A man views a memorial for a man killed by police on skid row in Los Angeles, California, March 2, 2015.
Reuters/Lucy Nicholson

Saying officer-involved shootings have nearly doubled since last year, the president of the Los Angeles Police Commission called Tuesday for efforts to help reduce such shootings and other use-of-force by officers.

Matt Johnson said the increase from 23 officer-involved shootings last year to 45 so far this year is an “alarming development.”

“I believe we can work toward vastly reducing the number of use-of-force incidents through extensive training and modifying our tactics,” he said.

Fellow commissioners, along with Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck, threw their support behind Johnson’s proposals, which include looking back on the past 10 years of shootings and use-of-force by Los Angeles police officers, along with the changes in training and policies that have occurred during that time.

Johnson asked for a comparison of Los Angeles’ officer-involved shootings and other uses of force with those of other law-enforcement agencies around the country.

He also suggested taking a look at how the department might use more non-lethal weapons, such as stun guns and beanbag guns, during interactions with suspects carrying knives or other weapons that are not firearms, and with those who are mentally ill.

Also proposed was an annual reporting of use-of-force cases that would contain information to help the Police Commission review such cases and create policy. Johnson asked that a final draft of the reporting format be presented to the commission in 30 days.

Johnson also called on the Office of the Inspector General to monitor and report back on the effectiveness of police training programs and to create an audit plan for the department’s use of body cameras.

These steps “will be tools to guide us on how and where we can improve the department,” Johnson said.

“Once we have this information, it will be our collective responsibility — the department, this commission and the community — to use it to continue the reform efforts that began with the consent decree and to build the LAPD into the best trained, best equipped, most professional and most respected police organization in America,” he said.

Commissioner Kathleen Kim said she “fully” supports Johnson’s recommendations.

“In taking a critical look at use-of-force, it (Johnson’s proposal) not only aims to reduce uses of force for public safety, but also for officer safety, and I think that’s really critical to keep in mind,” she said.

She added she hopes “the role of race will also be looked at,” and that there will be a “fresh look and a critical evaluation of the legal standards and the policies in place” around officer shootings and use-of-force.

Beck said he has been guiding the department in the same direction outlined under Johnson’s proposal, and that it is “very heartening to see the commissioner and I share a vision of what needs to happen.”

He said it would be “a good thing to compare us nationally,” and also noted that while the number of police shootings has almost doubled, that number “is small compared to the number of contacts the police department makes.”

By Elizabeth Hsing-Huei Chou for DailyNews.com

Norma “Angie” Guzman

New video footage emerged Saturday of the moments after Los Angeles Police Department officers shot and killed a mentally-ill woman Sept. 27 in South Los Angeles.

The cell phone video shows police surrounding Norma “Angie” Guzman, 37, just after the shooting.

Sergio, who asked not to show his face on camera, was nearby and didn’t see the confrontation between Guzman and the officers

“I heard four very loud shots,” Sergio said. “I turned around, and I see this lady spread all over the sidewalk; a very bloody scene.”

Police responded to a call reporting Guzman allegedly threatening a man with a knife, which she refused to drop, police said.

Protesters gathered Saturday to march from San Pedro Street — the scene of the crime — to LAPD’s Newton Division Office to demand major departmental changes.

“We feel that other methods could have been used to stop her rather than putting four bullets into her,” David Sanchez, a protester, said.

Guzman’s family said she was prone to outbursts, during which she would shout and behave irrationally.

“She might have had a few problems, but that’s no reason to shoot her down, dead,” Sanchez said.

Rufino Munoz, Guzman’s friend of 15 years, said she wasn’t a violent person.

Protesters said they believe the police overreacted, but Munoz said he understood their decision to shoot.

“They have a family to go to,” Munoz said. “They have children to see tonight.”

LAPD has not commented on the incident, and said the investigation was ongoing.

On Monday, the LAPD will mobilize its own major body camera system; 7,000 body cameras will be deployed. “The first batch of cameras — 860 devices purchased with about $1.5 million in private donations — will be given to officers within the next month, the LAPD’s chief information officer told the Police Commission on Tuesday,” the Los Angeles Times reported. It will be the largest body camera program in the nation, but many are concerned with a lack of transparency.

The department’s police commission voted in April to let officers review footage before writing their reports detailing what happened during an altercation with a citizen, and the department does not plan on letting the public view any footage unless there is a criminal or civil investigation taking place, the Los Angeles Times reports. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck has explained that police oversight entities—the district attorney, city attorney, and the Police Commission and inspector general—will get to review the footage.

