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UPDATED
February 26, 2010
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LOCAL NEWS & INFORMATION
UPDATED :
February 26, 2010
LOS ANGELES - Northrop Grumman Corporation
subsidiary Remotec Inc. and its partner Autonomous Solutions
Inc. have delivered a stronger, heavier and more capable robot
to the Los Angeles Police Department, allowing officers to
perform more missions more safely. The Caterpillar TL1255
Telehandler can be operated remotely from a distance of up to
one mile, has a forward reach of more than 40 feet, an extension
height of 50 feet, and a lift capacity of 12,000 pounds. Armed
with these new capabilities, first responders and special
weapons and tactics teams (SWAT) can more effectively respond to
emergency situations, including explosive ordnance disposal,
hazardous material response (HAZMAT) and port security. The
Telehandler is Remotec's first offering from a new heavy-duty
line of roboticized construction-grade equipment. For more than
20 years, Remotec has been keeping danger at a distance by
providing rugged and dependable hazardous duty robotics for
military, explosive aordnance demolition, HAZMAT, law
enforcement, SWAT and other first responder applications
worldwide. Remotec is based in Clinton, Tenn., and is the
largest provider of robots to the first responder market.
UPDATED :
February 19, 2010
LOS ANGELES
COUNTY - The L.A. County
Sheriff's Department unveiled some sophisticated new equipment
and port protection measures that will enhance and expand the
pre-port entry screening program. The equipment includes a
55-foot ocean vessel, radiation detecting aircraft, and a
specially trained canine. The screening vessel is equipped with
highly advanced radiation, chemical, and biological detection
equipment. This allows deputies to remotely screen entire ships
for WMD materials while enroute to the port. The detection
equipment transmits real-time data to the LASD HAZMAT Detail
Headquarters for further interpretation. The vessel is also
equipped with advanced sonar and a Remotely-Operated Underwater
Vehicle (ROV) capable of depths up to 3000 feet. The ROV is
equipped to remotely search ship hulls for improvised explosive
devices and to remove or disarm them. Deployed on the vessel is
a canine trained to detect the chemical and biological
components that are used to create WMD's. This is the first and
only canine in the U.S. with this capability. Additionally, a
Eurocopter AS350B2 helicopter has been equipped with an advanced
radiation detection pod that allows for remote screening of
ships for radioactive ships while flying overhead.
LOS ANGELES
COUNTY -
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors have voted
4-1 to merge county police with the Sheriff's Department.
Employees of the Office of Public Safety are responsible for
security at more than 450 county facilities, including hospitals
and parks. Those employees will now have the opportunity to
qualify as sheriff's deputies or work in non-sworn positions
within the department. County staffers indicated that the plan
is to absorb existing county police staff into the sheriff's
department, but they cannot guarantee jobs for all in the
merger, planned to take effect June 30, 2010. The Office of
Public Safety is budgeted for 579 sworn officers and 140 support
professionals, and oversees more than 800 contract employees.
But only 76 percent of the positions are filled. The Sheriff's
Department plans to budget 694 new positions as part of the
merger. The county maintained that any county police officer who
becomes a sheriff's deputy would be qualified for the job.
Medical and psychological exams and background checks will be
done. An 80-hour orientation will help prepare newly sworn
deputies. County police are trained on California Peace Officer
Standards and Training at the Rio Hondo Community College Police
Academy. The ongoing cost of running the security services
through the Sheriff's Department are expected to be about $1.5
million higher annually. A one-time cost of about $20 million
will also be incurred.
ALTADENA - The Los Angeles County Board of
Supervisors approved $1.3 million in renovations for the
sheriff's Altadena Station. The renovations would add a dispatch
center and security fences to the Altadena Drive station, which
was built in 1947. For years, officials hoped to build a new
sheriff's station to replace it - but the $30 million necessary
to build the project has been hard to come by. Currently, 9-1-1
emergency calls from the area are taken by the sheriff's station
in Crescenta Valley. Adding a dispatch center in Altadena will
allow authorities there to connect directly with the community
and could speed up response times. The station will still not be
capable of detention services, which will continue to be handled
by the Crescenta Valley Station. The renovation money will also
go toward putting up security fences and gates for the parking
lot - a remedy for what officials call unsafe conditions.
Renovations will also be made to the lobby area and public
restroom facilities, which will be compliant with the American
Disabilities Act.
MANHATTAN BEACH - Four
Manhattan Beach police officers have been placed on paid
administrative leave for their involvement in the alleged
cover-up of a hit-and-run collision last month. The officers are
being investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s
Department. The Manhattan Beach Police Department responded to
the three-car hit-and-run collision, possibly involving an
intoxicated driver, on Sepulveda Boulevard, north of Manhattan
Beach Boulevard, around 7:30 p.m Jan. 31. When officers
responded, the car that had caused the crash had left the scene
and the remaining drivers were treated for minor injuries. One
of the remaining drivers later drove to the Arco gas station at
Manhattan Beach Boulevard and Dianthus, spotted the car that had
caused the crash and called police. When Police Chief Rod Uyeda
learned of the collision the next day, he immediately had grave
concerns about the decisions made by the police officers
involved and ordered an independent investigation by the L.A.
County Sheriff’s Department. Uyeda immediately placed the four
officers, whose names have not been released, on paid
administrative leave when he learned of the incident. This is
the second time over the past year that an officer-involved
traffic accident in the city was only made public because of
inquiries from the press. Last June, an on-duty police officer
lost control of the SUV he was driving on Highland Avenue,
hitting at least two parked cars and a tree before the vehicle
came to rest on its side.
UPDATED :
February 13, 2010
GLENDALE - The City of Glendale Fire Department
has started a new Basic Life Support (BLS) Program. This program
will provide yet another valuable service to the citizens of
Glendale. Congratulations to the 12 Ambulance Operators (AO's)
who graduated from GFD's first Ambulance Operator academy on
Jan. 26. Two BLS units have gone into service - BLS 22, and BLS
25. Each unit will be staffed with two Emergency Medical
Technicians (EMT's). They will operate in 12-hour shifts, one
from 7:30 am to 7:30 pm and the second from 12 noon to 12
midnight. The program arose from the need to save the Fire
Department money and to free up paramedics, so they could
respond more quickly to serious injury calls. Similar programs
in other fire departments have been very successful. As a result
of adding 2 new BLS ambulances, RA 22 has been taken out of
service and USAR 29 has been moved to Station 22 as USAR 22.
ALHAMBRA - Improvements to the Alhambra Fire
Training Facility are complete along with . The many
improvements will allow firefighters to hone and practice their
skills involving Rescue Systems I and III, trenches, confined
space operations, high and low angle rope rescue, and to
simulate real-life scenarios at the site. Doors and windows have
been outfitted with racking devices to make every evolution
different. The windows are barred and doors can be pried open
repeatedly via the installation of spring retention devices.
