For the last two years, the LAPD has refused to name the officers responsible for blowing up a neighborhood in South L.A., or outline the discipline they received, if any.

Today, @brittny_mejia, @liborjany and @LAcrimes fill in many of the blanks:

latimes.com/california/sto… For doing their job, reporters @brittny_mejia & @liborjany were berated by LAPD & police union officials.

The outrage exposed an alarming ignorance of a free press among top police officials in one of the nation’s largest cities, experts say

My analysis: latimes.com/california/sto…

I leave Uvalde today w/ mixed feelings.

I’ve been covering mass violence for years, at least since I was a @merrillcollege @thedbk reporter and went to Virginia Tech to cover that shooting in 2007.

These things test your faith in humanity. The people of Uvalde revived mine.

1/ The majority of families I’ve sat w/ over my career have had loved ones stolen in shootings that capture little attention. 1 dead. 2 dead. 4 dead. In cities like Baltimore or L.A., it’s simply not rare.

Gun violence is a slow drip in the U.S., accented w/ sudden torrents.

2/

L.A. crime shifted dramatically under the pandemic, or roughly since C.A.'s 3/19/20 stay-at-home order, which changed everything.

This compares YTD crime thru 3/12 for the past 3 yrs -- i.e., the last few pre-pandemic months in 2020 to the same period of time in 2021 and 2022: This is the same data, through 3/26.

As you can see, homicides this year are down 13.3% from 2021, but up 18.2% from pre-pandemic 2020.

Motor-vehicle thefts, which shot through the roof during the pandemic, are up 8.4% over last year, but also a whopping 44.4% over 2020.

In discussion today of a @OIGLABOPC review of discipline cases against LAPD officers found to have wrongly opened fire (spurred by concerns from @MayorOfLA that penalties are too lenient) @lapdcommission members *never even mentioned* that 41% of the officers got zero discipline. The @lapdcommission did motion to keep updated data on disciplinary outcomes online; make Boards of Rights' decisions public when lawful; ask City Atty to provide lawyers to rep LAPD in Boards; and request more info on rare appeals where a single hearing officer makes decisions.

Last night, the crowds of unruly revelers in downtown L.A. after the Rams' Super Bowl win presented the first big test I've seen of SB98 - the new California law protecting journalists in crowd control situations.

I felt better for the law being in place.

Some observations:

1/ When I got downtown, police had a large rowdy crowd shooting off fireworks surrounded. They weren't letting anyone else into the area.

When I showed my @latimes badge at the perimeter, I was directed to a supervisor, who told me I could enter at my "own peril."

In I went.

2/

I’m at 11th and Hope in downtown L.A. in an area LAPD have cordoned off.
People are letting off fireworks.

Police on bullhorns declared an unlawful assembly on a loudspeaker from a truck and told people they had 10 minutes to leave. A man just climbed a street light, took off his shirt and, swung around his head to cheers.

Remember this?

Well, after my request for the body-camera video was denied, I filed another public records request for emails in which commanders mentioned @FilmThePoliceLA.

I just got it back.

1/

https://twitter.com/kevrector/status/1442883793874927619

After @LAPDChiefMoore said he wouldn't use his discretion to release the video in @FilmThePoliceLA's arrest, I emailed the @lapdcommission.

That email showed up in those I just got back, as it was forwarded to Moore. In full disclosure, here it is:

2/

.@LAPDChiefMoore says LAPD bomb squad put improvised explosive devices found w/ fireworks into iron chamber of "total containment vehicle" meant to handle such explosives.

It then detonated the devices, and there was a "total catastrophic failure of that containment vehicle." "Something happened in that containment vehicle that shouldn’t have happened, and we don’t know why," @LAPDChiefMoore said. "We intend to find out why."

La La Land, Election Day 2020: Today’s the big show, just not so much in Hollywood.

With COVID-19 rattling the news industry and broader economy in scary ways, I was fascinated last night when I came upon the following story in this book about my last paper, @baltimoresun.

It’s about how disease shaped the history of American journalism once before. 1/ In the 1830s, almost all of New York’s newspapers sold for 6 cents, which not everyone could afford. Some folks in publishing had tossed around the idea of a penny paper — less profit per subscriber but affordable for way more people — but doubted if it would work. 2/

A longtime LAPD SWAT sergeant has filed a whistleblower lawsuit alleging the unit is controlled by a “SWAT Mafia” of veteran cops who encourage the use of deadly force and call members who attempt de-escalation "cowards" (via @LAcrimes): latimes.com/california/sto… The sergeant alleges he was banished to an LAX detail for telling Internal Affairs about the rotten SWAT culture, and that command staff up to and including @LAPDChiefMoore's one-time chief of staff were aware of the problems but "all turned a blind eye": latimes.com/california/sto…

I'll be at the courthouse today along with @justin_fenton @lukebroadwater @KRichardsonMMA and others.

Prosecutors want nearly 5 years. Pugh's attorneys asked that she get 1 year & 1 day. Her friends have requested leniency.

But it's all up to the judge.

https://twitter.com/baltimoresun/status/1233005132150976515

@justin_fenton @lukebroadwater @KRichardsonMMA I'm in a media room which will have audio from the courtroom where Pugh is being sentenced, and where we can use electronics (but not record). I will try to relay information quickly. Colleagues are in the courtroom, where they cannot use their devices unless they step outside.

Talk about Baltimore and its persistent problems despite claims of huge federal investments here reminds me of this story I wrote in 2016 (baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-…) and particularly of this quote about "putting a Band-Aid on a cut that needs to be sutured." In 1942, before either Trump or Cummings was born and in response to 2,000 black protesters going to Annapolis to demand an investigation into police abuses in black neighborhoods, Maryland's then governor formed a "Commission on Problems Affecting The Negro Population."

Hey MD lawmakers and @GovLarryHogan: Remember how the @mtamaryland refused a series of extremely reasonable requests for me to (not even share but) review footage (or still)s from Mondawmin during the unrest? It's #SunshineWeek - care to revisit the issue? baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/… .@mtamaryland's reason for not releasing footage is that doing so would divulge its cameras' locations & how they pan & zoom. That's despite:

1. many of the cameras already being in CLEAR view;

2. my agreeing to not release the footage;

3. my agreeing to even just view stills.

Remember in *2015* when former Baltimore cop & blackface performer Bobby Berger sold 600 tickets at $45 each for a fundraiser for the officers charged in #FreddieGray's death, before backlash caused the venue to pull out? [Archive pic of Berger from 1982] baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/… Berger, known for impersonating 1920s-40s blackface performer Al Jolson, was fired by BPD in the '80s after off-duty performances drew the ire of the NAACP. He said he organized the 2015 fundraiser bc he knew how it felt to be suddenly w/o a BPD paycheck. baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/…