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The largest antipiracy raid in Los Angeles history occurred this month, according tolatimes.com. The Los Angeles Police Department arrested 10 individuals and seized over $4 million worth of counterfeit goods. The raids began in November and ended on December 20. The raids were conducted by L.A.’s antipiracy task force. Dozens of officers from the LAPD, as well as investigators from private companies, were involved in the raids. The counterfeit goods included CDs, DVDs of recently-released movies such as “Tron” and “The Tourist”, purses, sunglasses, and other goods. Much of the merchandise was seized from vendors and downtown flea markets. Gangs… Read More

Over the past two years, the Los Angeles Police Department has almost finished testing over 6,000 untested rape kits, according to DailyNews.com. For six years, the LAPD has been aware of the problem of the untested rape kits and has been struggling to keep up-to-date with testing the kits. However, no action was taken until advocacy groups and a former L.A. controller publicized the problem. The LAPD then began collecting funds to send the kits to private labs for testing, as well as hiring more crime analysts in spite of a hiring freeze. As a result, only 35 rape kits… Read More

The city of Huntington Beach is considering posting the names of suspected drunk drivers on Facebook because its local newspaper quit publishing these instances and the names of those accused of drunk driving, according to NBCLosAngeles.com. Last summer, Huntington Beach began a tough campaign against drunk driving, including an increased number of police officers focused on drunk drivers, posting names of those arrested for drunk driving, and sending letters to bars if one of their patrons was arrested for a DUI. Huntington Beach has one of the highest rates of arrests for DUIs for a city its size in the… Read More

A violent robbery occurred at the Port of Los Angeles on Sunday, November 28. Investigators believe the robbery was conducted by an organized gang, reports The Los Angeles Times. Allegedly, the incident began when a man posed as a lost driver and then asked a security guard for directions outside a cargo depot. The guard stepped outside his security booth, and two men reportedly struck him in the face. They then allegedly bound and gagged the security guard and another employee in an office. The employees were warned the men were armed and dangerous. Then, several big rigs pulled into… Read More

Adolescents are very impressionable. Unfortunately, the media realizes this very notion, yet fails to monitor materials that profess concepts that may be misconstrued by some young minds. According to the Los Angeles Times, one such incident in Calabasas was emblematic of this very idea. Reportedly, middle school students acted upon a request sent out via a Facebook message. The message declared that it was “Kick a Ginger Day” (with “Ginger” being a term in reference to those individuals with red hair, freckles, and fair skin). The concept was proliferated by the animated, adult-humored television comedy “South Park.” While the TV… Read More

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Los Angeles Country Metropolitan Transportation Authority have joined forces to bring the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign to Los Angeles, according to USA.net. The campaign aims to raise public awareness of terrorism. The campaign was originally implemented in New York City, and has been funded by a $13 million grant from the Department of Homeland Security. The program encourages the public and key transportation employees to see and report any signs of terrorism or crime to the property authorities. The campaign hopes to encourage citizens to tell the authorities if they… Read More

Tragically, a five-year-old boy was gunned down in an alleged gang attack while getting ready to go trick-or-treating, according to The Los Angeles Times. The young boy was posing in a Spiderman costume in his backyard in Los Angeles. The attack is suspected of being misdirected gunfire between the Crips and the Bloods, two notorious rival Los Angeles gangs. The young boy was hit in the head with a stray bullet and died immediately. Although the boy’s house is in the middle of an area notorious for gangs, no one in his family is connected to a gang. Along with… Read More

Members of a crime ring based in New York and Los Angeles have been arrested for defrauding Medicare, according to The Wall Street Journal. It is the largest Medicare fraud operation in history. The crime ring defrauded over $35 million from Medicare, starting in 2006. They submitted $100 million in fake bills, but only received $35.7 million in payments. Experts say Medicare has been especially vulnerable to fraud, although improvements have been made. The criminals used doctor and patient identities to set up dozens of fake clinics across the country that were nothing more than post office boxes. The organization… Read More

For the first time, companies are reporting they are losing more due to the electronic theft of data than from a physical stealing of assets, according to Reuters. A poll of over 800 senior executives showed that electronic theft is usually done by a company’s own employees. Fears over data theft are preventing many companies from expanding internationally. Businesses lost $1.7 million per billion dollars of sales to fraud. China is the emerging market with the highest level of fraud. Ninety-eight percent of businesses in China are affected by fraud. Colombia has 94 percent of its businesses affected and 90… Read More

Many people who have been charged with a DUI in California consider pleading guilty, especially if they performed poorly on field sobriety tests or failed a chemical test measuring blood alcohol content. They receive a .08 or higher BAC reading and don’t see the point in fighting the charge and instead view the case as a “slam dunk” against them. However, if you plead guilty, you are losing any right to present a defense in a criminal trial. In addition, a DUI guilty plea in California can have a negative impact on your driving record or any professional license. Just… Read More