#inspector-general

#inspector-general

The Chicago Police Board on Thursday voted to fire a CPD sergeant for his role in the botched 2019 raid at the home of social worker Anjanette Young.During its monthly meeting at CPD headquarters, the board voted 5 - 3 to fire CPD Sgt.Alex Wolinski.Acting on bad information, 13 CPD tactical officers used a no-knock warrant to enter Young's Near West Side home on Feb.

An audit by the Chicago Office of the Inspector General found that the city's Department of Public Health doesn't fully enforce a recycling ordinance related to construction and demolition debris.The complete findings were released Wednesday and included recommendations from the city's watchdog agency for the Department of Public Health.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

The testimony was alarming.For more than two weeks, jurors heard about deputy gangs, saw their tattoos and logos, learned about their inking parties and listened to witnesses talk about members' alleged control over the sheriff's station in Compton.At one point, a deputy pulled up a pant leg to reveal a tattoo of a flaming skeleton gripping a rifle.

(Ringo Chiu / Los Angeles Times)

In an apparent shift from her sworn statements to the Civilian Oversight Commission last year, Undersheriff April Tardy testified during a civil trial Tuesday there was no confirmed work slowdown led by deputy gangs at the Compton sheriff's station in 2019."The information that I had regarding the work slowdown was all allegations," she told the court this week.

(Patrick T. Fallon/For The Times)

Twitter has suspended the social media account of an anti-police website for violating its rules against inciting violence after a union for Los Angeles police sued the owner of the website that offers a "bounty" for the killing of police officers.The Twitter account @killercop1984 was suspended after the Los Angeles Police Protective League last week sued the owner of the "killer cop" website, accusing him of publishing their photos on his website and putting out a "bounty" on them.

Pakistani police have scuffled with supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan as officers arrived outside his home to arrest him for failing to appear in court on graft charges, police and officials said.
he police operation triggered clashes between Mr Khan's supporters and police in the country's major cities.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)'s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) published on Thursday two reports broadly alleging that mortgage servicers and Mr. Cooper in particular did not meet HUD requirements for providing loss mitigation options to borrowers with delinquent loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)'s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has determined that the FHFA has followed guidance related to conservatorship of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs).However, staff turnover and pervasive record keeping issues have caused a loss of critical documentation, according to a new FHFA OIG report.

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Two Los Angeles County jail inmates who died last winter showed signs of hypothermia before their deaths, according to a new report released by county watchdog officials.The 38-page Office of Inspector General report offers few other details about how the two inmates died but describes a jail system so ill-equipped for cold weather that indoor temperatures sometimes fell into the 50s and inmates slept inside plastic garbage bags for warmth.

(Office of Inspector General handout)

Days after the county's watchdog demanded that dozens of deputies reveal their tattoos and answer questions about gangs within the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, employee unions have struck back with a formal labor complaint as well as a lawsuit filed in state court.

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office has launched a criminal investigation into the behavior of several probation officers seen piling on top of a teenager and bending his legs toward his head in a video first revealed by The Times last week.Tiffiny Blacknell, chief spokesperson for the district attorney's office, said prosecutors "have obtained a copy of the surveillance footage depicting the incident" and will assign a deputy district attorney and investigator to the matter.

A Brooklyn judge accused of making racist and homophobic remarks about court workers, fellow judges and others has agreed to give up her seat on the bench, officials said on Monday.The judge, Harriet L. Thompson of Brooklyn Surrogate's Court, was set to face a misconduct hearing next week.In a legal filing, a top New York judge wrote that Judge Thompson said that being gay is an abomination to mankind and that Hispanic people had a deceitful trait that goes way back to biblical times.

By Joey Roulette and Steve Gorman
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Ground teams at Kennedy Space Center prepared on Tuesday for a third try at launching NASA's towering, next-generation moon rocket, the debut flight of the U.S. space agency's Artemis lunar program, 50 years after Apollo's last moon mission.

