Santa Monica Police Department

A man who police say shot his 17-year-old son to death during an argument in their home Friday was arrested on suspicion of murder, the Santa Monica Police Department reported. The shooting occurred about 10:24 a.m. in the 1500 block of 16th Street, authorities said. Neighbors called police after hearing a gunshot, and officers soon arrested David Emile Herbert, 49. He is being held without bail.

Santa Monica officials have ordered an independent review of the Police Department's conduct during an investigation of a school board member who witnessed a fight between two youths. The decision came Tuesday after school board member Oscar de la Torre, a critic of the Police Department, accused the department of pursuing a politically motivated probe into an incident in March next to the Pico Youth & Family Center he operates. After a four-month child endangerment investigation of De la Torre by Santa Monica police, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office last week declined to file charges against the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District board member.

Arraignment is scheduled in Culver City today for a veteran Santa Monica Police Department detective arrested Friday on charges of attempting to murder a fellow officer, authorities said Monday. Linda C. Brown, 36, was arrested at Santa Monica police headquarters by sheriff's deputies after she allegedly shot motorcycle officer Kevin Cummings, 33, three times in the upper body and once in the leg in Brown's Ladera Heights home, said Sgt. Gary Gallinot.

The Santa Monica Police Department on Sunday launched a revamped method of patrolling the beach-side city, a community-oriented approach that assigns officers to a particular beat for a longer period of time and reshapes decades-old beat boundaries. Under the plan, the 8.5-square-mile city of about 88,000 has been divided into eight areas with nine or 10 officers assigned to each, said Lt. Clinton Muir, the program's manager.

The Santa Monica Police Department, plagued for the last two years with charges of discrimination against women and minorities, has adopted new promotion procedures, according to a report released Thursday by the Santa Monica Police Department Steering Committee. One of the key revisions calls for removing "promotability" as a rating factor for promotion examinations.

The Santa Monica Police Department will auction unclaimed stolen goods Saturday. Bicycles, foreign coins, jewelry and golf clubs are among the items that will be sold "as is" for cash to the highest bidder, said Carl Olson, property supervisor. The merchandise consists of 32 bicycles as well as 151 other items, including several laptop computers. No motor vehicles will be sold and all sales are final.

The Santa Monica Police Department predicts a tenfold increase in speeding tickets along Pacific Coast Highway between the McClure Tunnel and Santa Monica Canyon because of the city's new radar. Caltrans, after conducting a survey on traffic and roadway conditions, raised the speed limit from 40 to 45 mph, allowing the city to begin using radar to catch speeders. Police departments may not use radar without an updated survey of speed limits by Caltrans.

Rape charges were filed in Santa Monica Superior Court on Wednesday against a 37-year-old Pasadena man in connection with the early morning assault of a woman jogger in Santa Monica in November. The Montana Avenue rape is one of four sexual assaults in Santa Monica that a special team of Santa Monica officers and FBI agents have been investigating since last fall. The man that police have in custody is not a suspect in the other rapes, Police Chief James Butts said Wednesday.

A Santa Monica police sergeant, shot twice in an exchange of gunfire with an alleged hit-and-run driver in Van Nuys on Friday, has been released from a hospital in good condition, authorities said Saturday. Sgt. Ralph Bauer, a 23-year veteran of the Santa Monica Police Department, was released from Northridge Hospital Medical Center just a few hours after he was shot in the neck and back Friday evening. Authorities said Bauer's bulletproof vest saved his life.

FileNet Contract: FileNet Corp. in Costa Mesa said it has won contracts to install computerized document storage systems for the Los Angeles County Municipal Court's traffic division and the Santa Monica Police Department. The systems, known as computerized image processing systems, are valued at more than $1 million each.

Santa Monica police and paramedics went to the home of actor Owen Wilson on Sunday after receiving a call about an "attempted suicide," according to police logs. The logs, posted on the Santa Monica Police Department website, said the attempted suicide call came in about noon. The logs do not identify Wilson specifically. But Santa Monica Fire Department officials have already confirmed that paramedics and police officers were dispatched to the actor's house Sunday.

Timothy Jackman traces his desire for a career in law enforcement to the first grade, when he tried to discourage a classmate from pursuing a girl that Jackman liked. "I said to him, 'You better not do anything to my girlfriend, or I'll arrest you,' " Jackman, now 47, recalled during a recent interview, laughing. "I also had a police costume with the miniature handgun, handcuffs, little hat and a plastic baton."

Santa Monica police shot and killed a 21-year-old man early Monday near a nightclub after he fled from officers and then turned toward them while reportedly carrying a handgun, police said. It was the third fatal officer-involved shooting in Los Angeles County over the Labor Day holiday weekend. Shortly after midnight, Santa Monica officers were sent to Club Twenty Twenty at 2020 Wilshire Blvd. to deal with complaints of a "large fight," said Lt. Frank Fabrega.

An undercover officer with the Santa Monica Police Department was shot in the wrist early Thursday when a gunman opened fire on his car, authorities said. Officer Walter Ramirez, 25, a four-year veteran, was treated at a local hospital and released, Santa Monica Police Lt. Frank Fabrega said. The alleged gunman, Michael Espindola, 20, of Santa Monica, was arrested on charges of attempted murder of a police officer and being an ex-convict in possession of a firearm.

To the Editor: In his review of "Street Wars: Gangs and the Future of Violence" [June 13], Edward Humes quotes Santa Monica's police chief saying that my version of a 1998 gang truce was "insane." Then Humes claims that I "glossed over" the fact that a gang peacemaker in question, Miguel (Michael) Herrera, later was convicted of murder. It is unethical and unprofessional to quote the police chief without asking my response, but even worse to repeat the police version of the Herrera case without any questions.

More than 290 witnesses have been interviewed and six search warrants served as the investigation continues into what caused a car to careen through the Santa Monica Farmers' Market last Wednesday, killing 10 people, according to a written statement released by police Tuesday. Investigators are still seeking 43 individuals for interviews and expect the investigation to take six weeks. A post-crash reconstruction of the incident will be conducted by the California Highway Patrol.

A group of black police officers accusing the Santa Monica Police Department of racial bias has scheduled door-to-door canvassing in that city today to push for the removal of Police Chief James Keane. Members of the Law Enforcement Officers for Justice will distribute 2,000 leaflets to Santa Monica homes, founder Don Jackson said.

Santa Monica police and paramedics went to the home of actor Owen Wilson on Sunday after receiving a call about an "attempted suicide," according to police logs. The logs, posted on the Santa Monica Police Department website, said the attempted suicide call came in about noon. The logs do not identify Wilson specifically. But Santa Monica Fire Department officials have already confirmed that paramedics and police officers were dispatched to the actor's house Sunday.

The 22-year-old daughter of Santa Monica Police Chief James T. Butts Jr. was arrested Saturday on a warrant for burglary while visiting an inmate at a county jail in Saugus, authorities said. Katrina Michelle Butts was arrested about 11 a.m. at the Pitchess Detention Center on a warrant for burglary issued by the Whittier Police Department, said Lt. Mike Dunkle.

None of the jurors in Malibu realized it, but when they awarded James H. Bell $1.8 million on Wednesday they were also helping his lawyer, Carmen Trutanich, repay a debt--for Bell's saving his life. Bell, a 51-year-old former investigator for the district attorney's office, won the judgment against two Santa Monica police officers who injured him in 1991 when they mistook him for an unemployment-check fraud suspect.