron bars.

State legislators and corrections officials have admitted the prisons violate the ban on "cruel and unusual punishment" contained in the Constitution, and have organized more than 20 panels and commissions to address the crisis.

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who left office in January, had blamed the legislature for not approving more money to build new prisons, or reforming the way defendants are punished and sentenced, particular repeat offenders.

"I don't blame the courts for stepping in to try to solve the overcrowding crisis," he said three years ago. "The fact of the matter is, for decades the state of California hasn't really taken it seriously and hasn't really done something about it."

The special federal court in 2009 had ordered the state to shrink the prison population from the current 200 percent over capacity to a maximum of 137.5 percent, and to accomplish that in two years. The state was given wide latitude to meet the goal, but the court was adamant the state do it without delay and without excuse.

The task was made more difficult by the state budget crisis and a national economic downturn that has created turmoil over funding solutions not just in prisons, but also in education, transportation, and social programs.

Kennedy spent most his 52-page majority opinion affirming the right of federal courts to step into the situation.

"This extensive and ongoing constitutional violation requires a remedy, and a remedy will not be achieved without a reduction in overcrowding," he wrote. "The relief ordered by the three-judge court is required by the Constitution and was authorized by Congress in (federal law). The state shall implement the order without further delay."

The state has already begun to comply; about 9,000 inmates have been released since the 2009 trial stemming from the lawsuits.

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan supported Kennedy's conclusions.

Two tough dissents followed the majority's ruling. Reading from the bench, Justice Antonin Scalia said the ruling represents "the most radical injunction issued by a court in our nation's history." He said it "takes federal courts wildly beyond their institutional capacity." Justice Clarence Thomas backed him.

In a separate dissent, Alito spoke of the potential impact of the decision.

"The prisoner release ordered in this case is unprecedented, improvident, and contrary" to federal law, he said. "I fear that today's decision, like prior prisoner release orders, will lead to a grim roster of victims. I hope that I am wrong. In a few years we will see."

Chief Justice John Roberts added his support to Alito's dissent.

The case is Brown v. Plata ((09-1233).

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/05/23/scotus.california.prisons/index.html

Skateboarder critically injured while holding onto a moving vehicle

Skateboarder critically injured while holding onto a moving vehicle. Driver arrested.
A 35-year old man was critically injured and a second man was arrested Saturday about 2:20PM after an incident involving a skateboard, a car, and driving under the influence.

Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's Station deputies and Los Angeles County Fire Department firefighters responded to a call of a skateboarder who was critically injured at Cedarfalls Drive, east of Urbandale Avenue in Saugus.

When they arrived, deputies learned that a 35-year White male was riding a skateboard while holding onto a vehicle being driven by Suspect Ryan Howell, a 33-year old White male.

The skateboarder fell and hit his head on the ground while being towed by the vehicle. He was transported to a local hospital where he is being treated for his injuries.

Deputies determined that Howell was driving his vehicle while under the influence. He was arrested and transported to Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's Station where he was booked for felony Driving Under the Influence (DUI).

Anyone witnessing the incident is urged to call Detective Maag of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station Traffic Office at (661) 255-1121.

Mother's Day like no other - in prison

Mother's Day like no other - in prison

St. Joseph sisters' program brings children to incarcerated mothers
                                                              May. 07, 2011
By Tom Roberts

With just under an hour to go in the two hour bus ride southeast from the San Francisco area to Chowchilla, Calif., site of two large women’s prisons, 15-year-old Tajanae is finishing a long note on a mother’s day card.

She was one of hundreds of children who participated in the 12th annual Get-on-the-Bus program May 7 that brings children, who silently share the sentence when a parent is incarcerated, to mother’s day weekend reunions at prisons throughout the state.

Tajanae and her three siblings, 11-year-old twin sisters, Unique and Janique, and their 12-year-old brother, Jaquan, have made the annual trip to Valley State Prison for several years of their mother’s sentence. Sabrina Fletcher has been in for six years and expects to be released at the end of 2015.

Jaquan said he was looking forward to “hanging out and talking with her, giving her a hug and a kiss. We take pictures, and she keeps some of them.”

The Get-on-the-Bus program was born in 1999 when Sister of St. Joseph Suzanne Jabro,now executive director of the Center for Restorative Justice Works, along with Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala and other religious leaders of the area noticed a 500 percent spike in the number of women going to prison in California during the previous decade. They took a trip to the Central California Women’s Facility, across the road from Valley State, met with some of the inmates and asked what they could do help them while they were in prison.

It was an easy decision. “They were crying, weeping and begging us: Let us see our children,” said Jabro, watching from the sidelines this year at a gymnasium full of mothers and children at Valley State Prison. “I said we ought to be able to get a bus here.”

And they did, in 2000, a bus with 17 children and chaperones to visit 9 women chosen by the prison.

This year, the program sent 24 buses loaded with kids to unite with hundreds of moms. It is a day part family reunion, part picnic, and mostly a rush to cram as much normalcy as mothers and children can in to a four-to-five hour span. There’s face painting and games – Chutes and Ladders, Candyland, Monopoly, and face painting and coloring, and endless snacks and lunch with mom and hugs that never end.

The unspoken question seems to be: How much of a year’s deficit of affirmation and questions can anyone cram into this time? And there are family photos to be taken, and mothers sit for minutes just drinking in the prints that arrive, just gazing at them. And it all eventually bumps up against the inevitable awful goodbye. One more separation, rivers of tears, heartbreak and elation all mixed together.

Beginning at top and clockwise: Sabrina Fletcher, Jaquan (son, 12), twins, 11 years old, Janique and Unique, and 15-year-old Tajanae

They came young, perhaps the youngest a two-month-old girl born in the prison hospital and returned to her mother for the first time since birth by a family member. Three-year-old Jacob slept in the arms of his mother, Jeanette Broughton, for most of the morning. He was part of a double mother’s day reunion. Jeanette’s mother, Zeida Calvo, who’s caring for Jacob while her daughter is in prison, has been a constant support and brought the youngster to visit.