"Shots fired, shots fired, more cars, send everyone," a breathless Officer Alec Iurato said, according to a segment of body camera footage released Sunday.In Iurato's body camera footage, he can be heard breathing heavily and exclaiming in pain as he makes his way around the house.The two slain officers' body camera footage has not been released, and the segment from Iurato's camera does not show the ambush.

Chicago's Office of the Inspector General released a report Thursday regarding the Chicago Police Department's enforcement of Rule 14 violations.The city's watchdog agency found the department continues to employ more than 100 officers who knowingly provided false information during criminal investigations.

Brady Torgerson, former president of First Security Bank-West, was sentenced to two years in prison for two counts of bank fraud he conducted between 2019 and 2021 when working for the North Dakota-based bank and Union Bank as a loan officer.Three others were also sentenced in connection to the fraud.

Now that Chicago police Officer Aréanah Preston has been memorialized and laid to rest, we should reexamine the circumstances that contributed to her tragic loss.Chicago's public safety strategies remain mired in the very practices and performance record that have bedeviled our streets since before COVID-19 changed so many other things.

The Senate Intelligence Committee is calling on the CIA Inspector General to initiate an immediate investigation into the agency's alleged mishandling of sexual assault and harassment cases, according to a new letter sent to the watchdog's office.The letter from committee chairman Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, and vice chair Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, which has not been previously reported, was sent on Wednesday, Rubio's office confirmed to CNN.

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

The Office of the Inspector General will investigate LAPD Chief Michel Moore and the department's constitutional policing director over the disclosure of photos of thousands of officers, including those who work undercover.At Tuesday's regular meeting of the Police Commission, Moore said he had issued "deep apologies" for the way many officers first learned of the photos, which were released in response to a California Public Records Act request.

Los Angeles County Probation Dept.Chief Adolfo Gonzales was fired by the Board of Supervisors in a unanimous vote Tuesday, ending a tumultuous two-year term.Chief Deputy Karen Fletcher, Gonzales's second-in-command, has been named the interim chief of the Probation Department, according to spokespeople for Board Chair Janice Hahn and Supervisor Kathryn Barger.

Sexual misconduct allegations mired public schools in Chicago throughout 2022, with more than 25% of the complaints involving allegations of sexual violence, according to a recent local government report.The category of sexual violence received the highest number of complaints in the school system, with the second-highest only making up a little more than 7% of the complaints.

The watchdog for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) says an audit discovered that the temporary policy for endorsement of loans with COVID-19 forbearance activity had multiple compliance issues.The Office of Inspector General for HUD said the department should improve two major areas ensuring lenders follow the outlined policy, and improving its records regarding indemnification agreements, according to a report released on Monday.

In brief A US intelligence boss has asked Congress to reauthorize a controversial set of powers that give snoops warrantless authorization to surveil electronic communications in the name of fighting terrorism and so forth.NSA director General Paul Nakasone told the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board yesterday that the loss of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) would mean American spies would "lose critical insights into the most significant threats to our nation" if allowed to lapse on December 31.

BART Funding for Inspector General (SFStandard, EastBayTimes)
Transit, Other Services, Must Avoid the Doom Loop (SFChron)
How Many People Ride Muni's Outer Richmond Express?(SFExaminer)
SFMTA Plans to do Center Running Bike Lane on Valencia Despite Opposition (MissionLocal)
Making People Pay a Little for Private Car Storage Around Lake Merritt (Oaklandside)
More Plans to Spur Downtown S.F. (SFExaminer)
Human Drivers Hit Autonomous Vehicles (NBCNews)
S.F.

The second community meeting to discuss qualifications required for a new leader of the Sheriff's Department Oversight Board drew the s ame number of participants as the first - one.Tuesday night's meeting was held in District 5, which includes Cole Valley, the Haight and the Western Addition.The meeting, originally scheduled for two hours, was adjourned after barely half that time.

