Crime Prevention

This historic town, where America's founding fathers plotted during the Revolution and Milton Hershey later crafted his first chocolates, now boasts another distinction. It may become the nation's most closely watched small city. Some 165 closed-circuit TV cameras soon will provide live, round-the-clock scrutiny of nearly every street, park and other public space used by the 55,000 residents and the town's many tourists.

Marc Maiffret used to be a computer hacker. Now he gets paid to break into the systems of Southern California businesses, testing for security weaknesses. His client today is a major Los Angeles auto dealer, which sells fancy luxury cars to celebrities and corporate execs. The head of the company wants to check on the safety of his customer data. It's not an idle worry. Just days earlier, a 28-year-old Miami man was charged by federal authorities with hacking into multiple computer systems and stealing 130 million credit and debit card numbers -- the largest computer crime ever prosecuted.

The number of people who died on downtown L.A.'s skid row has declined by 36% in the last four years, according to city records, the latest sign of major changes on what for decades has been the city's epicenter of homelessness and drug-dealing. Excluding murders and suicides, 60 people died in the skid row area in 2008, according to Los Angeles Police Department statistics. In 2005, there were 94 such deaths.

A key strategy in Los Angeles' battle against street gangs -- the use of court injunctions -- has come under attack by state lawmakers who are moving to strictly limit it. The state Senate has approved a measure that would allow suspected gang members who do not commit a crime for five years to be automatically removed from civil injunctions unless prosecutors can show they remain a public threat.

Los Angeles County's largest fire in modern history led a pair of California lawmakers Wednesday to step up efforts to win congressional approval of legislation that would set up a national system for tracking convicted arsonists. "We as Californians understand the incalculable damage that can be caused by wildfire, which makes it all the more essential that we do everything possible to prevent unnecessary and senseless disaster at the hand of an arsonist," said Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Palm Springs)

Alfred Lomas stood at the front of a bus. "This," he bellowed, "is not a bus!" The driver pulled out of the Dream Center, a church ministry where Lomas directs a mobile food bank. Lomas stared into the anxious faces of congregants and do-gooders, his sunglasses hiding dark, deep-set eyes that have seen more than their share of hurt, much of it of his own making. "This," he said, "is a vehicle of hope!" The bus lurched and sighed into South Los Angeles.

It is a Sunday morning and there is still dew on the grass outside Faith Inspirational Missionary Baptist Church. Already, God has received a standing ovation. The thermometer on the wall claims it's only 75 degrees in here, but congregants are dancing in the aisles, some with their shoes kicked off and stashed under the pews. Their sweat mixes with their tears, and for once in Compton, they are tears of joy. "People of faith!" thunders the Rev.

Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday approved a multiagency pilot program to combat gang activity in four targeted communities -- Duarte-Monrovia, Florence-Firestone, Harbor Gateway and Pacoima. County Chief Executive Officer William T. Fujioka and Sheriff Lee Baca said the plan focuses on improving coordination of services, such as law enforcement, probation and social services, for at-risk youth in those areas. If the pilot program succeeds, it could be expanded countywide.

Three years ago, the Los Angeles Police Department installed surveillance cameras in MacArthur Park, leading to a significant drop in gang activity and drug dealing in an area long considered a hotbed of crime. But as the City Council today considers adding new cameras near the park, police officials concede that much of the existing equipment isn't working and that they don't have the money to properly maintain it. "Some of the cameras work and some do not," said LAPD Deputy Chief Sergio Diaz.

Brian Jenkins knows terror. It's personal. As a university student in Guatemala, he endured harrowing military interrogations because his friends and classmates included anti-government guerrillas. As a member of the U.S. Army's Green Berets, he served in Vietnam and witnessed terrorism up close as a tactic of the Viet Cong. And as a young analyst for Santa Monica-based Rand Corp.