Tag Archive for: police activity

,

DUI Checkpoint in Echo Park Saturday

If you plan on going out and having too much of a fun time this weekend, make sure you have a designated driver. Not just because there are TONS of DUI checkpoints planned for the Los Angeles area in the next couple of weeks, but because it’s a responsible thing to do. Either way, officers will be located at Sunset Boulevard and Sutherland in Echo Park on Saturday, August 20 from 8:00 pm to 2:00 am to keep intoxicated drivers off the road.

The crackdown is dubbed the “Avoid the 100” – meaning, avoid the 100 local police agencies involved in the checkpoints. They’ll be deploying DUI Driver’s License Checkpoints, Multi Agency DUI Task Force operations and local Roving DUI patrols during the 18 day Summer/Labor Day campaign. They won’t just be in Echo Park on Saturday, and many other checkpoints are planned throughout Los Angeles tonight through September 4.

But what do you care – you live in Echo Park and just walk to the nearest bar instead of driving… right?

While they’ll be checking for driver’s licenses, in March this year 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.

Be safe!

h/t LA Now

/284 Comments/by

Angelino Heights police activity this afternoon

A post on the Angelino Heights Yahoo! forum today caught our attention, and you may have noticed the helicopter and police activity. Here’s why:

At the request of Ed of Select Patrol, I’m just sending out a quick set of details of the police activity that occurred on the 1300 block of Carroll Avenue starting around 3:10pm today. All of this information is relayed from Ed and one or two other neighbours who were around.

Around 3:10 this afternoon, a young woman was dropped off near the intersection of Bellevue and West Kensington. She approached another woman that was walking down the sidewalk and ripped a gold chain from this woman’s neck before either walking or running west in the direction of Edgeware. Ed witnessed the incident and followed the robber up Bellevue to Edgeware and onto Carroll with the victim of the attack in pursuit on foot.

When the suspected thief reached the corner of East Edgeware and Carroll, it seems she returned the necklace to the victim in an attempt to claim she had committed no crime. Ed was in touch with LAPD dispatch at this point and was relaying details of the incident and the location of the alleged thief. After some remarkably loud and histrionic behaviour (claims that the took the necklace because she was pregnant and needed the money for neonatal care, etc.) that seems to have been an attempt to get the victim and Ed to leave her alone, the suspect then approached 1320 Carroll while wailing aloud.

At this point in time, roughly 3:20pm, the police patrol cars were inbound and there was an LAPD helicopter circling. Within a few minutes, the patrol cars had arrived, the suspect was in handcuffs being questioned and the victim was returning to Carroll now that there was a police presence.

And that was pretty much the end of the drama.

One neighbour did claim that he saw a suspect vehicle parked near the intersection of Douglas and Carroll with only the driver in it and it may have been the vehicle that dropped off the alleged thief and was waiting to pick her up. Ed and at least one LAPD officer think this may be the pattern of a group of robbers. As always, you should keep a healthy eye out for cars that seem to be traveling too slowly for traffic or that seem to be passing pedestrians repeatedly. It is likely that the victim in this case was spotted from the car and may have been watched for a short time before she was mugged.

Just sending this out as a favor to Ed. I have related the events as they were conveyed to me as accurately as I can but I only witnessed the last few minutes of the incident. As a result, there are sure to be errors. My apologies in advance.

Stay safe out there!

/124 Comments/by
,

Last night’s police activity

Courtesy Eastsider LA

Courtesy Eastsider LA

Last night’s police and helicopter activity closed off Echo Park Avenue between Effie Street and Duane Street. According to Eastsider LA, as of 12:05 AM officers had apprehended the suspect.

“A police helicopter hovering over Echo Park tonight is part of a search for a suspect who dropped a gun following an investigation in the 1900 block of Echo Park Avenue, according to an officer at the scene. No shots were fired, the officer said.

“Police have blocked off Echo Park Avenue between Effie Street and Duane Street. The search appears focused on the hills to the east of Echo Park Avenue near Lucretia Street.”

/61 Comments/by