Hangers have been welded into the I-beams to allow for simulated
flat, commercial, lightweight roofs to be constructed and
utilized for shoring and ventilation. Along with these new
improvements, inward / outward, resettable hydraulic props will
allow engine and truck companies to create real-life collapse
scenarios. A new simulated strip-mall type structure can be
configured to meet many new training modalities that were not
previously possible without acquiring a structure that was being
demolished. Possible future improvements being considered at the
site include the addition of a classroom for lecture and
instruction.
UPDATED :
February 3, 2010
LONG BEACH - City Manager Pat West today announced
that Jim McDonnell, a widely respected 28-year police veteran
with a history of innovative leadership and community outreach,
has been selected as the new Chief of Police for the City of
Long Beach. Chief McDonnell, one of the nation’s pre-eminent law
enforcement officials, has served as First Assistant Chief of
the Los Angeles Police Department, second in command of the
third largest police department in the United States. During his
career, Chief McDonnell has earned the trust and respect of the
community and the officers under his leadership. He is widely
credited with implementing the plan to reinvent and reform the
Los Angeles Police Department. Chief McDonnell has served as
Chief of Detectives and Chief of Staff, after having had
citywide command of the Operations and Human Resources functions
for the LAPD, where he served for more than 28 years. He has
received numerous community and
department awards, including the LAPD’s highest award for
bravery, the Medal of Valor. Six internal and three external
candidates were considered for the position, and were
interviewed by four panels. While each candidate’s breadth of
experience and commitment were impressive, Jim McDonnell was the
overwhelming first choice of each of the four panels. Each of
those panels felt strongly that Jim McDonnell was clearly the
top choice and a great fit for the Long Beach community and the
Long Beach Police Department. Chief Billy Quach has been running
the Police Department since Chief Anthony Batts
resigned in October 2009 to be the Chief of Police in Oakland.
UPDATED :
January 15, 2010
WHITTIER - Plans for a police memorial in front of the
new police station have been approved by the City Council.
The memorial, to be called "The
Final Salute," will consist of a bronze statue of a police
officer saluting his fallen comrade next to a child holding a
flag. It will sit atop of a 6-foot granite hexagon.
The statue will be placed on the Penn Street side in between the
new station and City Hall, about 20 feet away from the sidewalk.
Panels on the hexagon will provide
stories of the only two Whittier police officers to have died
while on duty.
The statue is expected to be
completed by January 2011. The new station is expected to open
some time next summer.
PASADENA -
Colleagues - both human and canine
- gathered to bid Pasadena police dog "Art" farewell as he
retired from the Police Department.
Art, a
10-year-old Czech Shepherd, racked up 593 narcotics finds and
discovered $4,653,000 in cash during his career.
But after
spending nine years serving Pasadena under the direction of his
handler Officer Tom Brown, an injury suffered in training 7
years ago forced Art to retire.
The
Pasadena Police Department maintains two K-9 units. The
department's other police dog, "Bono," remains on duty.
A
new handler has already been selected to replace Brown, and
police were in the process of selecting a new dog.
LOS ANGELES COUNTY - Los Angeles County Fire
Department Chief P. Michael Freeman, who announced he would
retire in March, will delay it for another year. Los Angeles
County Supervisor Michael Antonovich said Freeman decided to
stay longer to guide the county firefighters through a tough
financial climate. Freeman, a Whittier resident, said in late
November that he would leave the department after 21 years at
the helm. A 2005 law allowed Freeman, 64, to stay at his post
beyond the mandatory retirement age of 60 for county
firefighters.
UPDATED :
January 12, 2010
SOUTH PASADENA - After eight years in the job,
South Pasadena police Chief Dan Watson will retire in July. City
officials told Watson in November that they would not renew his
employment agreement and would begin recruiting a new chief.
Officials encouraged the 58-year-old chief to re-apply for the
position, but he instead sent a memo to City Manager John
Davidson on Jan. 7 stating his intent to retire on July 2.
But
residents and former officials are saying he was all but ousted
by the current council and are questioning why the popular chief
is being allowed to leave. The chief declined to
discuss what reasons, if any, were given to him to explain the
council's decision not to renew his employment agreement. But
Watson did say he was told officials believed the Police
Department was in "good shape."
Several other residents, including
current City Treasurer Victor Robinette, then spoke up during
open session at that meeting. At a Dec. 16 meeting, City Clerk
Sally Kilby also addressed the council during public comments,
urging them to retain the police chief.
No
residents spoke against him. Watson was hired in
January 2002, after spending 28 years in the Los Angeles Police
Department.
The crime rate has dropped 21
percent in South Pasadena since Watson took over as chief.
Several
residents expressed frustration that city officials were not
explaining their reasons for not renewing Watson's contract.
UPDATED :
January 1, 2010
LOS ANGELES COUNTY -
As walls of flame from the massive Station blaze closed in on
their remote compound, the mission of the crews at Fire Camp 16
suddenly changed from protecting their corner of the Angeles
National Forest to saving their own lives. Two Los Angeles
County firefighters approached the front line of the blaze in a
heroic attempt to stop its march toward the camp high in the San
Gabriel Mountains and were killed as the flames engulfed the
landscape. Now, four months after Capt. Tedmund Hall and Spc.
Arnaldo Quinones became the only fatalities of the fire, new
details of the tragedy have emerged, along with unsettling
questions of how and why the crews were allowed to stay in
harm's way, and whether commanders had failed to grasp in time
the danger the camp faced. A U.S. Forest Service e-mail written
shortly after the deaths addresses the hazards of the fire and
refers to the loss of "two people who stayed too long." The
e-mail was obtained by The L.A.Times along with other records
that show that the camp crews were not formally assigned to the
Station operation and thus might have been excluded from the
commanders' broader strategy of defending critical structures in
the forest while ensuring the safety of firefighters. The battle
against the fire was managed jointly by the county and the U.S.
Forest Service. The unusual disconnect between the camp and
those leading the attack on the biggest fire in county history
is evident in dispatch logs that reveal scant contact between
the Mt. Gleason crews and the command center. Experts say that
violates long-established firefighting protocols that require
all agencies to work together on major blazes in the forest,
maintaining good communications with each other and sharing
information about fire behavior, weather conditions and escape
routes. The Station fire logs contain no calls to evacuate the
camp or any effort to send help as the flames raced toward it.
And daily government summaries of the firefight do not list the
camp, a cluster of converted military buildings, among the many
properties that commanders considered imperiled. Rep. Adam B.
Schiff (D-Burbank) and other lawmakers have called for a
congressional investigation. As the Station fire blew out of
control, the county remained in charge of Camp 16 and had issued
the order to protect it, sending two engine companies to Mt.
Gleason the day before it burned to bolster the crews based
there, records and interviews show. The fire overran the camp on
its fifth day, gutting the buildings that once housed a Nike
anti-aircraft missile site.
UPDATED :
December 10, 2009
REDONDO BEACH - K9
Valor, who served the Redondo Beach Police Department for more
than three years, was put to sleep Dec. 2, after suffering the
effects of kidney problems for the past several weeks. RBPD K9
Unit Manager Lt. Todd Heywood said the 5-year-old German
shepherd’s illness and deterioration came as a surprise. Valor’s
partner and handler, Officer Ken Greenleaf, took Valor to the
veterinarian where they found a concern with the blood work.