The visitors included 21-year-old Marcel Nelson, whose mother and father have been in California’s prison system most of his life. His father was never in his life much at the start and has been in and out of prison for most of it.

His mother got 15-years to life. He doesn’t want to talk about the offense, says she never told him what it was, but he knows that it was at some point when “she got angry and let her temper get the best of her.” What he knows is that people make mistakes and sometimes they have to pay for them. He did, too, during his teenage years. The second drug arrest woke him up. He didn’t want to follow his mother to prison.

Sr. Suzanne Jabro with Gilbert and Isaias Navarro.

That, he said, was the turning point. He put away the anger that once welled up when he couldn’t figure out “why she wasn’t around,” the anger when he saw other kids’ mothers picking them up at school or coming along on field trips. There was a realization earlier that while some kids cried to get parents to come to them, “in this case every time I cried it didn’t happen.” His mother couldn’t hear him. His grandmother, Pat Dockery, on his father’s side, was his support and encouragement. And he eventually found a program made up of other kids whose parents were in prison. Finally he wasn’t alone with what he recalls as the hardest thing growing up – telling his peers that his mom and dad were in prison.

He graduated from high school, has taken some courses in junior college and is trying to put the money together to continue classes in criminal justice. He’s been working for the past three years for the same diversion program, McCullum Youth Court that provided an alternative to prison as a juvenile.
His mother’s proud of him, he says. He turned out to be the kind of man she wanted him to be.

On the long ride home from the day’s visit, he gets an unexpected call, from his father, who’s in Folsom Prison near Sacramento. He’s proud of him, too, and glad he’s been to visit his mother.

Roberts is NCR Editor-at-Large. A longer version of this story and more reporting on prisons and prison ministry will appear in future issues of NCR.

http://ncronline.org/news/women-religious/mothers-day-no-other-prison

Danielle Stitzel Found Safe & Sound

*The Big Bear Sheriff’s Station has confirmed that Danielle Stitzel, who has been missing from Big Bear since last Tuesday, has been found by Sheriff’s detectives in Los Angeles.  Danielle was found in safe condition and is being transported back to Big Bear to be reunited with her family.  Danielle’s mother posted the following statement on Facebook: “Thanks to everyones support, prayers, contacts and tips.  Danielle’s been found and safe!  Please understand that we will not be giving out any further details.  We are going to retrieve our daughter.”  Investigation of the matter is ongoing.

In Prison Reform, Money Trumps Civil Rights

May 14, 2011

In Prison Reform, Money Trumps Civil Rights

By MICHELLE ALEXANDER Columbus, Ohio

THE legal scholar Derrick A. Bell foresaw that mass incarceration, like earlier systems of racial control, would continue to exist as long as it served the perceived interests of white elites.

Thirty years of civil rights litigation and advocacy have failed to slow the pace of a racially biased drug war or to prevent the emergence of a penal system of astonishing size. Yet a few short years of tight state budgets have inspired former “get tough” true believers to suddenly denounce the costs of imprisonment. “We’re wasting tax dollars on prisons,” they say. “It’s time to shift course.”

Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, shocked many earlier this year when he co-wrote an essay for The Washington Post calling on “conservative legislators to lead the way in addressing an issue often considered off-limits to reform: prisons.”

Republican governors had already been sounding the same note. As California was careering toward bankruptcy last year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger lamented that more money was being spent on prisons than on education. Priorities “have become out of whack over the years,” he said. “What does it say about any state that focuses more on prison uniforms than on caps and gowns?” Another Republican governor, John R. Kasich of Ohio, recently announced support for reducing penalties for nonviolent drug offenders as part of an effort to slash the size of the state’s prison population.

A majority of those swept into our nation’s prison system are poor people of color, but the sudden shift away from the “get tough” rhetoric that has dominated the national discourse on crime has not been inspired by a surge in concern about the devastating human toll of mass incarceration. Instead, as Professor Bell predicted, the changing tide is best explained by perceived white interests. In this economic climate, it is impossible to maintain the vast prison state without raising taxes on the (white) middle class.

Given this political reality, it is hardly a surprise to read a headline that says, “N.A.A.C.P. Joins With Gingrich in Urging Prison Reform,” rather than the other way around. If there were ever an illustration of Professor Bell’s theory that whites will support racial justice only to the extent that it is in their interests, this would seem to be it.

Of course, in the late 1970s, when Professor Bell, who now teaches at New York University School of Law, first advanced his theories, our prison population was much smaller. The Reagan revolution had not yet taken hold. No one knew that the war on drugs and the “get tough” movement would unleash a wave of punitiveness that would trap generations in ghettoes, and brand them criminals and felons. No one foresaw the caste-like system that would emerge, the millions who would be stripped of basic civil and human rights supposedly won in the civil rights movement — the right to vote, to serve on juries, and to be free of discrimination in employment, housing, education and public benefits.

Today, 2.3 million Americans are behind bars; the United States has the world’s highest rate of incarceration. Convictions for non-violent crimes and relatively minor drug offenses — mostly possession, not sale — have accounted for the bulk of the increase in the prison population since the mid-1980s.

African-Americans are far more likely to get prison sentences for drug offenses than white offenders, even though studies have consistently shown that they are no more likely to use or sell illegal drugs than whites.

What to do now? Understandably, civil rights advocates and criminal justice reformers are celebrating this moment of what Professor Bell calls “interest convergence.” They say we must catch the wave and ride it. Many have given up all hope of persuading the white electorate that they should care about the severe racial disparities in the criminal justice system or the racial politics that birthed the drug war. It’s possible now, they say, to win big without talking about race or “making it an issue.” Public relations consultants like the FrameWorks Institute — which dedicates itself to “changing the public conversation about social problems” — advise advocates to speak in a “practical tone” and avoid discussions of “fairness between groups and the historical legacy of racism.”