“I think people misunderstand transparency as having everybody and all the public have access to everything,” Beck said according to the Los Angeles Times. “And it isn’t so much that as having the ability for oversight by multiple entities outside of the Police Department. I think that’s the meaning of transparency. I don’t think that transparency means we post every interaction on YouTube.”

He also stated that part of the reason the footage would not be accessible to the public is due to protecting the privacy of people whose homes and/or incidents the police visit or respond to. “People invite us into their homes on their worst possible day, and I don’t think they invite us with the intention of having that interaction made public,” Beck stated.

However, one of the reasons so many people have called for putting body cameras on the police is to hold officers accountable for their actions, if members of the public believe there was wrongdoing. Letting the department keep the footage to itself and letting officers conceivably write their incident reports based on what can be seen in the footage doesn’t appear to curtail the overall problem, critics argue.

The Southern California branch of the ACLU has been a consistent critic of the LAPD’s policy, and it spoke out again last week. “We give police more authority than nearly any other public servant—the power to stop us and our neighbors, detain us, search us, even to kill in our name,” Peter Bibring, director of police practices for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said in a statement. “The public has a right to know how police use that authority, and especially have a right to know what happened when police abuse that authority. This secrecy around peace officer records undermines transparency, obstructs efforts to hold law enforcement accountable for its actions, and breeds distrust between police and the communities they serve.”

A poll detailed in the recent statement, which was conducted for the ACLU, found four in five voters in California want the police to wear body cameras, and nearly 80 percent believe “where police have engaged in misconduct, the public should have access to the findings and conclusions of investigations into that misconduct.” As for situations where there is only alleged misconduct by a police officer, 64 percent supported giving the public access to investigation reports.

While the decision to instigate a body camera program appears to be a significant steptoward police accountability, it seems somewhat hollow without significant policies regarding transparency. For more information, here’s when you can record the police.

Written by Thor Benson for att.com

LOS ANGELES — Ten jail employees accused of inmate neglect had their employment at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department terminated, according to an official statement released Saturday.

An inmate filed a complaint on June 27 that claims he was restrained and held in handcuffs for approximately 32 hours, receiving no food, after being accused of assaulting a guard.

“I am deeply committed to providing the highest levels of constitutional care to those in our charge and will quickly address and remedy any conduct, policies, or practices that do not meet this expectation and high standard,” said Sheriff Jim McDonnell in Saturday’s statement.

This is not the first time in recent history the jail’s employees have been accused of abuse. These latest accusations come just two years after a sprawling investigation turned up charges against 18 different Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officers for misconduct and excessive force.

An internal investigation has been launched and given to the Sheriff’s Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau, with further disciplinary action pending. So far no charges have been filed against any of the employees.

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles lawmakers have been mulling new rules that would require residents to lock up their handguns or disable them with a trigger lock when they are not being used.

But the plan, championed by Councilman Paul Krekorian as a way to spare children from deadly accidents, has spurred unexpected opposition from the city police officers’ union, which argues that retired officers shouldn’t be held to those rules.

The proposed rules would exempt active-duty and reserve officers, but the Los Angeles Police Protective League says retired officers should be excluded as well, warning of possible dangers to former officers and their families.

In a letter to city lawmakers, the union argued that current and former officers needed quick access to guns for protection, citing the 2013 armed rampage by former LAPD Officer Christopher Dorner as an example of police and their families being targeted. Retired officers have gone through extensive training on controlling their weapons, union officials said.

“To protect themselves and society … you have to give them the ability to respond quickly,” league Director Peter Repovich said.

Krekorian aides warned against changing the wording of the proposed rules, which are modeled on a San Francisco ordinance that has so far withstood a legal challenge from the National Rifle Assn. At a Friday hearing, L.A. Councilman Mitchell Englander suggested another possible amendment: lifting the storage requirements for those with a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

Those permits can be granted to judges, current and retired officers and other applicants approved by local law enforcement officials. Englander, who is a reserve officer, said getting that permit involves an “extensive background search” and mandatory training.

His idea won support from Councilman Joe Buscaino, a former L.A. police officer. Buscaino said the ordinance should target “irresponsible gun owners” and said that the city should be sensitive to the concerns of retired officers because they could be targeted for investigations they had undertaken while on the force.

“Anyone who wears a badge — both present and in the past — are police,” he said, adding, “I’m just looking at their personal safety.”

But other members of the Public Safety Committee were uneasy with the idea of exempting retired officers and other concealed weapons permit holders from the proposed gun storage rules. Councilwoman Nury Martinez said she didn’t understand why anyone wouldn’t lock up or disable their gun.