Heywood said four different veterinarians examined Valor and his
medical charts, and all reached the same conclusion: It was time
to end his suffering. But Greenleaf said the veterinarian who
evaluated Valor last week noted in his charts that his kidney
values were high ever since the department purchased him.
Greenleaf said he will not hold a service of any kind for Valor,
and Heywood said such events are few and far between, often only
taking place for K9 officers who have died in the line of duty.
What to do with Valor’s remains will be left up to Greenleaf and
his family, who kept Valor as their pet during off-duty hours.
Valor was born “Rojben” in October 2004 in Czechoslovakia,
according the RBPD Web site. He became a member of the K9 team
on Feb. 6, 2006, when Greenleaf renamed him “Valor.” Though only
with the force for a little more than three years, Valor seized
more than $100,000 in cash and property, located countless
amounts of illegal narcotics and apprehended dozens of criminal
suspects. He also was a seven-time champion in the canine skills
Trial Championships, won a Narcotics Championship and garnered
four gold medals in the World Police and Fire Games in
Vancouver. Valor was stabbed twice in the neck by Jimmie Divo
Lunceford, a Lawndale man Valor apprehended in July 2007. Valor
underwent an hour-long surgery to repair the damage, and
Lunceford was sentenced to the maximum five years and eight
months in prison. He initially was wanted for making criminal
threats to his ex-girlfriend’s two adult daughters. According to
the RBPD Web site, Lunceford was trying to get officers to kill
him when Valor was deployed, likely saving Lunceford’s life.
For those who would like to contribute to the RBPD K9 team,
donations may be sent to Lt. Todd Heywood, c/o Redondo Beach
Police Department, 401 Diamond St., Redondo Beach, CA 90277.
UPDATED :
November 25, 2009
BURBANK
- The chief of the Burbank Police Department
announced Monday that he is stepping down, a month after the FBI
revealed it was investigating several current and former
officers at the agency. Tim Stehr, 51, who became chief in 2007,
made his announcement in a statement released by the city. He
did not give a reason for his resignation. Stehr's retirement
comes nearly a week after he was bitterly criticized by the
family of a Burbank police sergeant who took his own life and by
other officers who blamed the chief and other city officials for
the death, saying the sergeant was the victim of retaliation for
defending fellow officers. In September, FBI officials confirmed
that they are investigating possible civil rights violations
alleged by officers at the department. Additionally, at least
seven lawsuits have been filed by officers against the
department, alleging a pattern of racial discrimination and
retaliation, as well as unlawful demotions or firings. Officials
said the city had begun its own investigation of the department
long before the suits were filed and asked the L.A. County
Sheriff's Department to open an independent review of the
accusations.
UPDATED :
November 4, 2009
LOS ANGELES - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has
selected Los Angeles Deputy Police Chief Charlie Beck, a 32-year
LAPD veteran with strong support from rank-and-file officers and
civil rights advocates alike, to serve as the next chief of the
Los Angeles Police Department. The choice comes at a time of
uncertainty for the department as Beck will be given the task of
sustaining Police Chief William J. Bratton’s hard-won gains amid
dwindling city budgets. Beck, 56, has risen quickly through the
department’s command ranks in recent years and was viewed widely
as the favorite to be selected by the mayor. From his success in
rehabilitating the LAPD’s Rampart Division, which had been at
the center of a corruption scandal, and later as head of the
LAPD’s forces in South Los Angeles, he has earned praise from
police and civic leaders alike for blending a tough stance on
crime with a progressive approach to improving the the LAPD’s
relationship with the public. Beck’s appointment must still be
ratified by the City Council in a vote expected in the coming
weeks, although no serious opposition is expected. With the
department budget being battered by the city’s fiscal crisis and
morale of rank-and-file officers wavering in the face of a new
contract that offers no pay raises, Beck faces a serious
challenge of maintaining the progress of the last several years.
BURBANK - The
family of a 50-year-old Burbank police officer Tuesday blamed
the department's chief and other department and city officials
for his suicide. Sgt. Neil Thomas Gunn was found around 11:40
a.m. Thursday near Sunset Canyon and Harvard Road with a
self-inflicted gunshot wound and pronounced dead at the scene.
Gunn, 50, apparently was listed in an FBI probe into misconduct
by the Burbank Police Department. Gunn's widow Tina Gunn told
the Los Angeles Times that the department's leaders and union
failed to support him against use-of-force allegations,
effectively ruining his career. Along with the FBI
investigation, two other probes are being conducted into the
department. At Tuesday night's City Council meeting, City
Councilman David Gordon requested that Police Chief Tim Stehr be
placed on administrative leave but none of his four colleagues
supported the request. Gunn was a 22-year-veteran and patrol
sergeant with the Burbank Police Department. He received
numerous commendations for his work, including the Ministerial
Officer of the Year in 1992, and two departmental Professional
Esteem awards.
UPDATED :
October 13, 2009
LOS ANGELES - The construction of a new Aircraft
Rescue and Fire Fighting facility at LAX is being implemented
and will result in a facility of approximately 28,000 square
feet with seven (7) apparatus bays. LAFD has said that a larger
facility is needed to accommodate the size, volume, and nature
of emergency response equipment at the ARFF, particularly with
regard to equipment storage areas. The facility will provide
living, admin, and training areas for 14 firefighters assigned
to each shift. The new facility will be located on Coast Guard
Road and will be situated relative to the mid-points of the
outermost runways (Runway 6L/24R on the north and Runway 7R/25L
on the south). The $13.5 million LAFD Fire Station 80 project
received $10.8 million in federal stimulus funding from the
American Recovery & Reinvesting Act.
PASADENA - In September, the city council approved
the purchase of a new police helicopter. The Police Department
has received federal grant funding to outfit this helicopter
with various forms of technology including a FLIR system, an ARS
mapping system, and a digital down-linking system. The FLIR
system is an infrared tracking system that uses a heat profile
to highlight and track involved persons, vehicles, structures or
other objects. Not only is this equipment useful in the
suppression of crime, it is often used to locate lost hikers,
missing persons, and a number of other related instances. The
ARS mapping system links live video images over a GIS based
aerial mapping system, on a single screen, thereby allowing air
crews to mark important images and or landmarks during their
investigations. The digital down-linking system allows ground
operations to view events as they appear from the helicopter.
This equipment is also vitally important during natural
disasters including fires, hazmat incidents, building collapses,
and major traffic incidents.
WEST COVINA - The Police Department has retired
K-9 Quattro.
ALHAMBRA - The Police Department has retired K-9
Eros.
UPDATED :
October 9, 2009
CULVER CITY - Jeff Eastman is stepping down as
Culver City Fire Department chief in less than three months
after 32 years with the department. His father and two uncles
were firefighters in Santa Monica and Los Angeles, respectively,
and their love for the job rubbed off on a young Eastman. Since
starting at the CCFD as a rookie firefighter in 1977, Eastman
has performed about every conceivable task, ranging from
paramedic duties to working as battalion chief and leading
strike teams. Since he began his professional career before
starting a family, Eastman’s wife and kids didn’t know a life
with a husband and father who came home from work every night.