Surely the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have rejected that advice.

In 1963, in his “Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” he chastised white ministers for their indifference to black suffering: “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says, ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action’; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a ‘more convenient season.’ ”

He continued: “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.” Such language would not have tested well in a focus group. Yet it helped to change the course of history.

Those who believe that righteous indignation and protest politics were appropriate in the struggle to end Jim Crow, but that something less will do as we seek to dismantle mass incarceration, fail to appreciate the magnitude of the challenge. If our nation were to return to the rates of incarceration we had in the 1970s, we would have to release 4 out of 5 people behind bars. A million people employed by the criminal justice system could lose their jobs. Private prison companies would see their profits vanish. This system is now so deeply rooted in our social, political and economic structures that it is not going to fade away without a major shift in public consciousness.

Yes, some prison downsizing is likely to occur in the months and years to come. But we ought not fool ourselves: we will not end mass incarceration without a recommitment to the movement-building work that was begun in the 1950s and 1960s and left unfinished. A human rights nightmare is occurring on our watch. If we fail to rise to the challenge, and push past the politics of momentary interest convergence, future generations will judge us harshly.

Michelle Alexander, an associate professor of law at Ohio State University, is the author of “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/opinion/15alexander.html?pagewanted=1

COURT DEALS BLOW TO MARSY'S LAW

COURT DEALS BLOW TO MARSY'S LAW

Major news this week from the California Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled the long-term denials of parole hearings under Marsy's Law constitute ex post facto jeopardy for inmates sentenced and imprisoned prior to the law's imposition in 2008.

In legal terms this means the 7, 10 and 15 year denials of parole hearings were improperly imposed and these denial terms may not be applied to crimes committed and sentenced imposed prior to 2008. 

In  Re: Vicks on Habeas Corpus the court upheld the Board of Parole Hearings' finding of unsuitability of Michael Vicks for parole at his 2009 parole hearing but vacated that part of the 2009 order "to the extent it defers Vicks' subsequent parole suitability hearing for five years under section 3041.5 as amended pursuant to Marsy's Law, and the BPH is directed to issue a new order rescheduling the hearing under section 3041.5 in effect in 1983".

In simple terms: those prisoners convicted and sentenced prior to the 2008 effectuation of Marsy's Law can be denied parole, based on suitability, but cannot be denied subsequent parole hearings for the lengthy terms outlined in Marsy's. 

The noise you hear is the shuffling being made by those prisoners given lengthy denials under Marsy's Law and who will now file writs on those long-term denials.  Just when we thought that perhaps the work load of parole commissioners would decrease, due to realignment under AB 109 and the Governor's stated intention to let most grants stand, it would seem the board is in for a new round of hearings, the 5, 7, 10 and 15 year denials they so blithely handed down.

There will be much more on this ruling in coming days, including whether or not the new Attorney General, Kamala Harris, authorizes an appeal of the ruling.  This will be Harris' first indication of the way she intends to direct the AG's office in criminal and parole litigation and her response is being awaited with keen interest.

A Rite of Torture for Girls

People usually torture those whom they fear or despise. But one of the most common forms of torture in the modern world, incomparably more widespread than waterboarding or electric shocks, is inflicted by mothers on daughters they love.

It’s female genital mutilation — sometimes called female circumcision — and it is prevalent across a broad swath of Africa and chunks of Asia as well. Mothers take their daughters at about age 10 to cutters like Maryan Hirsi Ibrahim, a middle-aged Somali woman who says she wields her razor blade on up to a dozen girls a day.

“This tradition is for keeping our girls chaste, for lowering the sex drive of our daughters,” Ms. Ibrahim told me. “This is our culture.”

Ms. Ibrahim prefers the most extreme form of genital mutilation, called infibulation or Pharaonic circumcision. And let’s not be dainty or euphemistic. This is a grotesque human rights abuse that doesn’t get much attention because it involves private parts and is awkward to talk about. So pardon the bluntness about what infibulation entails.

The girls’ genitals are carved out, including the clitoris and labia, often with no anesthetic. What’s left of the flesh is sewn together with three to six stitches — wild thorns in rural areas, or needle and thread in the cities. The cutter leaves a tiny opening to permit urination and menstruation. Then the girls’ legs are tied together, and she is kept immobile for 10 days until the flesh fuses together.

When the girl is married and ready for sex, she must be cut open by her husband or by a respected woman in the community.

All this is, of course, excruciating. It also leads to infections and urinary difficulties, and scar tissue can make childbirth more dangerous, increasing maternal mortality and injuries such as fistulas.

This is one of the most pervasive human rights abuses worldwide, with three million girls mutilated each year in Africa alone, according to United Nations estimates. A hospital here in Somaliland found that 96 percent of women it surveyed had undergone infibulation. The challenge is that this is a form of oppression that women themselves embrace and perpetuate.

“A young girl herself will want to be cut,” Ms. Ibrahim told me, vigorously defending the practice. “If a girl is not cut, it would be hard for her to live in the community. She would be stigmatized.”

Kalthoun Hassan, a young mother in an Ethiopian village near Somaliland, told me that she would insist on her daughters being cut and her sons marrying only girls who had been. She added: “It is God’s will for girls to be circumcised.”

For four decades, Westerners have campaigned against genital cutting, without much effect. Indeed, the Western term “female genital mutilation” has antagonized some African women because it assumes that they have been “mutilated.” Aid groups are now moving to add the more neutral term “female genital cutting” to their lexicon.

Is it cultural imperialism for Westerners to oppose genital mutilation? Yes, perhaps, but it’s also justified. Some cultural practices such as genital mutilation — or foot-binding or bride-burning — are too brutish to defer to.

But it is clear that the most effective efforts against genital mutilation are grass-roots initiatives by local women working for change from within a culture. In Senegal, Ghana, Egypt and other countries, such efforts have made headway.

