Police

The residents of North Monte Verde Drive, a stretch of oak-shaded suburban calm in the Covina area, normally would feel safe knowing that two off-duty police officers were visiting the neighborhood. Not this time. These officers were far from home -- agents of the Mexican federal police -- and they ended up on the wrong side of a bust, with a fortune in cash that prosecutors say was tied to narcotics trafficking.

With the city of Los Angeles expected to face a $400-million to $500-million deficit in the 2009-10 fiscal year as the national economy continues to sour, Times editors asked 5th District City Council candidates in the March 3 primary how they would handle negotiations with key public safety employees. Here are excerpts from their answers to this question: -- In June, the city's contracts with police and firefighters unions will expire.

Saying Los Angeles' financial troubles are grave and expected to grow far worse in the years ahead, the City Council on Monday approved widespread layoffs and furloughs for city workers but set aside enough money to back away from a proposal to freeze police hiring. The severity of the cuts remains in flux, however, as city officials and public employee unions continue to negotiate possible salary and benefit concessions that could save the city more than $230 million.

Mexican authorities announced plans Thursday to send 5,500 police officers and military personnel to the western state of Michoacan to confront a violent crime syndicate offering some of the fiercest resistance President Felipe Calderon's government has faced since launching its war on drugs 2 1/2 years ago. About 1,000 extra police officers were deployed Thursday before officials outlined the broader buildup.

A Nigerian military official said Saturday that about 700 people were killed in the northern city of Maiduguri during recent fighting between police and a radical Islamist sect. The toll was previously thought to be around 300. Col. Ben Ahanotu said mass burials had begun because bodies were decomposing in the heat. The Islamist compound destroyed last week by government troops is one of the burial sites, he said.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Daniel Raschke realized how much things had changed for U.S. troops in Iraq when his team was politely but firmly turned away from two Baghdad police stations -- by officers he had helped train. "I wouldn't say it was tense, but it was unexpected because they had been so hospitable to us in the past," said Raschke, who used to spend most of his days training Iraqi police at stations in the once-volatile Baghdad district of Dora. He now works exclusively in rural areas.

Rope lines, numbered tickets and walkie-talkies for store employees could help control frenzied bargain-hunters, police said in a report issued after a Wal-Mart worker was killed in a predawn stampede the day after Thanksgiving. Nassau County police released recommendations Wednesday, two weeks after they met with 75 Long Island retailers about how to stage major sales safely. Retailers and police had debated who should take the lead in securing discount-hungry crowds after a Wal-Mart worker was trampled to death.

A 22-year-old man with cerebral palsy spent a frigid New Year's Eve alone on a school bus after a caretaker left him there, police and his family said. Police found Edwin Rivera in a bus yard in the morning. He had been on the bus for 19 hours as the temperature outside dropped below 20 degrees. Rivera, who cannot speak, was being evaluated at a hospital but was expected to recover. Authorities arrested 51-year-old Linda Hockaday, the bus matron responsible for looking after him, on a charge of reckless endangerment.

Police are investigating the death of a man who was found inside a car Saturday morning on Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades. "It might be a suicide, but it is still undetermined," said Los Angeles police spokeswoman Norma Eisenman. Officers found the man, who has not been identified and is believed to be in his 40s, about 4:30 a.m. near Sunset Boulevard, police said. Part of the highway was temporarily blocked as police conducted an investigation. -- Esmeralda Bermudez

Police said a New Jersey man posed as a female animal doctor, ran an illegal veterinary practice and set up a phony rescue agency that may have duped pet lovers out of thousands of dollars. Vineland police arrested Daniel C. Tyce, 26, and charged him with practicing medicine without a license. He is being held on $10,000 bail. Police said he ran a business called South Jersey Small Animal Rescue, identifying himself as Dr. Danielle Smith, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania veterinary school.