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VISIT ARCADIAWEEKLY.COM
NO. 164
VOL.28,
Federal prosecutors in LA promise increased focus on violent gun crime By Fred Shuster, City News Service
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aw enforcement officials in Los Angeles Wednesday promised increased federal prosecutions of violent gun crime, but denied the new Operation Safe Cities initiative was a response to what critics describe as a soft approach to prosecuting and sentencing by Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón. Crimes involving commercial robberies, kidnappings, extortions and gun offenses are generally subject to stiffer penalties in federal court, where there is no parole, than in state court. For example, commercial robbery offenses charged under the Hobbs Act -dealing with robbery or extortion affecting interstate commerce -- each carry up to 20 years in federal prison, and these sentences can be significantly increased if the perpetrator used or simply possessed a firearm. The Safe Cities initiative aims to strengthen existing partnerships between federal and local law enforcement to take the most violent and habitual offenders off the streets and expand the number of federal cases involving gun crimes, according to Martin Estrada,
U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada, at the podium, addresses the media alongside, from left to right, Los Angeles Police Chief Dominic Choi, LA County Sheriff Robert Luna, Ventura County Assistant Sheriff Victor Fazio, FBI Special Agent in Charge Ted Docks and ATF Assistant Special Agent in Charge Paul D’Angelo. | Photo courtesy of U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California/Facebook
the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles. “We’re hearing the community loud and clear,” Estrada said. “There are concerns about violent gun crime. People are fearful, and we’re responding to that.” Among other things, the operation is designed to educate officers and detectives who typically deal with
dangerous criminals about the process of presenting cases to federal prosecutors, Estrada said at a news conference in downtown Los Angeles that included officials from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the Los Angeles Police Department, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The effort to identify investigations and cases appropriate for federal prosecution is expected to increase the number of arrests, prosecutions and convictions of recidivists engaged in the most violent conduct, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The operation will target crimes involving illicit guns, prohib-
ited persons possessing firearms, or robbery crews that cause havoc and extensive losses to retail establishments, Estrada said. “We have limited enforcement resources, but we can multiply our efforts by collaborating with our colleagues at local police agencies to have the most significant impact on violent
crime,” he said. Estrada told reporters he had spoken to Gascón and the district attorney was “supportive that we’re targeting the worst of the worst.” However, the county’s top prosecutor was not present among the lineup of law enforcement officials Wednesday. Estrada said federal resources would likely be useful to state investigations when, for example, robbery crews operate across jurisdictional lines or when sophisticated investigative tools are needed to develop leads, process evidence or track firearms. New LAPD Chief Dominic Choi said that one of his goals is to strengthen the department’s relationship with federal law enforcement and expand the number of LAPD staff with the knowledge to recognize which criminal cases could qualify for federal filing consideration. “We’re going out and training detectives in each area,” Choi said. “This effort is to ensure the most violent people out there on the streets are prosecuted ... wherever they are committing crimes. Victims of crime deserve justice.”
CA congressional reps urge NASA to commit funds to Mars sample mission By City News Service
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oughly two dozen California congressional representatives sent a letter to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson Wednesday calling on him to commit at least $650 million to an ambitious Jet Propulsion Laboratory-led mission to collect rock and soil samples
from Mars and return them to Earth. The Mars Sample Return mission has fallen victim to budget cutbacks, contributing to the layoffs of more than 500 people at JPL in Pasadena earlier this year. Earlier this month, budget committees in the House
and Senate proposed directing just $300 million toward the project, a 63% drop from the previous year and only a fraction of what was requested this year. In the letter sent to Nelson Wednesday, members of California’s congressional delegation -- including Reps.
Judy Chu, D-Pasadena, Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, and Adam Schiff, D-Burbank -- called the Mars Sample mission a critical program that will ensure the United States is a leader in exploration of space and Mars. “If NASA continues to put forward insufficient
funding necessitating any further reductions in staff downstream and unnecessary delays to the mission, it risks compromising our national leadership with respect to solar system
exploration, compromising our future human missions to Mars, compromising our scientific community’s process for providing independent advice and recommendations to the federal
See Mars sample mission Page 28