Eastman, who lives in Acton, spends several nights a week at
Fire Station 1 and usually goes home on weekends. But spending a
lot of time at the station allowed him to build a family within
his fire crew. Working and living with his co-workers led to
lifelong friendships with some, which resulted in shared family
vacations, and watching their children befriend one another.
With less than three months remaining before retirement, Eastman
says he is looking forward to one more accomplishment as chief:
the opening of the brand new Fire Station 3. Eastman said he
does not know yet what retirement holds for him, although he
envisions some traveling and tourism and perhaps some work
involving his expertise in emergency medical services. As he
eyes the next phase of his life, Eastman said he would change
very little about the past three decades.
UPDATED :
October 6, 2009
PASADENA - Police Chief Bernard Melekian, who has led
the department since 1996, said Monday he will leave the job and
head to Washington, D.C.
The move
came just after U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced
Melekian's appointment to head the U.S. Department of Justice's
COPS program during a speech to the International Association of
Police Chiefs in Denver.
Melekian
said he had been approached about the job several months ago and
was offered it last week.
"It's
always been my driving purpose to make a difference in American
law enforcement, and I think I can do it with this job," said
Melekian.
The COPS - Community Oriented
Police Services - program's purpose is to fund community
policing projects across the country. Founded by President Bill
Clinton, its original task was to put 100,000 new cops on the
street.
After working for 23 years for the
Santa Monica Police Department, where he earned a Medal of
Valor, Melekian came to Pasadena at a time when the city was
dealing with an exploding gang problem.
Melekian
also stepped in to run other city departments whenever he was
needed. He headed the Fire Department for six months in 1998,
and was acting city manager for nine months in 2008.
Melekian, an Army and Coast Guard veteran, served in the Gulf
War in 1991 in the Army, and did an eight-month stint with the
Coast Guard in 2003.
Melekian will stay on as chief
until Nov. 8, when the city likely will appoint an interim
chief. Although city officials would not say who his replacement
might be, a likely choice could be Deputy Police Chief Chris
Vicino, who acted as interim chief in 2008 when Melekian was
working as city manager.
ALHAMBRA -
As
Alhambra's fire marshal and assistant fire chief, John Kabala
served since 1992 as lead arson investigator in this city of
more than 30,000 residential units and four main business
districts. His career actually began while Kabala, then a
student at La Salle High School in Pasadena, heard about a fire
cadet program at the Pasadena Fire Department and decided to
volunteer.
On Friday, after 30 years with the
city, Kabala retired.
Originally from Chicago, he moved
with his family to Pasadena in the late 1970s, eventually
attending Cal State Los Angeles, where he majored in criminal
justice while continuing to work at the Pasadena Fire
Department. It was 1980, three years after the passage of
Proposition 13, and cutbacks in public safety made firefighting
jobs scarce.
So Kabala applied for a job with
the Alhambra Police Department and got it. He worked in patrol
for a while, then in the detective bureau, where he became an
arson and explosives expert in 1988. When a fire marshal
position opened up in the city's Fire Department in 1992, Kabala
beat out 47 other candidates.
It's his
experience as a police investigator that brought a needed
element to arson probes, which are handled exclusively by the
Fire Department. Kabala also has trained nine department members
in the art of arson investigation.
Kabala
estimates he's investigated more than 75 fire deaths over the
course of his career.
Though he's retiring from public
service, Kabala said he'll continue investigating fires for
private insurance and investigation firms.
EL SEGUNDO -
Considering that the city is facing a $6 million deficit, the El
Segundo City Council’s public hearing regarding the preliminary
budget was quiet, with just one resident questioning the
reasoning behind the high cost of city employee retirements and
increase in salaries. The El Segundo Fire Department, which is
responsible for 68 percent of the general fund overtime, has
agreed to “run-short” of up to two firefighters per shift.
Currently, the department employs 19 staff at all times, meaning
that if one is out on sick leave, vacation or injury, then a
replacement would come in at overtime pay. However, by running
two short, the department would have to wait until they were
down by three until they called someone in for an overtime
shift. El Segundo Fire Chief Kevin Smith, who spoke at the
meeting, recognized that the El Segundo Fire Department was
highly staffed compared to other surrounding cities. The
staff is double that of Manhattan Beach, which has a staff of
nine firefighters on duty at one time and more than triple of
that of Hermosa Beach ( a similar size city), which has a staff
of six at any given time. So why does
the El Segundo Fire Department have 19 full-time staff, with an
average salary of $150,000? Previous to the new contract, both
police and fire had been given a five-year contract from
2003-08, put in place by the late former El Segundo Mayor Mike
Gordon. The contract enabled a raise in both base salary and
special compensation. Cullen explained that this resulted in a
38-percent growth in salary payout over that period. Smith said
running two short will have a minimal impact and added that in
terms of structure fires, the city experiences an average of
less than one per year.
UPDATED :
September 25, 2009
WHITTIER - Drivers riding on the Pomona (60) Freeway
probably saw a lot California Highway Patrol Officer David
Romero during his 15 years patrolling the beat.
But, due to a man who was driving
high on methamphetamine, commuters will never see Romero again,
only a sign bearing his name.
Romero's family and colleagues on
Thursday at the Caltrans regional headquarters in Whittier
unveiled a memorial sign honoring Romero, which will be placed
on part of the 60 freeway named for the fallen officer.
The David M. Romero Memorial
Highway covers the 60 from the 605 Freeway to Hacienda
Boulevard. Romero, who was
47, was killed Sept. 23, 2005 after a speeding motorist slammed
into the back of his police motorcycle, causing him to carom
across an intersection in Industry and suffer fatal injuries.
The 120-member staff of the
CHP's Santa Fe Springs office, both sworn and civilian, were on
hand, as were representatives of the Los Angeles County
Sheriff's Department and the Whittier Police Department.
UPDATED :
September 16, 2009
SOUTH BAY - Recently, members of the Hermosa Beach
and Redondo Beach city councils have expressed an interest in
exploring the possibility of consolidating the fire protection
services of both cities into one department. The purpose would
be to streamline and improve administrative effectiveness,
eliminate duplication of staffing, improve organizational
efficiency along with adding financial stability and to
standardize fireground operations, while at the same time
realizing a financial savings for both cities. Union
participation is critical in the complicated merger process.
The presidents
of both departments' unions expressed support of the concept
Tuesday, and early informal talks between both departments'
management and unions indicated support from the labor groups.
Officials
from both sides will begin hashing out the nitty gritty,
feasibility and possible cost savings of a merger in coming
weeks, and will present a formal plan to the Redondo and Hermosa
councils for a final vote likely by the end of the year.
Should
both cities decide to move forward with a merger, the first
stage of the process could begin as soon as January, when
Redondo Beach would assume management of Hermosa's training,
fire prevention and hazardous materials programs. Other
elements of the merger would be to take hold over the next three
to four years:
Phase 2:
Training and policy manuals, standard operating procedures, and
other variances among the departments would consolidate in phase
two, deemed the most delicate and labor-intensive portion of the
process. Labor groups would also revise their agreements during
this phase, which could take up to two years.
