Crime Prevention

The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved spending $4.75 million on a pilot project designed to combat child abuse and neglect. County officials said they would contract with six non-profit agencies to work with families and local community organizations to address issues such as unemployment and isolation that often underlie such abuse. The project, which is designed to last one year, is part of the county's initiative to help families keep their children safely at home whenever possible rather than placing them in foster care.

The Riverside County district attorney and Sheriff's Department will join forces with the U.S. attorney's office to crack down on convicted gang members who return to the country after being deported, authorities announced Tuesday. Until now, county officials had to wait until a deportee who had returned committed a crime that fell under county jurisdiction to arrest and prosecute him. As part of the agreement, a Riverside County deputy district attorney will be appointed special assistant U.S.

As a wave of high-profile gang shootings continues to rattle parts of Los Angeles, city leaders are locked in a turf battle of their own over who should control gang-prevention programs and the millions of dollars to pay for them. Each side blames the other for waging the kind of political infighting that for years has hamstrung the city's ability to combat some of the nation's worst youth violence.

A conflict between two of the city's top elected leaders over a plan to give Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa control of antigang programs continued Monday when both officials sought legal opinions about oversight of gang services in the mayor's office. City Councilman Tony Cardenas opposes a plan by Controller Laura Chick to shift gang-prevention programs from council control to Villaraigosa, saying such a move would strip away important oversight. In a letter to City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo on Monday, Cardenas said the city charter did not give Chick the authority to conduct "performance" audits of elected officials.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made a splash when he announced plans last week for ending L.A. Bridges, an anti-gang initiative under fire since the Riordan administration for failing to demonstrate clear results. But in dropping the L.A. Bridges programs and shifting the money to his appointed "gang czar," Villaraigosa put off yet again answering one key question: Are these programs, which last year received $13.2 million, successful in quelling violence and keeping kids out of gangs?

A state Assembly committee Tuesday killed a bill strongly opposed by cruise companies that would have placed peace officers for the first time on passenger ships sailing from California ports. The committee voted 2-2 with three abstentions, effectively ending efforts by state Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) to increase regulation of the $35.7-billion industry.

In the last few years, Pico Rivera has burnished a reputation as a city that goes hard after tagging. And much of the credit has gone to Mayor Ron Beilke, who has made eradicating graffiti and punishing young vandals priorities. Under his watch, the city instituted a global positioning graffiti tracking system, bulked up a vandalism enforcement team and began sending letters threatening to put liens on the homes of the parents of juveniles who have not paid restitution.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa rolled out the first stage of his anti-gang initiative Monday, passing over some well-established anti-gang organizations that were competing for contracts in some of the city's most violent neighborhoods. Villaraigosa recommended awarding half-million-dollar contracts to six gang-prevention programs, including one run by Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, targeting children from 10 to 15 years old who are most likely to be lured into gang life.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca has a special interest in supporting two state bills aiming to stop the widespread and rampant theft of valuable metals, including copper wiring and pipes. Sometime around 4 a.m. July 26, thieves climbed the walls of four office buildings in Santa Fe Springs and stripped large air-conditioning units of their copper wires, insulation and fans. One of the buildings hit: the sheriff's Commercial Crimes Bureau.

Betsy Camano squirmed as a deckhand aboard the New Del Mar threaded a 6-inch anchovy onto a hook and showed the youths from Watts and other parts of South Los Angeles how to cast their lines into the Pacific Ocean. "This is my first time in a boat," said Betsy, 17, a lifeguard at the 109th Street pool in Watts. "I don't understand why we have to kill the fish first if we're going to kill another fish."