SPECIAL ISSUE:
Westside Home & Garden
Century City/ Westwood
October 4 – 17, 2019
Pages 7 – 14
NEWS
CenturyCity-WestwoodNews.com
UCLA Police Release Annual Report Sexual assault, domestic violence, illegal weapons are up; liquor citations, burglary, drug arrests are down.
Photo: UCLA PD.
By Sam Catanzaro
The UCLA Police Department station.
The University of California Los Angeles Police Department (UCLA PD) has released their annual report on the status of safety at and around UCLA showing an increase in sexual assault, rape, arrests, domestic violence, stalking and possession of illegal weapons while reporting a decrease in burglary, motor vehicle theft,
drug arrests and liquor law violations. According to UCLA PD, the 2019 Annual Security & Fire Safety Report is intended to inform the campus community and raise awareness about UCLA’s campus crime statistics, security policies and steps the public can take to maximize personal safety.
The report includes incidents on and off-campus. UCLA PD collects statistical information from Campus Security Authorities (CSA’s) and local municipal police departments; including the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Pasadena Police Department, Santa Monica Police Department, Culver City Police Department and San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. According to the 2019 report, sexual assault increased 119 percent in 2018 while rape increased by 74 percent. While domestic violence only increased slightly from 2017, the 33 cases reported in 2018 still represent a 136 percent increase from 2016 levels. Likewise, stalking decreased slightly in 2018 but was up 150 percent from 2016. UCLA PD Lt. Kevin Kilgore told the Daily Bruin that he thinks more prevalent education about sexual assault has led to the rise in reports.
“There’s a few different points that probably contributed to that increase,” Kilgore said. “And that’s increased education and awareness of sexual violence and survivor rights, both by UCPD and our campus partners such as (UCLA Student Affairs and the Dean of Students.)” In addition, while arrests for carrying or possessing illegal weapons only increased by one case in 2018, they increased 550 percent from 2016 levels when UCLA made only two such arrests. Areas in which UCLA PD reported a decrease in activity include burglary (four percent decrease), motor vehicle theft (48 percent decrease), drug-related arrests (27 percent decrease), liquor law arrests (95 percent decrease) and liquor law disciplinary citations (37 percent decrease).
REPORT, see page 15
LA National Cemetery Expansion Los Angeles National Cemetery to hold columbarium dedication ceremony. By Sam Catanzaro The Department of Veterans Affairs will formally dedicate Los Angeles National Cemetery’s Columbarium Expansion and provide an opportunity for Veterans, families, and community members to see the site and pay tribute to the service and sacrifice of the Veterans it honors. The ceremony, which will include remarks by VA and elected officials, the unveiling of a dedication plaque and military honors, will take place on Saturday, October 5, 2019, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. at the Los Angeles National Cemetery (across the street from the main entrance). Speakers will include a Keynote by the Robert Wilkie, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Randy Reeves, Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs. Ted Lieu, U.S. Congressman, District 33, California and actor and humanitarian Gary Sinise.
The Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration (NCA) recently completed the first phase of its columbarium expansion project at Los Angeles National Cemetery. The cemetery closed to new burials for casketed remains in 1978. The new columbarium is an above-ground, cremation-only facility that will serve Veterans and their eligible family members the Greater Los Angeles Area for decades to come. Construction started in September 2017 for the 4.4-acre project that will include 10,357 niches with an estimated final capacity of 90,854 niches. The first phase of the project includes a committal shelter, restrooms and a gravesite locator kiosk. The columbarium expansion is the first project under NCA’s Urban Initiative to open. “The Urban Initiative improves access to burial benefits in certain densely populated areas to better serve Veterans, their spouses and families. In some of the largest urban areas that VA serves – New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Indianapolis – the national cemeteries which still have capacity are more than 60 miles removed from the service area core,” says NCA. These cemeteries inter a smaller percentage
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of eligible veterans than other large-city national cemeteries that are located closer to its urban core. In most cases, sites that are large enough to provide the full range of burial services over an extended period are not available. VA determined that these cities could be better served by developing space-efficient, columbarium-only cemeteries within or nearer the urban core. The
nearest cemetery for Los Angeles Veterans is Riverside National Cemetery, which is approximately 80 miles away. On October 1, 2019, the National Cemetery Scheduling Office will begin to schedule committal services in the new columbarium for services beginning October 15, 2019. The new columbarium is above- ground, cremation-only.
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