Here among Somalis, reformers are trying a new tack: Instead of telling women to stop cutting their daughters altogether, they encourage them to turn to a milder form of genital mutilation (often involving just excision of part or all of the clitoris). They say that that would be a step forward and is much easier to achieve.

Although some Christians cut their daughters, it is more common among Muslims, who often assume that the tradition is Islamic. So a crucial step has been to get a growing number of Muslim leaders to denounce the practice as contrary to Islam, for their voices carry particular weight.

At one mosque in the remote town of Baligubadle, I met an imam named Abdelahi Adan, who bluntly denounces infibulation: “From a religious point of view, it is forbidden. It is against Islam.”

Maybe the tide is beginning to turn, ever so slowly, against infibulation, and at least we’re seeing some embarrassment about the practice. In Baligubadle, a traditional cutter named Mariam Ahmed told me that she had stopped cutting girls — apparently because she knows that foreigners disapprove. Then a nurse in the local health clinic told me that she had treated Ms. Ahmed’s own daughter recently for a horrific pelvic infection and urinary blockage after the girl was infibulated by her mother.

I confronted Ms. Ahmed. She grudgingly acknowledged cutting her daughter but quickly added that she had intended only a milder form of circumcision. She added quickly: “It was an accident.”

Hope for prisoners sentenced as juveniles to life without parole

Hope for prisoners sentenced as juveniles to life without parole

http://sfbayview.com/2011/hope-for-prisoners-sentenced-as-juveniles-to-life-without-parole/

Posted By Christine On May 6, 2011 @ 1:58 pm In Prison Stories | 1 Comment

by Jawad Latif James

^[1]

What could be more terrifying than to be a child locked up for life in an adult prison?

“True prison reform starts with the enlightenment of the inmate about who that inmate is in reality and not what he or she has become because of circumstances,” says the Honorable Minister Farrakhan. In California there is a bill, Senate Bill 9, formerly known as Senate Bill 399, going through the process to become law, introduced by Sen. Leland Yee of San Francisco. Under SB 9, the Fair Sentencing for Youth Act, juvenile offenders would be allowed to ask a court to review their cases after they have served 10 years in prison and could potentially get their sentence reduced to 25 years to life. In the state of California, 227 people who were juveniles when they were convicted are serving life term prison sentences without the chance to ever re-enter society.
This law in California that is allowing juveniles to be sent to prison for the rest of their lives is very unjust. This means that we have given up all hope in those who have committed crime in their youth. A sentence such as this says to juveniles that their lives are worth nothing and they can never rehabilitate themselves and do anything positive after they have done wrong.
We must understand that these juveniles have been sent to prison for life with no opportunity to ever gain their freedom and enjoy life as everyone else. Their crimes were committed when they were children, not having a clear understanding of life as adults, but tried as adults, and now they will die in prison.
Although 10 countries allow “life without” sentences, most don’t use this harsh sentence for juveniles. International law prohibits the use of life without parole for juveniles. The United States is in violation of international law when sentencing youths to life without parole.

The United States is in violation of international law when sentencing youths to life without parole.

This is cruel and unusual punishment. This crime needs to be taken up by the Supreme Court in the same manner as when the United States allowed juveniles to be sentenced to death, which was found to be unconstitutional in 2005.
It is also surprising to note that California has the worst record of racial disparity when it comes to locking up juveniles and throwing away the keys. African Americans are given this sentence at a higher rate than other races – followed by Hispanic youth. In the state of California a few years ago, juveniles were seen by psychologists for what was called a psychologist’s evaluation for their fitness hearing. Within this evaluation, the psychologist makes sure of a few things that are required by the courts:

1. Whether the juvenile was fit to be tried as a juvenile or fit to be tried as an adult
2. Whether the juvenile understood the difference between right and wrong
3. Can the juvenile be easy manipulated by peers.

The most important part of this psychologist’s evaluation was to see whether the juvenile was mature enough to understand the crime he or she was being charged with. The reason this part was important in this fitness hearing is because it is commonly understood that the juvenile brain continues to grow as they get older. The ability to think rightly and plan has not fully developed before adulthood.
Now some juveniles in California, when evaluated by the court’s psychologist for their fitness hearing were informed that they were immature and the psychologist was going to recommend that they be tried as juveniles and would also recommend that they be sent to the California Youth Authority (CYA) to do their time and be able to receive help before they fully mature, meaning they were amenable to treatment in the juvenile justice system.
Even with this recommendation by the court’s psychologist, many juveniles were still sent to adult prison unable to understand life. Why?
I pray for anyone with a sincere heart to support this bill, SB 9. The reason I find this bill so close to my heart is that I was one of the 227 juveniles in California sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, and I am still in prison due to this sentence.
I have completely changed for the better. I have received an education and have completed many of the prison programs that are provided to inmates for rehabilitation. I have written articles for inmates to help change their lives and have created a program, “Self Improvement, the Basis for Community Development.” This program allows inmates to conquer new goals and have a better outlook on life.
However, I know with deep thought this could not have happened without the Nation of Islam Prison Reform Ministry, not by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) allowing the Nation of Islam Prison Reform Ministry into the prison to help inmates, but by inmates that receive instructions from the NOI Prison Reform Ministry taking that message from prison to prison, educating inmates about the key that is the foundation of their lives, the knowledge of themselves and who they are on this earth.
What Senate Bill 9 would do is not only to bring California in line with international law, but it would give those prisoners who were children at the time of their crime and are now mature adults who have changed their lives another chance at life outside of these prison walls.
Many in California and the world are doing much to change this law. If anyone cares to help, please contact Elizabeth Calvin, attorney at law, at Human Rights Watch, 350 Fifth Ave, 34th Floor, New York, NY 10118-3299, (212) 290-4700, fax (212) 736-1300 or by email at www.hrw.org/en/contact-us ^[2].