“Isn’t that just the responsible thing to do, as opposed to having to go to another child’s funeral?” Martinez asked. “Whether you are a retired police officer or an on-duty police officer, I just think it’s the responsible thing to do — to lock your firearm at home.”

At the hearing, Councilman Mike Bonin said he also had misgivings about loosening the rules for anyone holding a concealed weapons permit, as Englander proposed. Bonin cited news accounts of a former Culver City police chief who he said gave out the permits “like candy,” saying that he didn’t trust the judgment of every police chief or sheriff in the state.

A revised version of the proposal — one that exempts concealed weapons permit holders — is expected to return to lawmakers for additional debate in about a month. Krekorian, who does not sit on the safety committee, issued a statement opposing the proposed change, saying it “would make the public less safe.”

“It would destroy a reasonable and measured policy that is designed to save the lives of children and others who die far too often from irresponsibly stored handguns,” Krekorian said.

The executive director of Women Against Gun Violence, a group that strongly backed the gun-storage proposal, said she was bewildered by the proposed exemption. “If you drive professionally for a living, does that exempt you from wearing a seat belt?” Margot Bennett asked.

It is unclear whether the police union will support the revised plan. Repovich said the proposed exemption for concealed weapons permit holders would cover retired officers, but the Los Angeles Police Protective League board would need to discuss it before taking a position.

In reaction to the L.A. proposal, the NRA said it opposes “government mandated storage regulations” such as those called for in the draft ordinance, with or without the proposed exemption. Spokeswoman Jennifer Baker said the group promotes gun safety but believes that gun owners should be “free to choose the safe storage method that best suits their situation.”

A law firm that represents the NRA and the California Rifle and Pistol Assn. warned council members that the proposal violates the U.S. Constitution’s 2nd Amendment and contradicts state law. In a letter to lawmakers, Michel & Associates said it is still fighting the San Francisco ordinance and would pursue “immediate litigation” if L.A. passes similar rules.

“They would not be on the safe ground that they think they are,” said Anna Barvir, an associate at the law firm.

Article written by Emily Alpert Reyes for the Los Angeles Times

Jurors on Friday convicted a female Los Angeles police officer of felony assault for repeatedly kicking a handcuffed woman who later died.

The jury of 11 women and one man reached its verdict after about two days of deliberations in the trial of Officer Mary O’Callaghan, 50. She pleaded not guilty to assaulting a civilian in the 2012 arrest of Alesia Thomas, 35.

Dressed in a black pantsuit, O’Callaghan wiped her face, appearing to cry after the verdict was read.

Robert Rico, O’Callaghan’s attorney, said he plans to appeal and ask for a new trial.

“I firmly believe the evidence presented by the prosecution did not show her force was unreasonable or unnecessary,” he said, adding that he felt the jury’s verdict was “based on emotion” rather than the necessary legal standard for conviction.

Officers went to arrest Thomas at her home after she left her two children outside a police station.

A dashboard camera in a police cruiser captured O’Callaghan kicking the handcuffed Thomas in the back seat seven times in the groin, abdomen and upper thigh, prosecutors said. Thomas lost consciousness and was pronounced dead at a hospital.

A report by the Police Commission said the 228-pound Thomas resisted arrest.

O’Callaghan’s attorney noted his client has an exemplary record, and no complaints against her have been upheld in her 19 years on the force.

O’Callaghan was charged with assault under color of authority, but she was not charged in Thomas’ death. She had been relieved of duty without pay pending an administrative hearing.

An autopsy found Thomas had cocaine in her system, but the cause of death was listed as undetermined because the struggle couldn’t be excluded as a contributing factor. There were no internal injuries or bruising.

O’Callaghan faces a maximum of three years in county jail when she is sentenced July 23.

Rico said O’Callaghan was remanded to custody at her own request while she awaits sentencing to avoid causing the family any more grief. He added that he will ask for probation as a minimum based on her military service and career before the charges.

Rico gave her a hug before she was handcuffed in her seat and remanded to the custody of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department without bail.

Najee Ali, a community activist who said he spoke with the Thomas family, said they were grateful for the verdict but that “no one is celebrating” because Thomas is gone. He noted, however, that “it’s very rare to have a police officer prosecuted, let alone convicted.”

Ali said the family is asking that O’Callaghan receive the maximum sentence to send a message that police brutality will not be tolerated.

“It is always disappointing when an officer fails to uphold the high standards and professionalism shown by the thousands of LAPD officers” daily, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said.

He said he appreciated the partnership with the district attorney’s office “to ensure that officers who operate outside of the law, and tarnish our badge, are held accountable.”

District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a statement she was “pleased that the jury agreed with our assessment of the evidence.”

