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U.S. NEWS Saturday 29 February 2020

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Chicago police boost mass transit

presence amid crime spike

By DON BABWIN The department also an- based policing" that has
Associated Press nounced it will this spring helped reduce violent
CHICAGO (AP) — A spike in open a Strategic Deci- crime in Chicago over the
crime on Chicago's rail sys- sion Support Center de- past three years will do the
tem and some recent high voted to the CTA, similar same for the CTA.
profile outbursts of violence to the ones it already has Last year, the number of
has prompted the city's po- in police districts around violent crimes, including as-
lice department to put 50 the city. The technology sault and robbery, on pub-
more officers in trains and centers allow law enforce- lic transport climbed signifi-
on platforms and assign ment to respond to crime cantly.
four detectives to investi- scenes quicker and devel- According to an analysis by
gate nothing but Chicago op crime-fighting strategies the Chicago Tribune, the
Transit Authority crimes, of- based on the data that's number of violent crimes on
ficials announced Friday. collected. the CTA rail system jumped
The announcement by Four detectives and a crime from 447 in 2018 to 590 last
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and analyst will be assigned to year.
Interim Chicago Police Su- the CTA center. They will be And in recent weeks, con-
perintendent Charlie Beck able to monitor in real time cern about passenger
came just days after riders more than 32,000 cameras safety has only grown in
began seeing more police installed on every train and the wake of a shooting in a
SWAT officers boarding bus, in rail stations and else- downtown CTA tunnel that
trains and manning plat- where on CTA property. left one person dead and
forms on the nation's sec- The department said such two wounded. Separately,
ond largest public transit focus will allow officers to a man was shot in the back
system. respond to violent crimes at a train stop near the
The additional 50 officers and thefts far quicker than University of Illinois-Chica- In this Sept. 17, 2014 file photo, two Chicago Transit Authority
elevated trains can be seen above Wabash Avenue in Chicago's
brings the number of offi- they can now. go, and another man was famed Loop.
cers assigned to the Mass Beck said in a statement stabbed at a CTA stop on Associated Press
Transit Unit to 250. that the "technology- the city's South Side.q

Report: Los Angeles deputies shared Kobe Bryant crash photos

By STEFANIE DAZIO Los Angeles County Sheriff's cause of the newspaper's The pilot, Ara Zobayan, clouds when it turned and
Associated Press Deputy Maria Lucero told inquiries. had nearly navigated the plunged into the mountain-
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Au- The Associated Press on Fri- Bryant and the others were helicopter out of blinding side. q
thorities are investigating day that "the matter is be- killed in the Jan. 26 helicop-
whether deputies shared ing looked into." ter crash northwest of Los
graphic photos of the heli- The Association for Los Angeles were traveling to
copter crash scene where Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, a youth basketball tourna-
Kobe Bryant, his 13-year- the union that represents ment at Bryant's sports fa-
old daughter and seven rank-and-file deputies, did cility in Thousand Oaks. The
others were killed, accord- not immediately return re- cause of the crash is unde-
ing to a newspaper report. quests for comment. termined.
The Los Angeles Times re- The Times reported that Bryant and his daughter
ported that a public safety it's unclear how widely the Gianna, whose team was
source with knowledge of photos might have been coached by her father,
the events had seen one of disseminated and who was were honored at a pub-
the photos on the phone of involved. lic memorial Monday at
another official in a setting It's additionally unclear Staples Center, where Bry-
that was not related to the whether the deputies had ant starred for most of his
investigation of the crash. taken the photos them- 20-year career with the Los
He said the photos showed selves or received them Angeles Lakers.
the scene and victims' re- from someone else. A report by the Nation-
mains. Capt. Jorge Valdez, a al Transportation Safety
The source spoke on condi- spokesman for the sheriff's Board stated there weren't
tion of anonymity because department, said the de- any signs of engine failure
of the sensitive nature of partment had contacted from the wreckage recov-
the allegations. the victims' families be- ered from the crash site.