Cutting Corrections and Helping Officers

Cutting Corrections and Helping Officers

Posted on 05 May 2011
By Joshua Page

California’s prisons provide an apt metaphor for the state’s broken politics. Almost everyone knows the $10 billion correctional system is unsustainable and must be cut, and yet the issue is so controlled by vested interests that nothing much changes. It’s a case study in how political disengagement – the “why bother” syndrome that afflicts Californians when confronted with any number of daunting issues – tends to carry the day.

Contracting the prison population requires shortening prison and parole terms, increasing alternatives to imprisonment, and reserving costly prison beds for the most serious offenders. Sophisticated research and the recent experiences of other states (like New York, which decreased its prison population by 20 percent) show that these measures can be implemented without jeopardizing public safety.

The time is ripe to downsize California’s correctional system. For starters, the state is over $26 billion in debt – it simply can’t afford its prison system. Moreover, federal judges have ruled that the Golden State must cut about 40,000 inmates from its overcrowded prisons. Public opinion polls indicate that Californians are tiring of their state’s über-tough approach to crime and drug addiction. So who stands in the way of the mighty alliance of fiscal necessity, the federal bench and public opinion?

Enter the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, known as CCPOA. Established in 1982, this prison officers’ union became an influential political player in the 1990s. Now, alongside crime victims’ groups it helped create and continues to fund, the CCPOA greatly influences the fate of major penal policy proposals. The union has defeated critical sentencing reform initiatives that might shrink California’s bloated correctional system.

In 2004, the CCPOA organized and helped finance the opposition to Proposition 66, which would have softened the edges of the state’s extremely sharp “Three Strikes and You’re Out” law. In 2008, it bankrolled the successful effort to defeat Proposition 5, a wide-ranging initiative meant to reduce the number of drug offenders behind bars. Most recently, the union helped torpedo a legislative initiative to establish an independent commission with the authority to change sentencing laws. When it comes to serious sentencing reform, the CCPOA and its allies remain major obstacles.

As odd as it might seem for prison officers to play a decisive role in shaping the criminal justice system of a state of some 35 million people, policymakers have no choice but to deal with the CCPOA. But they should do so in a more adept manner.

First, policymakers should address the union’s legitimate concerns. Prison officers understandably worry that downsizing the correctional system will put them out of work. Thanks largely to their effective union, these officers have solid, middle-class jobs with good pay, good benefits, and good retirement packages. California officers make between $45,000 and $73,000 a year before overtime and other incentives. As the manufacturing sector declines, “prison officer” is one of the few remaining occupations providing upward social mobility for people who lack advanced degrees. This is especially true in the rural areas in which many prisons are located. Officers and their families, then, are justified in thinking that major reforms might close one of the few remaining paths they have into the middle class.

Policymakers must make good faith efforts to protect these workers as they reshape the correctional system. Prison workforces should be decreased by natural attrition whenever possible; positions should be shed through retirement or voluntary termination. Because the prisons are currently understaffed, the closing of some facilities needn’t translate into widespread layoffs. The state might set up retraining programs to help officers find new work within or outside of the prison system. The CCPOA would be much more likely to support reform measures if it could protect its members’ jobs along the way, or at least be persuaded that its worst-case fears are unfounded.

Securing jobs won’t be enough. Another important point to consider is that the union’s support for laws like “Three Strikes” is not just about gaining members and job security. It’s also ideological. Union leaders and many members believe in these policies. Therefore, policymakers (particularly the governor) must negotiate aggressively but productively, not only on wages and benefits, but also on substantive issues. California’s leaders should make implicit or explicit deals, using wages, benefits, and work-related rules and practices as bargaining chips with the CCPOA during collective bargaining. Unless the union agrees not to oppose major sentencing and prison reforms (and that includes not financing its allied organizations’ efforts to quash the reforms), the state should not support the union’s contract or legislative proposals.

If the CCPOA refrains from opposing sentencing reforms, it should be rewarded with fair contracts that further professionalize prison officer work, improve wages and benefits, and strengthen job security. Put simply, there should be incentives for cooperation—not just disincentives for non-cooperation.

Evidently, the Brown administration used this strategy in its recent negotiations with the CCPOA. As has been widely reported, the governor and the union have reached a tentative contract agreement. Republican legislators and newspaper editorial boards have argued that this deal will not save enough money or return enough workplace control to management – some have even called it a “sweetheart deal.” In response to the criticism, Brown has claimed that he did not seek more drastic concessions from the union, at least in part, because the CCPOA did not actively oppose his criminal justice realignment plan to make counties (rather than the state) responsible for incarcerating low-level offenders and supervising most parolees. (The policy will not go into effect unless Brown gets his tax measures approved.)  If implemented, the plan will decrease the number of prison officers and parole agents – hence, it’s not surprising that union leaders are taking heat for not opposing the plan. Nevertheless, the CCPOA finally has a contract, and, given the current economic environment, budget shortfalls, and rampant anti-union sentiment, it’s a solid one.

In a perfect world, taxpayers wouldn’t need to offer carrots to a public employee union to reform a state’s criminal justice system. But California politics, to put it mildly, is not quite a perfect world, and unless campaign financing and plenty of other structural matters are radically altered, the governor must get the CCPOA’s buy-in to downsize prisons.

Brown’s realignment proposal is projected to reduce the state prison population by upwards of 40,000. Although it would alleviate overcrowding and satisfy the federal courts, it would not necessarily shrink the overall correctional population (instead it would simply shift state prisoners to the counties). Truly shrinking the system still requires sentencing reform. Neither Brown nor the legislature has shown any willingness to shorten prison sentences or increase alternatives to imprisonment, but if they do take up serious sentencing reform, they will again have to deal with the CCPOA and its allies. By addressing union members’ fears, policymakers can soften their resistance. And while a smaller prison system will eventually lead to fewer officers (and union members), it will also benefit those who continue to toil on the tiers and on the yards.