“The verdict proves the criminal justice system works,” Lacey said.

Published on Huffpost by Tami Abdollah

LOS ANGELES — Police say an ex-LAPD officer accused of murder was apprehended in Mexico on Tuesday after a two-month-long manhunt.

Henry Solis reportedly resisted his arrest when he was found by Juarez police, right across the Rio Grande, which separates the city from El Paso, Texas.

Officials at a Mexican state news conference said Solis told them he was going to be caught “sooner or later.”

Mexican police spokesman Pablo Ernesto Rocha Acosta claims Solis was hiding with family members in El Mezquital, the Juarez neighborhood where he was arrested. Acosta did not say how police were able to find Solis, except that the arrest was assisted by technology and access to information from US police agencies.

Solis was deported Tuesday evening and will be held in federal custody in El Paso.

Former LAPD officer Henry Solis

Solis was the target of an international manhunt for the March 13 murder of Salome Rodriguez Jr. in Pomona, California. Solis is alleged to have shot and killed Rodriguez, then fleeing the country.

Solis was fired a short time after the murder, and his father was charged for lying to federal agents about his son’s whereabouts.

Rodriguez’s mother Lidia was relieved when she received news of the arrest, saying “If it’s true he got caught, hallelujah! We think this is God’s work.” Lidia said she’s prayed that Solis would be found and arrested, and has held nightly vigils in the parking lot where her son collapsed after being shot.

Solis is a former Marine who served a tour in combat in Iraq, and had been employed by the LAPD for nine months. Police reports say Solis chased Rodriguez out of a bar in Pomona and shot him four times.

Solis did not show up for his job the next day, and later that night Pomona police identified him as a person of interest in the murder investigation. Fliers with Solis’s photo and information about his missing car were circulated around the city.

Court documents show police are claiming Solis said he would “never be seen again,” in addition to other incriminating statements.

Heleine Tchayou was home in Boston when she saw on the news cellphone video of a mentally ill homeless man killed on Skid Row by Los Angeles police. She exclaimed to a friend and her son-in-law about how horrible it was. It wasn’t until days later that she learned the man who died was her son, Charly Keunang.

On Thursday, Tchayou and her daughter announced the family is filing a $20 million claim against the city.

Speaking in French at a news conference in front of the Los Angeles Police Department’s headquarters in downtown Los Angeles, Tchayou (whose name is pronounced hehl-EEN’ TCHY’-yo) called the death of her only son preventable.

“He has left, he has left forever,” she said through tears. “Those images won’t leave my mind … it won’t leave my mind.”

A pedestrian walks past flowers and candles placed on a sidewalk near where a man was shot and killed by police in the Skid Row section of downtown Los Angeles, Monday, March 2, 2015. Three Los Angeles police officers shot and killed the man on Sunday, as they wrestled with him on the ground, a confrontation captured on video that millions have viewed online. Authorities say the man was shot after grabbing for an officer’s gun. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

The claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, filed by Keunang’s parents and sister Wednesday night says officers initiated the struggle that ended with the 43-year-old Keunang’s death on March 1.

Attorney Dan Stormer called the incident “despicable” and likened it to other deaths of unarmed black men around the country.

“He was doing nothing, he was on the streets, he was bothering no one,” Stormer said. “They’re the ones that began the process. They’re the ones that initiated force.”

Officers who were responding to a robbery report said he became combative, made a grab for the gun of a rookie policeman and was shot by three other officers. The shooting was captured on video and prompted several protests.

The officers involved have been placed on paid leave during the investigation.

City officials would not comment on pending litigation, said city attorney’s office spokesman Frank Mateljan.

Stormer said only the rookie officer went for his gun initially and ended up on top of Keunang, ultimately resulting in Keunang (keh-NAYNG’) being shot six times, including four times in the chest.

“This is a cop created killing, it is something that should have never happened,” Stormer said.

The family has asked the district attorney’s office for a thorough criminal investigation, and they are trying to get footage from body cameras worn by two officers during the incident, although so far their attorney said the department will not release it.

A memorial will be held May 16 and the family is working to return Keunang’s body to Cameroon for burial. The Cameroon native entered the U.S. illegally and had served about 13 years in prison and spent six months in a halfway house before he was released in May 2014, ultimately ending up on Skid Row.

Keunang found his sister on Facebook soon after his release and took a bus to Boston in June, where he was reunited with his family, and met his nephew and niece for the first time. The family said he was trying to do better and planning to soon get off the street to work as an exporter.

His last text to his sister the day before his death was “I will call you tomorrow, my love.” But she never heard from him.