MORE ON: crime

Daily Report: Public Safety

High-tech plan to block prison cell phones 'unwise,' report says

May 11, 2012, 12:05 AM
A deal between Gov. Jerry Brown's administration and a private communications company to deploy special equipment to block the rampant use of contraband cell phones by state prison inmates is based on a technology that is unproven and could undermine public safety, according to a new report.... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Bike theft on the rise at BART stations

February 8, 2012, 12:05 AM
Jay Fraser knows what it's like to lock a bicycle at a Bay Area Rapid Transit station and return to an empty rack. Fraser is a research analyst for the Administrative Office of the Courts in San Francisco and has commuted by bike for 20 years, 10 of them in the Bay Area. He had a bike... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Increasing use of facial recognition software spurs privacy concerns

February 6, 2012, 12:05 AM
When several armed robberies occurred recently in Lancaster, Calif., police had little of use on the two suspects. Then, a reliable image of one suspect turned up from a surveillance camera. In years past, that still might not have been enough for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Three strikes ballot measure faces public safety politics

November 7, 2011, 12:05 AM
A pair of Stanford University law professors spent months this year writing ballot language to narrow, ever so slightly, California’s three strikes sentencing law. The result is the "Three Strikes Reform Act of 2012" [PDF], which is now under legal review by the state attorney... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

California man caught with 300,000 identities

October 31, 2011, 12:05 AM
A Southern California man was convicted of identity theft after authorities discovered he had obtained more than 300,000 personal profiles. While not the most authorities have seen, it's a large cache of personal information, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Brown. Robert Delgado Jr.,... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Few sex offenders deemed 'violent predators,' audit finds

July 13, 2011, 12:05 AM
The year before California voters passed Jessica’s Law, a broad crackdown on sex offenders, the state prison system referred 512 potentially “violent predators” for examination. By 2007, the year after the law (Proposition 83) passed, that number had rocketed by more than 1,... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

New bill tries to clear backlog of untested rape kits

July 11, 2011, 12:05 AM
Sexual assaults are among the most vexing violent crimes police agencies must solve. Rape cases quickly can descend can into he-said, she-said disputes, especially when law enforcement lacks physical evidence from rape kits. That evidence needs to be gathered in the first 72 hours after an... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Bill could make state 4th to reject immigration fingerprint checks

June 7, 2011, 12:05 AM
California could become the fourth state to remove itself from a controversial federal immigration fingerprint check program, following recent moves by the governors of Massachusetts, New York and Illinois. The state Senate’s Public Safety Committee has scheduled a hearing next week to... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Senate passes stronger penalties for cockfighting

May 25, 2011, 12:05 AM
State legislators voted in support of two bills in the past week to curb cockfighting, an ancient blood sport animal rights advocates say is thriving in California because current laws aren’t tough enough. “The type of elements that this activity draws is dangerous to the community... + read more
Daily Report: Health and Welfare

Seniors at risk of hiring caregivers with criminal pasts

April 22, 2011, 12:05 AM
California seniors can unknowingly be put in the hands of caregivers with criminal histories due to shoddy screening and a hole in the state's regulations, according to a report released yesterday by the state Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes. The report, titled “... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Program fails to stem flow of cell phones into prisons

April 22, 2011, 12:05 AM
A two-year operation to intercept cell phones being smuggled into state prisons by employees has produced modest results and done little to stem the flow of contraband devices to inmates, according to state data. Since 2009, authorities have seized 432 unauthorized cell phones from employees... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Most prosecutor misconduct goes unpunished, study finds

April 4, 2011, 12:05 AM
Misconduct by prosecutors frequently goes unreported and unpunished in California, according to a study released last week. The courts are required to notify the California State Bar of prosecutorial wrongdoing only when it results in an overturned conviction. Meanwhile, 78 percent of... + read more
Daily Report: Health and Welfare

Nearly all nursing homes employ convicted criminals

March 7, 2011, 12:06 AM
More than 90 percent of nursing homes employ at least one person with at least one criminal conviction, and nearly half of facilities have five people on staff with a criminal conviction, according to a report by the federal Health and Human Services Inspector General. Among those convicted,... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Once wrongly accused, man now tracks police misconduct

March 2, 2011, 12:05 AM
California police reportedly committed far less misconduct on average than their peers nationwide last year. Officers in the Golden State averaged 723 offenses for every 100,000 residents, 25 percent below the national average. That detail does not come from the FBI or any other law... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Cockfighting rings widespread in Calif., data shows

February 24, 2011, 12:05 AM
Cockfighting, the ancient blood sport in which armed roosters fight to the death while onlookers bet on the outcome, is widespread throughout California, according to an animal advocacy organization. California Watch previously reported that cockfighting is on the rise here, one of the few... + read more
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