Contracting the penal population will decrease tension, violence, and chaos behind the walls, making the prison beat less “tough” for officers and prisoners alike. Despite the zero-sum calculations of so many, cutting corrections and helping officers are necessary and compatible goals.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Joshua Page is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of The Toughest Beat: Politics, Punishment, and the Prison Officers Union in California (Oxford University Press, 2011). This article originally appeared on the site Zocalo Public Square.

http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/node/8957

Earthquake Emergency Packs are available at West LA Police Station

Earthquake Emergency Packs are available at West LA Police Station for $77. Call 310.444.0732 for more info.
West Los Angeles Community Police Station has just received 48 Earthquake emergency packs. They sell fast so please come in as soon as possible. Priced at $77.00. All profits go to the West Los Angeles Cadet program. For more information Call 310-444-0732, Sgt. Durrell. For full details, go to https://local.nixle.com/alert/4687421/?sub_id=250566.
Contact Information:
West Los Angeles Area

Inmate health care remains poor in Calif.

Report: Inmate health care remains poor in Calif.

By DON THOMPSON Associated Press
Posted: 05/04/2011

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Medical care remains below acceptable levels in more than two-thirds of California state prisons despite the billions of dollars spent by taxpayers, the prison system's independent inspector said in a report Wednesday. Just nine of the 33 adult prisons met minimum health care standards, according to the review, which is the first to survey all the facilities. Still, that finding is an improvement from an initial review of half the prisons last August, which gave passing grades to just two of 17.

A court-appointed receiver took control of inmate medical care in 2006 after a federal judge found that poor care was causing the death of an average of one inmate each week. The receiver has since increased salaries, hired more staff and improved medical facilities.

Spending has since more than doubled, from $707 million to $1.5 billion last year, according to the state Department of Finance. The cost per inmate has increased from $7,721 to $14,728, including other expenses like transporting and guarding sick inmates and providing them with dental and mental health services.

The report comes as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to rule by June whether California must sharply reduce its prison population as the only way to improve the care of physically and mentally ill inmates.

The receiver's office did not immediately respond to telephone and emailed messages. In a one-paragraph letter accompanying the report, however, receiver J. Clark Kelso agreed with its findings. "We are committed to reform the California prison medical care system utilizing best practices in the most cost effective manner," Kelso wrote. He cited the receivership's "tremendous efforts and ongoing improvements."

Of the 24 prisons that fell below the minimum 75 percent score, 12 came close with scores above 70 percent, according to the inspector general's report.

Folsom State Prison east of Sacramento scored highest, at 83 percent. High Desert State Prison near Susanville was worst, at 62 percent.

Nearly every prison—30 of the 33—failed to make sure inmates received their medications, inspectors found. Only six prisons did an adequate job of getting inmates swift medical care even in an emergency.

The prisons did better when it came to nursing and providing ill inmates with continuing care.

Prisons had "alarmingly" low scores when it comes to treating tuberculosis, and did "quite poorly" in monitoring inmates on hunger strikes that lasted longer than three days.

The report evaluated five general medical categories and 20 other specific areas, using criteria developed by the receivership itself for providing acceptable levels of care.

Despite the poor grades, Acting Inspector General Bruce Monfross wrote that improvements from the August report show that "system-wide improvement can be achieved."

http://www.mercurynews.com/fdcp?unique=1304617442359  

Bill to Give Police Better Tools to Combat Human Trafficking

Bill to Give Police Better Tools to Combat Human Trafficking  

County Supervisor Dianne Jacob, Assemblymember Marty Block, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and Sheriff Bill Gore announced support of a bill aimed at fighting sexual exploitation and human trafficking in San Diego County.

 Assembly Bill 918 would help law enforcement tackle the growing problem of gang-related criminal sexual exploitation by adding pimping, pandering and human trafficking to the California Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act (STEP Act). 

The change will help law enforcement more effectively investigate, document and prosecute criminal street gangs and rescue victims of gang-related pimping.

The bill was approved in the Assembly Public Safety Committee on April 12, and is waiting to be heard in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

CHP Arrests, District Attorney Charges Highway Shooter

CHP Arrests, District Attorney Charges Highway Shooter

Defendant Stephen Dragasits

A 58-year-old man, who shot randomly at cars on State Highway 163 in San Diego, has been charged by the District Attorney's Office with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of shooting at an occupied vehicle.

Stephen Joseph Dragasits, a transient living in a motor home, was ordered held without bail.

"The California Highway Patrol made this investigation a priority and arrested the defendant in about two weeks time," said DA Bonnie Dumanis. "The CHP, along with the San Diego County Sheriff's Crime Lab did a great job in solving the case and calming public fears."

The shooting spree, which happened in early April, injured a 21-year-old college student.

Dragasits, a native of New York, is scheduled to be back in court this month.

Driving and Shaving just don’t mix!