Phase 3: Likely
to take a year, all personnel would be trained under the
combined operations, procedures and programs revised in the
previous stage of consolidation.
Phase 4: Formal
consolidation would follow,
either during or after training in the previous phase.
UPDATED :
September 4, 2009
MONTEBELLO — The Montebello Fire Department has
been awarded a $7,000 Fireman's Fund Heritage Grant for canine
search and rescue training and equipment. With only 180
nationally certified canine teams across the country, Montebello
is fortunate to have two. The canine teams, along with the swift
water rescue team and the heavy rescue team, can respond to a
multitude of rescue needs including confined space, collapse,
trench, high angle, vehicle over the side, swift water,
landslide and other disasters. To keep their skills sharp, the
handlers, along with their four-legged partners, train three to
four hours a day twice a week in all types of situations
searching through rubble, cement, green waste, wood, asphalt and
other materials. Montebello Fire Captain Marc Valentine, who
serves as a Southern California group training leader, would
also like to use the grant for advanced canine emergency
training. According to Valentine, it takes several years of
training for the dogs to obtain basic certification. In addition
to being available in Los Angeles County, Montebello’s teams
also serve on the Orange Country Fire Authority’s Federal
Emergency Management Administration’s Urban Search and Rescue
task force.
LOS ANGELES
COUNTY - On the fire lines,
a heart can get broken, a house could burn, a wilderness can be
decimated, a life may be lost. Those are the possibilities
firefighters face each time they go out to battle a blaze. But
after a fire is contained, how do they decompress. As it turns
out, a firefighter's heart always stays on the job, said Dr.
Matthew Budoff, a researcher who is studying how stress affects
the cardiac health of firefighters. "Firefighters have a much
higher risk of suffering a heart attack, going to, being at, or
after a fire," said Budoff, director of cardiac care at
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Police Officers and paramedics as
well as firefighters have more plaque in their arteries than
people who do not do these jobs. The current Station Fire has
proven especially stressful, said Los Angeles County Fire
Captain Kevin Klar, and time will tell what the effects will be.
Described at times as out of control and a monster, the Station
Fire has so far consumed more than 150,000 acres of dry
wilderness brush since it began on Aug. 26, forced mass
evacuations, burned dozens of homes and recreational cabins, and
contributed to the death of two Los Angeles County firefighters.
Klar oversees the National Firefighters Association Fitness For
Life Program in Los Angeles, which encourages his colleagues to
stay fit, eat well and take care of their health. Of the 3,500
county firefighters, 10 percent have undergone cardiac research,
Klar said. Of those, 1 percent have continued care for cardiac
disease. Budoff has been studying about 60 firefighters since
2005 and will continue to monitor their hearts using 3-D images
to evaluate the effects of job-related stress. Since there are
fewer women firefighters, his study is focused on men. Similar
studies have taken place in Atlanta and New York. A second part
of his research includes encouraging firefighters to include
aged garlic extract in their diets. Garlic has been shown to
help reduce plaque and lower blood pressure. The ultimate goal
is to find ways to prevent cardiac disease so that less time is
spent in the hospital, Budoff said.
UPDATED :
September 1, 2009
EL MONTE - As of
today, September 1st, Fire Station 167 is closed. The fire
station closure is expected to increase emergency response times
near the station from under 4 minutes to 5 to 8 minutes and
sometimes more in some areas. The fire stations area is north of
Ramona Blvd, south of Lower Azusa Rd, and east of Santa Anita
Ave. IAFF Local 1014
Executive Board, along with LACoFD Fire Department Management,
sat with the management of the City of El Monte for many hours
of negotiations and discussions. Local 1014 and the FD went to
the table with viable solutions to solve the financial problems
of the city in relation to their fire department portion of
their budget shortfall. The goal was to protect the current
staffing levels for the citizens of El Monte.
As late as the last week of
August, the department continued to try to rectify the budgetary
problem for the City of El Monte fire services. However, the
city's management continued to turn a blind eye to the
solutions, thus allowing no option except closure of Fire
Station 167. Squad 167 will move to Station 166. The Captains
and Firefighter Specialists from Station 167 will be
departmentaled and then get preferentials. The
Firefighter/Paramedics will get departmentaled to FS #166 and
then they too will get preferentials. The firefighters at Fire
Station 166 will get the same, departmentaled and then get
preferentials.
UPDATED :
August 29, 2009
LOS ANGELES - Battalion Chief Millage Peaks was
selected by Mayor Villaraigosa to replace retiring Los Angeles
Fire Department’s chief, Douglas L. Barry. Battalion Chief
Millage Peaks is a LAFD veteran of 33 years. If Chief Battalion
Millage Peaks is approved by the Los Angeles City Council he
will have to endure managing the LAFD with its recent 10 percent
budget cuts. Due to the budget cuts LAFD officers have been
forced to limit emergency response times and the situation looks
even graver as there will be 87 less firefighters daily,
particularly in times of emergencies, such as our recent fires.
Besides a budget crisis at the peak of fire season, Peaks plans
on tackling the issue of discrimination within the LAFD. After
Douglas Barry retires his position as LAFD chief on Monday,
Peaks will serve as acting chief of the LAFD until he is
officially approved by the Los Angeles City Council.
UPDATED :
August 24, 2009
LOS ANGELES COUNTY - Coming soon to an L.A. County
Fire Station near you is one of 36 new Ford paramedic squads
manufactured for service with the Department. They are equipped
with an improved emergency lighting package which includes a
full L.E.D low-profile light bar, and L.E.D. perimeter lights.
Audible warning is provided by a Federal Signal EQ2B siren which
electronically reproduces the mechanical siren sound found on
LACoFD trucks and engines. An onboard 12-volt air compressor
supplies the air horns for additional warning at intersections.
On scene lighting is provided by two rear spot/flood combination
lights, and an H.I.D. telescoping light. Improvements include a
larger overall compartment space and a full “roll top cover” for
what was the open center storage area. The rear compartments are
outfitted for standard and heavy squad assignments, with the
current brackets designed to accommodate the new Sperian
“Warrior” 30-minute SCBA’s. Some personnel might be happy to
know that all Ford squads come with manual transmissions and a
new idle enhancement which picks up RPM whenever auxiliary
electrical devices powered by the vehicle are being used.
UPDATED :
August 23, 2009
Effective September 1, 2009, the L.A.
County Fire Department will implement a revised Brush Fire
Response Matrix. The new Matrix will:
- Increase the amount of fire engines on a first alarm from five
to seven
- Add a paramedic squad to the first alarm
- Add an additional battalion chief on the second alarm
- Reflect the amount of fly crews normally dispatched on a first
alarm
- Add a third alarm to the resource matrix
First Alarm
7 Engines
1 Patrol
3 Helicopters (1 with crew)
4 Ground Crews
1 Dozer Team
1 Water Tender
3 Superintendents
2 Super Scoopers (seasonal)
2 Battalion Chiefs
1 Squad (PM)
Second Alarm
5 Engines
4 Ground Crews
1 Dozer Team
1 Water Tender
1 Heavy Equipment Superintendent
1 Helitender
1 Helitanker
2 Battalion Chiefs
1 Assistant Chief
Third Alarm
10 Engines
2 Battalion Chiefs
1 Deputy Chief
Requests for additional engine companies after a third alarm
will be dispatched in a strike team configuration.
