Subject: Los Angeles Police Department

• Court Ruling Could Wipe Slate for SFPD Accused of Misconduct

  February 25, 2008

• Ain't That the Mayor's SUV Blocking Two Handicapped Access Ramps and Crosswalks?

  One ticket for blocking a handicapped curb ramp? $250. Two tickets? $500. Being mayor and dumping your SUV wherever you like? PricelessYesterday we wrote about how Mayor Gavin Newsom's taxpayer-funded Chevy Tahoe Hybrid gets awful mileage, is only marginally more efficient than a regular Tahoe, and costs scads more. We also noted that a would-be neighbor of the mayor's was rankled by the mayor's tendency, like those featured in Los Angeles police chase videos, to just leave his vehicle wherever.

  February 18, 2009

• The War Womb (Part II)

  June 21, 1995

• Bedeviled by Color

  September 27, 1995

• Go Ahead, Make Her Day

  Angelina Jolie takes on a serial killer and the system in Clint Eastwood's latest.

  October 22, 2008

• Your Friends and Neighbors

  Racial tension, above and below the surface, in Neil LaBute's Lakeview Terrace.

  September 17, 2008

• On Deck

  Something to look forward to in 2008: Clint Eastwood's Changeling

  December 26, 2007

• The Popcorn King

  Rush Hour 3 director Brett Ratner has been called a fauxteur, a womanizer and, worse, over budget. Why you should take him seriously anyway.

  August 8, 2007

• An American (and a Chinese) in Paris

  The third time's the guilty pleasure for Tucker and Chan's buddy-cop franchise

  August 8, 2007

• Tomorrow's Misery Today

  March 28, 2007

• Echoes of the Revolution

  The struggle between Bay Area law enforcement and the Black Panthers is still going on after 35 years

  November 15, 2006

• Ghost World

  True-crime noir goes searching for Hollywood's heart of darkness

  September 13, 2006

• Detective Comics

  September 6, 2006

• Misc. Reviews

  If it's kinda, sorta music-related, we'll review it. This week: Mack Minister on America's Most Wanted.

  March 22, 2006

• Seminal Beat

  November 23, 2005

• Sign of the Cult-Buster

  October 5, 2005

• Aliens Beware!

  Infiltrator takes in NASA Space Camp for kids. As an adult. To save the planet.

  July 20, 2005

• Bullshitting the Lie Detector

  Infiltrator cooks up a criminal past. A PAX TV show absolves him of it. Ain't it a great country?

  May 25, 2005

• Adventures of a Substitute Teacher

  May 18, 2005

• Don't Call It L.A.

  May 26, 2004

• Elf Me!

  Walking in a hellish Santaland

  December 3, 2003

• Reps Etc.

  August 27, 2003

• Reps Etc.

  August 20, 2003

• The Wrath of Gahan

  With the release of his solo debut, the Depeche Mode frontman completes the ultimate rock 'n' roll star trek: Success, Overdose, Resurrection

  August 13, 2003

• This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

  July 30, 2003

• Zoom Lens

  Horror, sex, and music (plus a fillip of radical politics) at IndieFest

  February 5, 2003

• House of Tudor

  January 1, 2003

• House of Tudor

  September 18, 2002

• Heart to Heart

  August 7, 2002

• The North and South

  June 19, 2002

• Memental

  May 22, 2002

• The Perfect Crime

  For 20 years, South American thieves have been stealing millions of dollars in gems and jewelry from traveling salespeople in San Francisco. And no one -- not the cops, jewelers, or insurance companies -- has the slightest idea how to stop them.

  May 8, 2002

• Law of the Bungle

  Sara Jane Olson's attorney would like to say a few words about how her San Francisco co-counsel handled the high-profile case

  December 26, 2001

• Bad Cop, Bad Cop

  October 3, 2001

• The Dilemma of Sara Jane Olson

  With an October trial in the offing, prosecutors had every intention of proving that Symbionese Liberation Army member Sara Jane Olson was a domestic terrorist who helped plant bombs under police cars 26 years ago.

  September 19, 2001

• Punks at War

  Dead Kennedys, Alternative Tentacles, and the lawsuit that threatens punk's most enduring and provocative partnership.

  June 23, 1999

• The Fandom Menace

  Living on the sidewalk for a month. Sleeping with Wookiees. $300 action figures. The new Star Wars isn't just a movie. It's a force that's with us.