May 2, 2011

By Michael Phillippo

So learned this Florida woman…

Full marks to Celia Rivenbark for another hilarious piece! 
Ladies, shaving and driving don’t mix
By now I’m sure that most of you have heard about the Florida woman who caused a two-vehicle wreck because she was shaving her bikini area while driving.
Guess that makes the time you drove with your elbows while eating a Whopper seem downright virtuous, doesn’t it?
Florida Highway Patrol troopers said the car Megan Barnes was driving crashed into the back of a pickup truck at about 45 mph. Her reaction time was slowed down because she was too busy grooming her hoohah to pay attention to the road. Oh, like that’s never happened to you?
Ms. Barnes told the investigating officer that she was on her way to a date and "wanted to be ready for the visit."
Yes, she wanted to look her best. All over. Except, well, we’ve seen Ms. Barnes’ mug shot and she appears to have a face that would stop a clock and raise hell with small watches, bless her heart. To be blunt, I don’t think a perfectly groomed love rug could possibly make that much difference.
It could’ve been worse, I suppose. Ms. Barnes could’ve been waxing her bikini area as she drove along in her T-bird (Yes, fun, fun, fun till the po-lice took her T-bird awaaaaaayy) on those scenic bridges. Imagine the horror if she’d tossed the used wax strips out the window. The manatees might have tried to adopt them.
Hons, I’ve driven on this particular stretch of highway between Miami and Key West and it’s flat-out beautiful with crystal blue water, gorgeous mangroves and cloudless skies.
Not once have I been so bored that I decided I’d rather drag a sharp blade over my nether regions just to have something to do.
There are so many "You might be a redneck if" elements to the story of Megan Barnes, but my favorite is that, while performing this extremely personal grooming ritual, she asked her EX HUSBAND to steer the car so she could concentrate ("Help me out, Buford, I’m gonna make it look like a LIGHTNING BOLT!")
What a guy! Not only did he hold the steering wheel so she could concentrate on primping for her big date with ANOTHER MAN, but when the cops arrived, he tried to switch places and claim he’d been driving.
Trouble was, he had burns on his chest from the airbag that had deployed on THE PASSENGER SIDE ONLY. Oops.
To no one’s particular surprise, the Highway Patrol quickly discovered that Ms. Barnes didn’t have a valid driver’s license. Oh, and, the day before, she’d been convicted of DUI and driving with a suspended license. Oh, and her car had been seized and had no insurance or registration. Oh, and she was on probation. Oh, and SHE’S A FLIPPIN’ LUNATIC!
Albeit an impeccably groomed one.
You can see the original article, as it were, here.

Brown should just end the death penalty

Mercury News editorial: Brown should just end the death penalty

Mercury News Editorial
Posted: 05/01/2011

Gov. Jerry Brown struck a symbolic blow for fiscal sanity last week when he canceled construction of a new $356 million death row at San Quentin Prison. He could do the state an even bigger favor -- saving taxpayers about $1 billion over the next five years -- by commuting the sentences of all 713 prisoners on death row to life in prison.

Fifteen states have abolished the death penalty and are reaping the cost savings without putting their citizens at needless risk. California should join them. The cost of housing a death-row inmate is estimated to cost $90,000 a year more than for prisoners serving life without parole. That is completely wasted money.

Brown's move to cancel the death row construction is a good step. California's schools and law enforcement agencies could put the money to far better use. The total savings from canceling construction and commuting sentences of death row inmates would pay the salaries of thousands of teachers and law enforcement officers.

But unless other changes in the system are made, rejecting this project will only delay spending. Judges have repeatedly found the state in violation of the constitutional guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment at its prisons, including death row. In proceedings in 2008, it was revealed that "stalactites of slime" were growing in the San Quentin showers, and bird and rodent infestations were horrific. The judge demanded the stwate clean up the unhealthy conditions. That helps explain the death row plan.

It was to house 1,150 inmates and include health care facilities, which could be a good investment. Transporting heavily guarded death row inmates to other medical facilities is tremendously expensive. But California can solve its prison problem more economically by re-examining more broadly how it spends money on corrections. A new strategic plan for prison construction with an eye to reducing prison health care costs is needed. So is sentencing reform.

Stepping up the rate of executions, as some suggest, isn't the answer. It's been proven in other states that innocent people have been put to death; others have been exonerated after years on death row. Short-circuiting appeals would be wrong.

In 2010, California condemned 28 more inmates to die. The state cannot continue to hand out death sentences at this rate. If it really needs cells for 1,150 death row inmates a decade from now, construction costs will be the least of its problems. Remember that $90,000 extra cost per inmate per year.

It's no surprise that a poll released Friday shows voters support commuting death sentences to life without the possibility of parole to save money. The survey of 800 "high propensity" voters showed 63 percent approval. Democrats (64 percent), Republicans (58 percent) and Independents (70 percent) all voiced support.

California rarely finds that kind of consensus on such a contentious issue. The governor and the Legislature should take advantage of it and pull the plug on the death penalty, at least for those currently on death row. It would save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars that could instead be spent on preventing crime, catching bad guys -- and keeping kids in school so they don't get lured into criminal behavior.

http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_17961094?nclick_check=1  

California Prison Academy: Better Than a Harvard Degree

California Prison Academy: Better Than a Harvard Degree

Prison guards can retire at the age of 55 and earn 85% of their final year's salary for the rest of their lives. They also continue to receive medical benefits.
By ALLYSIA FINLEY

Roughly 2,000 students have to decide by Sunday whether to accept a spot at Harvard. Here's some advice: Forget Harvard. If you want to earn big bucks and retire young, you're better off becoming a California prison guard.

The job might not sound glamorous, but a brochure from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations boasts that it "has been called 'the greatest entry-level job in California'—and for good reason. Our officers earn a great salary, and a retirement package you just can't find in private industry. We even pay you to attend our academy." That's right—instead of paying more than $200,000 to attend Harvard, you could earn $3,050 a month at cadet academy.

It gets better.

Training only takes four months, and upon graduating you can look forward to a job with great health, dental and vision benefits and a starting base salary between $45,288 and $65,364. By comparison, Harvard grads can expect to earn $49,897 fresh out of college and $124,759 after 20 years.

As a California prison guard, you can make six figures in overtime and bonuses alone. While Harvard-educated lawyers and consultants often have to work long hours with little recompense besides Chinese take-out, prison guards receive time-and-a-half whenever they work more than 40 hours a week. One sergeant with a base salary of $81,683 collected $114,334 in overtime and $8,648 in bonuses last year, and he's not even the highest paid.

Sure, Harvard grads working in the private sector get bonuses, too, but only if they're good at what they do. Prison guards receive a $1,560 "fitness" bonus just for getting an annual check-up.

Most Harvard grads only get three weeks of vacation each year, even after working for 20 years—and they're often too busy to take a long trip. Prison guards, on the other hand, get seven weeks of vacation, five of them paid. If they're too busy racking up overtime to use their vacation days, they can cash the days in when they retire. There's no cap on how many vacation days they can cash in! Eighty officers last year cashed in over $100,000 at retirement.