UPDATED :
August 7, 2009
LOS ANGELES - Chief William J. Bratton, credited
with polishing the tarnished image of the LAPD and pushing down
crime to historic levels, will announce today that he is
stepping down to head a private security firm. Bratton' wife,
Rikki Kleinbaum, regularly appears on television as a legal
consultant. Bratton, 61, was hired in 2002 by then-Mayor James
Hahn. His contract was renewed in 2007 by Villaraigosa. Crime
has dropped in each of the seven years Bratton headed the LAPD
and he was able to get the department out from a federal consent
decree that guided its operations as a result of the Rampart
Division scandal involving anti-gang units. It was the consent
decree that first brought Bratton to the attention of Hahn and
other city officials. Bratton was part of the team assembled to
monitor the LAPD's compliance when he was approached about
taking on the job as chief of police. He was a well-known law
enforcement figure nationally because of his jobs as head of the
New York Police Department and the Boston Police Department. As
police chief, Bratton brought a renewed stability to the LAPD
and a new direction. Using his Compstat program, Bratton had the
department tracking crime hot spots, looking for trends in crime
and responding with strike teams of officers. He also oversaw
the largest expansion of the LAPD in its history, where it now
has 9,996 officers and is expected to exceed the 10,000 mark
with the next graduating class. But Bratton has not been without
his clashes with officials. Most notably, he has argued with
Councilman Bernard Parks _ who preceded him as chief _ and two
other council members with law enforcement background, Dennis
Zine and Greig Smith. Zine was a motor officer for more than 30
years and he and Smith work as reserve officers. This year, he
became embroiled in another dispute when Smith complained
Bratton was ignoring the City Council on a variety of issues,
particularly the uniforms to be worn by retired police officers
providing security on movie sets. Bratton was among the highest
paid of city officials, with a salary of more than $305,000 a
year.
UPDATED :
August 1, 2009
PASADENA - Battalion Chief Calvin Wells celebrated
his 50th birthday by running all 2,156 steps at the Rose Bowl
and completed the run in 53 minutes on Friday, July 31, 2009.
Pasadena Battalion Chief Calvin Wells has been training with
Stadium Fitness for his birthday run for nearly 7 months. David
Liston, Fitness Stadium Trainer and owner, Pasadena
firefighter-paramedic Daniel Zuniga, Jerry Garcia and Miguel
Yepez completed the run with Pasadena Battalion Chief Calvin
Wells. His quest began at 6 a.m., under an overcast sky. Wells
and a few friends lined up at the bottom of the stadium's Aisle
28. Then the group of five started running, with the goal of
completing the task in an hour. They completed it in 53 minutes.
Wells said he got the idea in January, when he started training
at CATZ, a gym in Pasadena, and working with David Liston, owner
of Stadiumfitness.com. Wells started training for Friday's
marathon by running up and down just one row of stairs at the
stadium. Initially, he'd get winded after completing one aisle.
But on Friday, Wells sped through nine aisles before stopping to
catch his first breath. During their training runs, people
started noticing Wells and Liston running up and down the
stairs. Soon, a group formed who wanted to follow in Wells'
footsteps. Pasadena fire Chief Dennis Downs said his
second-in-command set a great example for others in the
department. Though Wells is approaching the age of retirement,
he wants to be remembered as someone who sees things through to
the end.
UPDATED :
July 24, 2009
BURBANK - Fire Chief Tracy Pansini, a 29-year
veteran of the Burbank Fire Department, was placed on 60-day
medical leave Monday. Battalion Chief Ray Krakowski has been
tapped to serve as acting chief. City officials would not
comment on the nature of the leave, citing the chief’s right to
privacy. Since joining the department in 1979, Pansini has risen
through the ranks as firefighter, fire engineer, paramedic
firefighter, fire captain, and battalion chief. Before being
named chief in Jan. 2006, Pansini served as interim chief and
assistant chief. Krakowski, a battalion chief with the
department for 15 years, has on numerous occasions served as
acting chief.
UPDATED :
July 23, 2009
LOS ANGELES - Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa today approved a plan to reduce the Fire
Department's projected $39 million budget deficit by not
staffing several fire companies and ambulances on a rotating
basis starting Aug. 6. Under the "modified coverage plan"
submitted by Fire Chief Douglas Barry and approved by
Villaraigosa, the department would cut $39 million from its
budget by not staffing one battalion command team, three
emergency medical services battalion offices, 15 fire companies
and nine ambulances every day for the entire year. Chief Barry
said the shutdown of resources -- dubbed "brownouts" -- will
occur on a rotating basis at several different fire stations
throughout the city. The 87 firefighters and emergency personnel
who will be displaced from their normal shifts will staff
vacancies on remaining fire companies and ambulances that would
previously have been staffed by off-duty employees working
overtime. Though Barry stressed the plan would keep all of the
city's fire stations open and staffed with at least one fire
suppression resource, he warned the cost-cutting measures would
increase response times, further increase the workload at
affected fire stations, and decrease the number of fire engines
available for pre-deployment to areas with high fire danger.
Aside from "brownouts," the department also plans to stop
recruiting new firefighters and maintain only one academy class
instead of the current three. On its Web site, United
Firefighters of Los Angeles City claimed the shutdown of fire
companies and ambulances "will result in certain and unnecessary
deaths in Los Angeles." The union criticized the city's labor
negotiators for supposedly offering them a deal "with pay and
benefits reductions so severe and unequally targeted that they
are insulting." The union added that if the brownouts move
forward, they will conduct a public information campaign. The
results of a ratification vote on the city's deal with the
22,000- member Coalition of L.A. City Unions are expected to be
announced Wednesday afternoon. Under the terms of that deal,
city employees will delay their raises for two years and
increase their pension contributions to fund the early
retirement of as many as 2,400 workers. In exchange, the city
offered to give them three cash bonuses and promised not to lay
off their workers. It also protected coalition members from
furloughs except when the city is experiencing extreme financial
hardship.
UPDATED :
July 17, 2009
SIERRA MADRE - With more than half of the general fund
going to pay for police service, city officials have started
shopping around to see if Pasadena, Arcadia or the county can
provide it more cheaply.
Sierra
Madre has had its own Police Department for more than 75 years,
but officials recently have raised concerns over the growing
financial burden.
At their most recent meeting
Tuesday, City Council members authorized their staff to send
query letters to Pasadena, Arcadia and Los Angeles County about
the matter. The letters will also inquire about the potential
costs for fire and paramedic services.
Sierra
Madre's recently adopted budget allocates $3.4 million out of
the city's $19.8 million budget toward its Police Department in
2009-10. That would account for 52 percent of the city's $6.4
million in general fund expenditures.
