Captain Bill Murphy sent out a crime update for the Northeast Division, reporting that Echo Park has been “Very clear – looks great.” Although the LA Times crime map displays some property crimes from March 14-20 (vehicle thefts, burglaries, etc.), there were no violent crimes.
Year-to-date crime numbers covering January 1 through March 17 this year show some improvement for the Northeast area overall. Read more details from Captain Murphy after the jump.
Don’t hit the spiked egg nog if you’re driving over the holidays, the LAPD is cracking down on drunk driving offenders with several sobriety checks around Los Angeles through January 1.
There will be a checkpoint on Friday, December 23, 2011 on the west end of Echo Park at Sunset Boulevard and Coronado Street (which is unusual as they usually set up at Sunset and Portia… perhaps trying to catch all those Mohawk Bend goers from the west?). The checkpoint will start at 8:00 pm and last until 2:00 am.
Click here for more information about the checkpoints over the holidays.
Just in time for baseball season, the LAPD will be conducting a DUI checkpoint in Echo Park on Friday, April 1 from 8:00 pm – 2:00 am.
Now in March, the LAPD changed the rules regarding impounding cars of unlicensed drivers – a rule that immigrants rights advocates have said unlawfully targeted undocumented immigrants. According to an article in the LA Times:
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said that police would be required to try to contact the registered owner of a vehicle stopped at a checkpoint. If the owner is licensed and can arrive in a reasonable amount of time, the car will not be impounded. If the owner is unlicensed, but a licensed driver is in the car, that person may be permitted to take it.
The article continues: The Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley found that of all the cars impounded during a three month period in 2009, 55% were impounded for unlicensed drivers, versus 14% impounded for an actual DUI and criminal warrants.
We’ll see if the new policy does it’s job – keeping drunk drivers off the road!
The checkpoint will take place on Sunset Boulevard between Portia Street and Sutherland Street (near the Little Joy/Short Stop).
This went under the radar for us, but police need your tips so we thought we’d pass it along anyways.
Last Saturday night just before 2:00 am, Rampart officers responded to a call about a shooting along the 400 block of North Westlake Avenue and found a man with a gunshot wound in his leg (he told them it came from a car driving by). The man was taken to the hospital where he was treated.
Minutes later, another shooting on the radio at Glendale Boulevard and Park Avenue. Officers found an abandoned tan colored Mercury van on the southeast corner. Then, minutes after that, another shooting victim was reported to be at a hospital on the 1700 blog of West Temple Street. Unfortunately, that person died.
More from the LAPD Blog:
Flickr photo via aileenrobot
The Echo Curio has been a long-time performance and art space, and a great space for local bands to play – we’ve been in the crowd for many of our friend’s performances and are grateful to have a place in Echo Park for great music to happen. But on Friday night (October 1), the LAPD shut down the Echo Curio during a show, even after they complied with the city to cease the BYOB policy last August.
“As you know,” said co-owner Justin Justin McInteer, “we have been a dry space for over 3 months now, so were a little confused as to why the police are spending time shutting down a community art and performance space.” They then learned that this time, the violation seems to be a lack of permits, specifically a Cafe-Entertainment license required for any business with any form of entertainment (including karaoke) on a regular basis.
With several shows coming up, including the Culture Collide fest and full schedules through November with local and touring bands, other nearby spaces are helping redirect shows while the shop is closed through October 18. In the meantime, the Curio owners are doing their research and are even meeting with Eric Garcetti to find out what they should do.
“…hopefully we’ll pass the class and get the info we need together that day and start the process… What would be great to find out is if we can get temporary permission to have shows while this period of waiting for the next step – the inspection and then vote by the commission to (hopefully) approve our license,” a recent post on the website blog says.
Other classes and workshops will continue to be held at the shop, and the art gallery will still be open (an art opening for Justin McInteer will take place either Thursday or Friday). We hope things happen smoothly for the guys at the Echo Curio, and look forward to seeing some great shows soon!
If you’re interested in showing your support for the Echo Curio, tell Eric Garcetti at councilmember.garcetti@lacity.org
It’s Labor Day weekend!
