LAPD Topanga Releases December Newsletter, Announces NIXLE

LAPD Topanga Station has released its December 2009 Newsletter (click here to download from our server).  West Valley residents owe it to themselves to read through it, here are some notable segments that I’ve pulled out of it.

Woodland Hills Neighborhood Council helps out the station:

The Topanga Area Community Police Station would like to thank the Woodland Hills Neighborhood Council for its generous purchase of inert training weapons for the officers of Topanga Division. These training aids will be used to safely practice and train police techniques utilizing realistic,
safe training “weapons.”

DID YOU KNOW…If you live, work or own property within the boundaries of your Neighborhood Council District, you are a stakeholder and we encourage you to get involved! Neighborhood Councils are advisory bodies to the Los Angeles City Council that act as a liaison between the local stakeholders and city government, making city government more responsive to local needs. If you want to make a difference in some of the decisions for your neighborhood and city, start by attending the Neighborhood Council meetings for your community.

Crimes of interest (a must read):

On November 18, 2009, Detectives Foster and Parra were assigned to investigate a “commercial burglary” that occurred near Shoup Avenue and Sherman Way. The business owner had installed cameras in the interior and on the exterior of the building. The surveillance system captured detailed video images of the suspects. Detectives Foster and Para released these images to the public and began to receive information from the community using the LAPD “WE TIP” Network. Due to the outreach and investigative work an arrest of a career burglar was made for multiple burglaries being conducted in the West Hills neighborhood. This is a perfect example of the community and police working together!

Topanga area Patrol Officers Dunn and Hamada arrested a transient in the area of Canoga Park for an attempt rape. The transient suspect assaulted hisgirlfriend in front of witnesses in the area. Officers Dunn and Hamada followed up on multiple leads over the course of three days which ultimately resulted in the suspect’s arrest.

On November 5, 2009, at approximately 0700 hours Detectives Do and Grabe of Topanga’s Narcotic unit conducted a “narcotic compliance check” on a person who was on probation at the 7300 block of Independence Avenue. During the compliance check the Detectives discovered 10 plastic bindles containing cocaine. The suspect was once again arrested for cocaine sales. In addition, the suspect’s mother was arrested for possession of forged government documents. Thanks to the Topanga Narcotics Unit on a great follow-up arrest of a local drug dealer!

In late November, a woman left her purse in her vehicle. When her vehicle was burglarized, her purse was stolen. A few days after the burglary, the suspect called the victim, told her that he had her purse and offered to return it to her, but only in exchange for money and other unspecified “favors.” The victim called the Topanga Station and alerted officers. Undercover police officers from the Vice unit worked with the victim and made arrangements for an officer to pose as the victim and meet the suspect. When the suspect arrived at the pre-designated location, he was quickly arrested by the officers. This vehicle burglary had a happy ending but please, always remember to keep your valuables with you or conceal them out of sight.

LAPD Goes NIXLE (get public safety and community info in real time via SMS and E-mail):

The Los Angeles Police Department has a new way to keep you informed of what is happening in your community. “Nixle” is LAPD’s newest technology that allows you to stay instantly informed of trusted, neighborhood-level public safety and community information in near REAL TIME. You choose the information you want, for the addresses you want, all delivered at no cost, by text message, email and web. Nixle technology sends the messages simultaneously to your email AND in a text message to your cell phone. Nixle will never be used for advertising, so try the service out…it’s free! Register at: www.nixle.com. Click on the blue “register button” and enter your email and cell phone number. Signing up is simple so register NOW.

I subscribed to Nixle to check it out, it reminds me a bit of Twitter.  When you sign up, if you live in Woodland Hills, for instance, it will essentially guess which organizations (which seem to be mostly traffic oriented and various LAPD segments) you should be ‘following.’  I suspect you will want to go to the “settings” and remove divisions and other groups that don’t interest you, or it will be information overload.  On the plus side, it appears that it will only e-mail or text the more serious “advisories.”  Looks like it could be a useful tool for community awareness, as LAPD appears to be using to post breaking crime updates and BOLO (Be-On-Look-Out) alerts.  It’s worth a trial run.

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• Supplemental Link: Topanga Station Dec 2009 Newsletter