The cherry on top is the defined-benefit pension. Unlike most Harvard grads working in the private sector, prison guards don't have to delay retirement if their 401(k)s take a hit. Prison guards can retire at the age of 55 and earn 85% of their final year's salary for the rest of their lives. They also continue to receive medical benefits.

So you may be wondering what it takes to become a prison guard. For one, you have to be a U.S. citizen with a high-school diploma or equivalent. Unfortunately, you can't have any felony convictions, but don't worry, possession of marijuana is only an infraction in California.

There's also a vision test, background investigation, psychological evaluation, physical exam, tuberculosis screening, and a fitness test that measures your grip strength. The hardest part, however, is the written test, which includes word problems like this sample test question: "Building D currently has 189 inmates, with 92 beds unfilled. Building D is currently at what capacity?" If you've somehow forgotten how to add and divide, you can bone up on your basic math with Barron's "Correction Officer Exam" prep book.

The application process may seem like a piece of cake compared to Harvard's, but the correctional officer academy is actually more selective than Harvard. Over 120,000 people apply every year, according to the state Legislative Analyst's Office, but the academy only enrolls about 900. That's an acceptance rate of less than 1%. Harvard's is 6.2%. The job also has a better retention rate than Harvard. Only 1.7% dropped out of the service last year, compared to 2% who left Harvard.

If your parents aren't thrilled about you turning down Harvard to become a prison guard in California, just show them the job brochure. Then explain that in another few years instead of paying off thousands of dollars in college loans you'll be taking cruises together. They'll be speechless.

Ms. Finley is assistant editor of OpinionJournal.com

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748704132204576285471510530398-lMyQjAxMTAxMDAwMTEwNDEyWj.html

Pointing lasers at sheriff's aircraft resulting in arrests

Pointing lasers at sheriff's aircraft resulting in arrests
Another person who pointed a laser at a sheriff's helicopter was arrested this past week. In the past seven months, helicopter pilots and Aero Bureau aircraft from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department had lasers pointed at them six times while in flight. Four suspects have been arrested.

The incidents included:

April 26, 2011 - Pico Rivera Sheriff's Station area. A 16-year old Asian male resident of Los Alamitos was arrested.

April 18, 2011 - Century Sheriff's Station area (near Lynwood)

January 23, 2011 - West Covina area

December 20, 2010 - Pico Rivera Sheriff's Station area. A 15-year old Hispanic male resident of Pico Rivera was arrested.

December 11, 2010 - Industry Sheriff's Station area (La Puente). Antonio Chavez, a 25-year old Hispanic male resident of La Puente was arrested.

September 22, 2010 - East Los Angeles Sheriff's Station area. (Maywood) Julio Pineda a 25-year old Hispanic male resident of Maywood was arrested.



Pointing a laser at an aircraft is extremely dangerous and is a felony punishable by up to three years in state prison and a fine of $2,000.00. It can also be a Federal offense, punishable by 20 years in Federal Prison. Sheriff's deputies, police officers and all law enforcement ask that for the safety of the pilots and people on the ground, if you see someone point a laser at an aircraft, immediately call 9-1-1 and report it.

"When the laser hits the plexiglass windshield, it refracts the light and fills the cockpit with laser light, causing disorientaiton or temporary blindness. It has caused long term damage to some pilots," said Sergeant Morrie Zager, a helicopter pilot assigned to Sheriff's Aero Bureau. "This is a serious matter. The pilot's disorientation could cause loss of control of the aircraft."

The most recent incident occurred on Tuesday night, April 26, at 10:47 p.m..

Sheriff's deputy pilots flying a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s helicopter reported to deputies on the ground that a person in a car near the Interstate 5 freeway and Rosemead Boulevard was pointing a laser at them.

Pico Rivera Sheriff's Station deputies immediately responded and stopped the car which was traveling south on the 605 freeway. The occupants of the car, including a 16-year old Asian male resident of Los Alamitos who pointed the laser at the aircraft, were detained by deputies. A green laser pen light was found in the juvenile's possession. The suspect admitted that he shined the light at the sheriff's helicopter as it was flying overhead.

The suspect was arrested and transported to Pico Rivera Sheriff’s Station. He was later released to his parents and ordered to appear in juvenile court to face the felony charge.

Fortunately, no injuries were reported by either the sheriff's helicopter pilot or the tactical flight deputy.

During previous incidents, pilots have been so distracted or disoriented by laser lights, they have had to land, cancel landings, or take evasive action resulting in not being able to help the public, in order to ensure the safety of flight crews and people on the ground.
The number of incidents nationally in which people pointed lasers at planes and helicopters nearly doubled when comparing 2009 to 2010, from 1,527 incidents in 2009 to 2,836 incidents in 2010, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The 108 incidents at the Los Angeles airport last year, was more than any other airport in the nation, as reported by the FAA.

“The FAA is actively warning people not to point high-powered lasers at aircraft because they can damage a pilot’s eyes or cause temporary blindness,” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. “We continue to ask pilots to immediately report laser events to air traffic controllers so we can contact local law enforcement officials.”

FAA news release and the Top 20 Laser Event Reports by Airports in 2010:

http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=12298


The awareness of law enforcement has been heightened on the ground and in the air. But we need the public's help to protect everyone's safety. Sheriff's deputies, police officers and all law enforcement ask that for the safety of the pilots and people on the ground, if you see someone point a laser at an aircraft, immediately call 9-1-1 and report it.

Or if you wish to remain Anonymous, call “LA Crime Stoppers” by dialing 800-222-TIPS (8477), texting the letters TIPLA plus your tip to CRIMES (274637), or using the website http://lacrimestoppers.org








Captain Mike Parker
Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau - Newsroom
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
(323) 267-4800
www.lasd.org
SHBNewsroom@lasd.org


Sheriff Leroy D. Baca
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department