Don’t party too hard – Friday night (September 3) is another Sobriety/DUI checkpoint in Echo Park and all over Los Angeles, reports LAist. You’ll find it on Sunset Boulevard and Sutherland Street by the Short Stop (a pretty typical spot for these things) from 8:00 pm to 1:30 am.
Be safe out there!
It may not be a holiday weekend, but tonight (Friday, August 20) is another Sobriety/DUI checkpoint in Echo Park, this time on Glendale Blvd. at Berkeley (thankfully not on Sunset Blvd. this time, which usually holds up that outgoing Stadium traffic we all love to hate).
Expect the traffic stop to occur from 7:00 pm to around 12:30 pm. We will have to find out after they set up whether or not it’s directed at north-bound or south-bound traffic (or both) on Glendale Blvd.
Be safe out there!
The last sobriety checkpoint was not too long ago (on May 5), but another one has already been set up in Echo Park for the Memorial Day weekend drivers. The Cinco de Mayo DUI checkpoint had three DUI arrests, 15 citations issued, and 14 cars impounded (stats from Captain Bill Murphy).
The checkpoint is located at Sunset Blvd. and Portia, just in front of Little Joy and A Grocery Warehouse.
No reason to get down about the DUI checkpoint. If you’re looking for a place to hang out for a while, ECOS vintage store is having a DUI checkpoint sale with 50% off vinyl records (located at 1529 Sunset Blvd.).
Be careful out there! The checkpoints usually last until midnight or sometimes a little later.
Here’s your Northeast Division Neighborhood Crime Update from Captain Bill Murphy:
Echo Park
We have a burglary trend in this neighborhood between noon to 6 PM. We have detained and/or arrested some suspects over the past week Some of these crimes maybe committed by juveniles and we have tremendously increased truant enforcement in the neighborhoods of Echo Park and Silverlake. One resident attempted to detain a subject (juvenile suspect) and unfortunately, he broke away and took off (please be careful about taking action into your own hands – your life is not worth taking this risk over). We did get a composite of this subject and put it out to all of our police officers.Note: We did have an incident that occurred yesterday in East Hollywood (will not be in these crime statistics and the suspect is probably not involved in any Echo Park or Silverlake burglaries – but its an amusing story.)
Yesterday a lady came home and when she pulled into her driveway she noticed that her garage door was open and that a man was inside her garage rummaging through her other vehicle parked in the garage. She immediately asked him what he was doing in the garage and he yelled “I am looking for my friend.” Knowing that he was not her friend, she immediately pressed the garage door remote control she had in the vehicle she was driving – and then drove her vehicle up against the garage door to trap the suspect inside. She then calmly phone 9-1-1 and reported the burglary-in-progress as the suspect began to bang on the inside door pleading ” please let me out – I am on parole – I just got out of jail.- I can’t go back” He was immediately arrested and will be heading back to a confining 9 x 12 foot cell. While I do not recommend taking action – this was very quick thinking on the lady’s part which resulted in the suspect’s capture!
And for good measure, here’s the rest of the crime update for the rest of the Northeast area:
While Silver Lake, Highland Park, and some other neighboring areas are having some recent crime, Echo Park seems to be pretty quiet according to the most recent Northeast newsletter on recent crime events.
According to the email, Echo Park is reported as having “No trends or patterns over the past 28-day period. A few property crimes over the past week.”
The rest of the email reads as follows:
Schedule your designated drivers now, because tomorrow night (Friday, April 16) the LAPD will be conducting a sobriety check in Echo Park on Glendale Blvd and Effie Street from 8:00 pm – 3:00 am.
From the LAPD press release:
The purpose of the sobriety checkpoint is to reduce the number of traffic collisions involving intoxicated drivers and hit and run collisions. In 2010, residents residing in the Northeast Area have endured 32 driving under the influence-related and 280 hit and run traffic collisions. The checkpoint will educate the community to use designated drivers and not drink and drive. Our message is simple: If we catch you drunk, you will be arrested.
For more information, please contact Officer Don Inman, Traffic Coordination Section, at 213-486-0703.
From LAist:
The LAPD is doing their weekly DUI Checkpoint and tonight’s is in Echo Park. Specifically, one will be held on Glendale Boulevard between Effie and Berkely from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. There have already seen 13 driving under the influence-related and 116 hit and run traffic collisions in the Northeast Police division this year.