Law Enforcement

In the baddest precinct of Mexico's most violent city, Jose Manuel Resendiz is the law. The army officer packs two pistols and a semiautomatic rifle as he patrols the Delicias district of Ciudad Juarez, the bullet-scarred border city that is the emblem of Mexico's drug-war mayhem.

The United States and Colombia are poised to sign an agreement to transfer anti-drug flight operations from Ecuador to at least three Colombian air bases, a move that has drawn criticism here that it will leave the country even more dependent on Washington. Although the deal is not yet nailed down, Colombia's defense, interior and foreign ministers held a public forum in Bogota, the capital, on Wednesday to discuss details of the plan.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is attending a conference in Texas on border security. She sat down with a Times reporter Monday to discuss a number of issues, including the Mexican drug war, immigration detention in the U.S. and legislative reforms. How effective have the new technology and extra personnel at the border been, and what more can be done to target the drug cartels and border violence? They have been very effective because they have been coordinated, they have been targeted, they have been done in collaboration with the Mexicans, which is a change from years past.

Federal authorities and local police agencies raided two Westside marijuana dispensaries Wednesday as well as the residences of the owners. The raids occurred at a facility on Washington Boulevard in Culver City and on Overland Avenue in Los Angeles. Authorities seized undisclosed items and are continuing their investigation, according to a Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman. The names of the owners whose homes were searched were not immediately available. During one of the raids, officers shot a dog believed to be a pit bull, but the circumstances of the shooting remain unclear, a law enforcement spokesman said.

It was just after 9 a.m. when William Mims got busted in a Hancock Park driveway. Slowly, he set down the gushing hose, which lacked an automatic shut-off nozzle, stepped away from the gray BMW he was washing and put his hands up. "Hey, man, I confess. I confess. I was using just the hose" he told Kevin Cato, a Department of Water and Power water conservation officer. "I won't do it again." Since June 1, Cato and about a dozen other workers -- water cops, as some residents call them -- have been on the prowl in search of lawn-loving Angelenos who don't know or don't heed the city's tightened water restrictions.

For years, Donna Lozano badgered the Desert Hot Springs Police, public officials and anyone else who would listen, trying to get information about her son's killer. Henry Lozano, a popular 20-year-old ex-Marine, had been shot dead by a suspected gang member in December 2001 while driving near his home. He was dating the man's former girlfriend and had received threats to stay away. "I wanted answers. The police never called. The officer in charge of the case had never done a murder investigation," said Lozano, 65. "I said my son is dead, and I have no information."

Top Los Angeles law enforcement and elected officials Tuesday acknowledged a recent rise in the number of killings in South Los Angeles and announced plans to bolster anti-gang activity in the area. Speaking at a news conference at the Los Angeles Police Department's 77th Street station, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief William J. Bratton said a task force consisting of officers from the LAPD, California Highway Patrol, the mayor's gang-intervention program and other agencies would be formed to focus on the swath of the city south of downtown.

Los Angeles County is exploring the possibility of requiring future contractors to participate in a federal program that checks whether employees are legal residents authorized to work in the United States. The Board of Supervisors voted 5 to 0 Tuesday to have county officials review E-Verify and make a recommendation on mandating the program for contractors, which could include drug treatment facilities, construction companies and foster family agencies. E-Verify is a free, online program that uses federal databases to verify that new hires are in the country legally and eligible to work.

For years, neighbors knew something was off about Phillip Garrido, the registered sex offender now accused of abducting an 11-year-old girl and holding her for 18 years, much of the time in an overgrown backyard filled with sheds and tents. One neighbor even called 911, worried about children living in the yard. Authorities regularly visited Garrido's home in Antioch, northeast of Oakland, but never detected the presence of Jaycee Lee Dugard, whom Garrido allegedly kidnapped in 1991, or the two blond, blue-eyed girls officials say she bore him during her captivity.

A coalition of advocacy groups sent a letter to President Obama last week demanding that the administration end a program that allows local police to enforce federal immigration law. The program, known as 287(g), deputizes police to turn over suspects or criminals to immigration authorities for possible deportation. Immigrant rights groups said the program has led to civil rights violations and racial profiling. "Racial profiling and other civil rights abuses by the local law enforcement agencies that have sought out 287(g)