Will Feds Fund California's Bullet Train?(EastBayTimes)
VTA Named "Owner of the Year" (ENR)
I-980 and its "Connection" to a Never-Built Bridge (Transportation4America)
Self-Driving Cars Have People Worried (SmartCities)
Tesla on Auto Pilot Slams into Fire Truck (SFGate)
Driver Goes 109 MPH Through San Francisco (SFStandard)
Driver Slams into Houston Coffee Shop During Podcast (SFGate)
Who Makes the Most Money in City Hall? (SFStandard)
On San Francisco's Inner Richmond (SFGate)
Poetry in the Names of S.F.

A Utah plastic surgeon and three of his associates are facing federal charges for a year-long scheme in which they allegedly squirted around 2,000 vaccine doses down the drain, sold falsified vaccination cards for $50 each, and tricked kids into thinking they were vaccinated against COVID-19 by injecting them with saline, collectively, 391 times.

A man whose cache of illegal fireworks in South L.A. brought out the LAPD bomb squad, whose bungled detonation blew up a residential neighborhood and injured 17 people last year, was sentenced Wednesday to five months in prison and two years of supervised release.Arturo Ceja III, 27, pleaded guilty in August 2021 in federal court to the unlicensed transport of explosives from Nevada to California.

Frustrated with local law enforcement agencies, Los Angeles County transit officials on Thursday rejected their proposals of a new contract to patrol buses and trains and signed off on a plan to explore creating their own police force.The move was a rebuke of local law enforcement that has been the backbone of security for Metro, costing the agency $912 million over the last six years.

The U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy held a hearing last week on whether the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) should be reformed in regard to its mission.Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) used the opening remarks to note that the agency is lacking oversight that's consistent with other federal agencies while taking aim at CFPB Director Rohit Chopra for the enforcement actions pursued since Chopra entered office.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti's first inspector general for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, who was hired in the wake of a massive contracting and legal scandal at the utility, is leaving after just seven months.Sergio Perez is stepping down next week to join the L.A. city controller's office, Perez confirmed Thursday.

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The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy announced this week that it will hold a hearing on ways to reform the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).The hearing, "Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Ripe for Reform," is expected to discuss "the leadership structure, funding, budget, and operations of the CFPB and areas in which reforms are needed," according to a committee memorandum.

More than two years after an alleged Russian hacking campaign exposed glaring weakness in US federal defenses, the Department of Homeland Security's cyber agency has not updated a key agency blueprint for maintaining communications in the event of a major hack, the department's inspector general said Monday.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has asked the state's inspector general to investigate the Virginia State Police's hiring of Austin Lee Edwards, the now-deceased cop who killed three family members of a 15-year-old Riverside girl he " catfished " online.Macaulay Porter, a spokesperson for Youngkin, confirmed Thursday that the inspector general will "undertake an independent and thorough investigation of all allegations" surrounding Edwards' hiring.

Whitey Bulger is taken from a Coast Guard helicopter to an awaiting Sheriff vehicle after attending federal court in Boston, on June 30, 2011.Stuart Cahill/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images Inmates at the federal prison where James "Whitey" Bulger was killed hours after arriving knew ahead of time that the convicted mob boss was being transferred to the facility and were taking bets on how long he would survive, according to a report released Wednesday by the Justice Department's inspector general.

Two men were shot and killed by corrections officers during a fight with another inmate Tuesday at a state prison in Northern California, according to prison officials.The men attacked 68-year-old Anthony Aguilera with prison-made weapons, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement Wednesday.

US government investigators have been demanding and receiving millions of money-transfer records from Western Union and similar outfits.Now US Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) wants an investigation into this bulk financial surveillance.Wyden in a January 18 letter [PDF] asked the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General (DOJ-OIG) to investigate the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) relationship with the Transaction Record Analysis Center (TRAC), a non-profit apparently set up by the Arizona Attorney General that provides federal, state, and local government agencies with money transfer records.

Los Angeles Police Department Det.Luke Walden has been charged with a felony after authorities say he tried to buy a gun silencer from China.Authorities began an investigation into Walden after U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents intercepted a package from China that contained an illegal firearm silencer in April 2021, the department said in a release.