By
comparison, La Canada Flintridge spent only $2.4 million of its
$30 million budget on its contract with the Los Angeles County
Sheriff's Department last year. That number accounted for 21
percent of the city's $11.4million general fund - although it
was for only 12
contracted personnel, as opposed to
the more than 20 employees of the Sierra Madre Police
Department.
La Canada Flintridge's population
is roughly 20,000, while Sierra Madre's is about 11,000.
Westlake Village, a city of about 8,000, spent $1.8 million of
its $23.2 million budget last year for the services of nine
sheriff's deputies.
Last year, Sierra Madre residents
voted to double their utility tax rates from 6 percent to 12
percent by 2010 in order to boost police pay and to fund
paramedic services.
That tax increase could potentially
be rolled back if the city were able to cut spending by
contracting out some services.
UPDATED :
July 9, 2009
WEST
COVINA - The Police Department will soon lose one its most
valued officers: Quattro, an 11-year-old Dutch shepherd.
After eight years with the department, Quattro - the longest
serving police dog in West Covina's history - is retiring on
July 17.
Quattro, Rocco, and Rambo make up
the department's K-9 Unit, which was founded in 1981.
Officer Pete Gallardo is Quattro's partner.
Quattro
is the unit's longest-serving dog. Rambo has served for four
years, and Rocco has been on the force for one. Quattro has
served in over
500 searches and about 75 arrests.
But the canine is starting to show his age.
Gallardo
said that a doctor recently found cancerous cells in Quattro's
bladder.
The pooch has also lost some of his
stamina in the past year.
Instead
of bringing in another pooch to make the three-dog unit
complete, budget restraints are forcing the department to make
do with just two canines.
West
Covina Cpl. Brad Smith, who trains the canines in the unit, said
the cost of another dog and training is $13,500. That doesn't
include the cost of paying and training officers.
While he
understands the city's budget restraints, he is disappointed to
see they will be one dog short in the unit.
UPDATED :
June 26, 2009
POMONA - The Pomona City Council
this week adopted a $176.7 million operating budget.
Although the city has a budget for
the 2009-10 fiscal year, no one is feeling relieved.
Pomona, like other cities, is now
facing an uncertain financial future linked to the state and its
budget.
State
legislators could adopt a budget that involves taking or
borrowing gas tax dollars, property taxes or redevelopment money
meant for the use of cities.
This week, council members were
able to clear a budgetary hurdle with the help of the Los
Angeles County Fire Department.
City staff had proposed taking a
fire engine at the city's downtown fire station out of service
for nine months to save the city $1.4 million.
However, fire service cuts won't be
necessary due to a change in the payment schedule for the
proposed sale of a city fire training center located on the
grounds of Fire Station 187 on Temple Avenue - to Los Angeles
County.
The
county had agreed to purchase the facility for $4.7 million and
pay it off over a five-year period. Now the county agreed to pay
the city for the facility within a two-year period.
Under that payment schedule, the
city will receive enough money to avert fire service reductions,
plus the $950,000 that it was expecting this year for the sale
and $359,000 that will be used to make budget adjustments during
the year or to reverse some cuts.
As part of budget discussions,
Councilwoman Paula Lantz pressed to have two community service
officer positions in the Police Department's crime prevention
unit reinstated.
Councilwoman Cristina Carrizosa proposed using money from the
Police Department's overtime budget to cover the more than
$111,400 it would cost to fund the two community services
officers.
Carrizosa
went on to say the police overtime budget could be reduced by
more than $800,000, saying a large part of the city's funds go
to public safety.
Lantz
said she couldn't support additional cuts to the department's
overtime budget.
The
Police Department reduced overtime costs to $2.9 million during
the current fiscal year, which is about $1 million less than was
spent in the 2007-08 fiscal year.
The council agreed to tap the
overtime fund for $111,000 to fund the two community service
officers for crime prevention, plus another $389,000 to be set
aside in a contingency fund in case the Police Department needs
it later and the city manager approves.
UPDATED :
June 9, 2009
TORRANCE
- The City of Torrance proposes to close a $4.5 million deficit
in the next fiscal year by raising fees, imposing modest cuts to
programs and redeploying personnel.
The actions,
which include 2 percent to 4 percent cuts in most departments,
will also solve an $8 million to $10 million deficit forecast
through the end of the 2013-14 fiscal year.
However, no
layoffs are planned and expenditures in the city's $173.5
million operating budget, which pays for the ongoing costs of
such essential services as fire and police, are actually
projected to rise 2.5 percent next fiscal year.
That will be
accomplished in part by boosting fees to bring in an additional
$870,000 and imposing cuts of almost $3 million. General fund
revenues are projected to rise 1.6 percent. The
police and fire departments are currently looking at budget
reductions of about 1.2 percent, a much lower figure than
others.
Cuts of 2 percent approved so far -
including not filling four vacant jobs - will save $830,000 in
the general fund budget. The city will also tap $620,000 in cash
reserves.
Larger, permanent organizational
changes are proposed in some departments to control costs.
Efficiencies
within the Police Department - essentially having civilians
perform duties now done by more expensive sworn personnel -
would save just over $700,000 a year.
In the past 12
months or so, about a dozen positions formerly filled by police
officers have been switched to civilians.
The department
also considered, but is not recommending, the elimination or
reduction of animal control and school crossing guard programs.
The Fire Department is similarly proposing some changes to save
money.
That includes reducing the Fire
Department's Hazardous Materials Response Team from nine to five
members through attrition to save $179,000 a year and sending
one fire engine instead of two to automatic fire alarms between
8 a.m. and 8 p.m. to save $23,000 annually.
UPDATED :
April 24, 2009
A Los Angeles City Council committee Monday supported a move by
the LAPD to change the rules governing when police officers can
use a squad car's lights and sirens to speed through traffic.
When dispatched to an emergency, officers respond "Code 3" -- a
status that under state law allows them to break traffic laws as
long as they use their lights and siren and show regard for the
safety of other drivers. The Los Angeles Police Department has
long followed an unusually strict policy that, generally
speaking, only one patrol car per emergency is dispatched Code
3. To skirt the rules, officers commonly drove "Code 2 1/2 ," an
off-the-books practice of racing to a call without lights or
sirens to warn other drivers. The unsanctioned practice has been
responsible for some of the worst officer-involved traffic
collisions, costing the city more than $11 million since 2006.
The new policy would give officers in the field the discretion
to decide whether to respond Code 3. But after being approved by
the civilian panel that oversees the LAPD, the proposed changes
were thrown into limbo last week when the City Council took the
rare step of exercising its right to assert authority over
police issues. Opposition to the new policy was led by
Councilman Bernard C. Parks, a former LAPD chief, who raised
concerns that it would lead to chaotic situations on city
streets and more accidents. The council's four-member Public
Safety Committee voted 3 to 1 to support the LAPD's proposed
policy. Parks was the lone dissenting voice after Councilman
Dennis Zine, also a former officer, backed away from initial
concerns to join Councilmen Jack Weiss and Greig Smith in
support of the policy.