  May 5, 1999

• That Sinking Feeling

  June 11, 1997

• Recordings

  February 14, 1996

• Crushing CRUSH

  November 29, 1995

• Paper Trails

  April 26, 1995

• Top Cop George Gascon Meets The Press

  Joe EskenaziIncoming Police Chief George Gascon addresses the sweating throngs of the fourth estate, as Mayor Gavin Newsom looks onThere are two times in life when it's pretty much guaranteed that everyone will find something nice to say about you: Your wedding and  your funeral. It was a little bit of both today in Room 200 of City Hall, when incoming Police Chief George Gascon was given a hero's welcome while his predecessor, Chief Heather Fong, politely looked on -- and was lauded as wel

  June 17, 2009

• 'Three-Ring Circus' Of Immigrant-Bashing in Mesa, Ariz. May Have Hastened New SFPD Chief George Gascon's Departure

  George Gascon, San Francisco's police chief-to-beBy now, anyone even loosely following city government knows that San Francisco's next police chief is George Gascon -- and, if you've been following SF Weekly's coverage, you may even know how he stands on policy matters (and that he sounds a bit like a high-pitched Tony Montana).But it was a full year ago, when Phoenix New Times ran this lengthy but well worth the read cover story, that staff writer Ray Stern foreshadowed that Gascon may have had

  June 23, 2009

• The Outsider

  July 22, 2009

• Goin' Down South? With LAPD's Top Cop Stepping Down, Will George Gascon's Tenure in S.F. Be Brief?

  Hello, I must be going?​When San Francisco's police chief-to-be was introduced to throngs of media members in a rather small, stuffy room earlier this summer, your humble narrator got to ask George Gascon one question. And he gave us zero answers. "How long a commitment have you given the city?" we queried. "This is a great city and I've been made to feel very welcome," he replied. Well, okay then. That question looms a bit larger now with the news that William Bratton, the chief of the Los An

  August 5, 2009

• The Clogged Bus-Only Lane Theory of Policing: Cite More Motorists and the Rest of the Public Safety Picture Will Fall Into Place

  Jim HerdHere's another way of keeping drivers out of bus lanes​In Mexico, a visitor will quickly get the sense that society isn't working quite right when she's asked for a bribe by police. In Saudi Arabia, the same conclusion becomes obvious when a woman is arrested for prostitution simply because she's at a restaurant in a group that includes men. And in San Francisco, a visitor might get a sense that the rule of law has broken down upon seeing motorists clog with impunity downtown's ubiquit

  August 13, 2009

• Friends Worry LAPD Overview of Hugues de La Plaza Case Will Reveal SFPD Bungling -- But No Murderer

  Hugues de la Plaza​New San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon continues to prove that he certainly knows how to make a first impression (other than being spotted around town in baggy shorts and flip-flops). Yesterday, the Chronicle reported that Gascon's old boss, LAPD Chief William Bratton, has agreed send a pair of detectives to pore over the SFPD's files on the Hugues de La Plaza case.De La Plaza, you may remember, is the French dual citizen found stabbed three times in his bloody Hayes V

  August 19, 2009

• Cops: Man Accused of Dousing Neighbor in Boiling Oil Had Lengthy Criminal Record

  ​When San Francisco police followed a trail of splattered grease down the hall of the Rose Hotel to William Pious' room and arrested him for allegedly dousing a sleeping neighbor with a pan of boiling cooking oil, it was not the 50-year-old's first brush with the law. The SFPD states that Pious was convicted in San Francisco on a burglary charge in 1995 and a narcotics rap in 1981, and spent the years in-between -- and perhaps since -- racking up a "long history of counts" in Los Angeles. Poli

  September 10, 2009

• L.A. Police Chief William Bratton Endorsing Kamala Harris for Attorney General

  She's book smart all right...​ Here's the deal: This is a big get for Kamla Harris, the ambitious San Francisco district attorney looking to climb the political ladder. For one thing, Bill Bratton -- former New York chief and outgoing LAPD bossman -- is as big a name as there is in law enforcement. For another, she needs all the help she can get with SoCal voters, who have no idea who she is. Hey L.A., here's a Twitter-ready bio on Harris: She opposes the death penalty, her department's d

  October 15, 2009

• Say Hello To My Little Friend: S.F., Meet CompStat

  Can the SFPD saved by the miracle of computers? ​ Wednesday morning, at the unveiling of the city's new crimefighting tool, CompStat, San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon had the city say hello to his not-so-little friend and implementer, LAPD detective Jeff Godown.Gascon intends to bring Godown onto his command staff to run CompStat, a part-management plan, part data-keeping system that will purportedly help the SFPD spot crime trends. Once a month, the 10 district sta

  October 21, 2009