UPDATED :
April 22, 2009
GLENDALE - The Glendale Police Department is
testing a three-way helicopter patrol system with Burbank and
Pasadena, seeking to improve efficiency as the city scrambles to
trim its budget. The Burbank and Glendale police departments,
which formed a helicopter partnership two years ago, say their
joint venture has been a success and are pooling their
helicopter resources with the Pasadena Police Department on a
trial basis. After the initial success of sharing a three-city
patrol area two days a week between November and January, they
are now taking the program four days week. Bob Mulhall, Captain
of Pasadena Police Air Operations said his force’s top priority
is to improve service rather than to save money, but the effort
has already paid off for the other two cities. After being
formalized in May 2007, the joint program between the Burbank
and Glendale police departments has saved Glendale $300,000 and
Burbank $375,000 in annual costs. The Pasadena Police Department
approached Burbank and Glendale about joining the partnership in
2008. Because Glendale and Burbank border each other, the
two-city partnership has already cut flight time and fuel. Not
factored into the coverage area are the other cities Pasadena’s
five police helicopters also service: San Marino, Alhambra,
Arcadia, Sierra Madre, Monrovia, West Covina, Glendora and La
Verne. Pasadena contracts out to these cities as part of the
Foothill Air Support Team. Pasadena would not need air support
assistance from Glendale and Burbank for that contract, since
the city devotes only one helicopter to it at any given time.
The main use of the police helicopters is to support police
operations, such as traffic enforcement, and serve as an
observation platform for wildfires. The money from a three-city
helicopter program would be very useful, because all three
police departments are understaffed. Glendale has 1.2 police
officers per every 1,000 people. Burbank has 1.5 police officers
per 1,000 people. Pasadena has 1.8 police officers per 1,000
people.
UPDATED :
April 20, 2009
LOS
ANGELES - Overtime pay for the Los Angeles Fire
Department soared 60 percent over the last decade while its
ranks grew just 17 percent, but there is no real effort to rein
in the expense despite the city's budget crisis.
An analysis by
the Los Angeles Daily News found that Los Angeles firefighters
now average six times more overtime than their counterparts in
Chicago, five times more than in Houston and two times more than
in San Diego - a city that has roughly the same ratio of
firefighters to residents as Los Angeles. The analysis found
that fifty-six
firefighters earned at least $100,000 in overtime on top of
their annual salaries last year, up from three in 1999 and 10 in
2005.
The average Los Angeles firefighter
earned about $36,500 in overtime in 2008, compared with $29,000
in 1999. Their average salary and overtime compensation totaled
$117,000.
The department's top earner racked
up a total of $570,276 in overtime in the last three years,
including $206,685 in 2006. His three-year overtime total was
nearly double his base salary for that period.
Over the past
10 years, the Fire Department has increased its staffing by 17
percent to 3,586 firefighters, as the city and its needs have
grown. Nevertheless, officials
and union
leaders say, massive amounts of overtime are still needed.
One reason is that National Fire Protection Association
guidelines require the department to staff 1,104 positions at
the city's 106 fire stations around the clock.
Then there are
the 120 vacancies on the force - positions that intentionally
have been left unfilled.
In the long run, officials say, it
is cheaper to pay overtime than to hire more firefighters, whose
annual salary, benefits and training add up to at least $100,000
each.
But taxpayer advocates call the
ballooning overtime bill a "racket" designed to enrich
firefighters at taxpayer expense. Even a recently retired LAFD
captain said the staffing system needs to be overhauled.
The Los
Angeles County Fire Department, for instance, assigns three
firefighters to each engine, while the city agency requires four
on a rig that is the same size.
Even cities
like San Diego - which, like Los Angeles, requires four
firefighters per rig and has roughly one firefighter per 1,100
residents - operate with significantly less overtime.
And
while the vast majority of L.A.'s calls are for medical
emergencies rather than fires, just one-fifth of city
firefighters are cross-trained as paramedics.
Barry said he
is looking at ways to trim overtime costs incurred by
firefighters deployed to ensure public safety at marches, awards
shows and other events - but those account for only a fraction
of overtime expenses.
Apart from trying to reduce
overtime at these events, however, the department has not been
given any directive from the city to reduce overtime costs.
In all but one of the last 10 years, overtime increased annually
in the department. Last year, the LAFD paid $139 million in
overtime, up from $86 million in 1999. Today, nearly a quarter
of the department's $562 million budget goes toward overtime.
In this database,
you can search for firefighters by name to see how much they've
earned in overtime over the last decade.
UPDATED :
April 9, 2009
LA HABRA – A woman was killed Sunday when the
vehicle she was in collided with an on-duty police car in La
Habra. A La Habra police car traveling north on Euclid Street
collided around 5 p.m. with the vehicle – a 2004 Chrysler
– traveling eastbound on La Habra Boulevard. The officer in the
crash was heading to help other police officers who were
pursuing a parolee on foot at the 200 block of Capella Avenue.
The parolee was believed to be armed, and the police officers
there asked for back up. The parolee was later arrested. The
Chrysler landed upside down in the Civic Center's parking lot at
the intersection's northeast corner, within yards of the La
Habra Police Department. The police car ended up on grass
between the parking lot and the street. A preliminary
investigation by the California Highway Patrol has determined
that a police car involved in a fatal crash Sunday night had its
siren and flashing lights on at the time of the collision.
Susanne Antuna, 54, died at the scene after the 2004 Chrysler PT
Cruiser in which she was traveling crashed with the police car.
Her husband, Charles Antuna, 55, who was driving, died early
today. Ray Payton, a public information officer with the CHP,
said the initial investigation showed that the police car was
traveling at about 50 mph at the time of the crash. CHP officers
interviewed witnesses at the scene of the crash Sunday night.
Dispatch logs from the Los Angeles County Fire Department, which
serves La Habra, show that an ambulance left the accident scene
with Charles Antuna about 40 minutes after the accident was
called in at 5:02 p.m. The officer had been taken in an
ambulance one minute earlier. The Antunas were not wearing their
seat belts, according to the CHP. The parolee, Roary William
Gorbea, was in a standoff with police at an apartment in the 900
block of Hillside Street, according to police. The standoff
ended peacefully and Gorbea was taken into custody. Gorbea was
charged with murder for being the precipitant to the cause of
the Antuna's deaths, as well as charges related to his parole
violation.
UPDATED :
March 23, 2009
PASADENA - A man was rescued from his burning
house Sunday morning by a Burbank police officer on duty for the
Pasadena Marathon. Officer Kerry Schilf, a 17-year veteran with
the Burbank Police Department was part of a joint patrol
handling crowd control when he heard a report of a house fire
over the police scanner. Shilf ran to the home about a block
away in
the 1700 block of East Del Mar Boulevard, kicked
down the door, and pulled the homeowner to safety. The resident
was disoriented by the smoke, but had been alerted by a smoke
detector, according to Pasadena fire officials who say that may
have helped saved the man's life. Pasadena firefighters put out
the 7 a.m. fire in 15 minutes. The 66-year-old man suffered
smoke inhalation and his hair was singed, but he refused to go
to the hospital, wanting to stay with his injured pet cats. He
was treated at the scene. One of the cats was resuscitated by
Pasadena bike team paramedics, but three others died as a result
of the fire. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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