I’m all for news media outlets hitting the streets and gathering up “scoops”, but when there is a possible child kidnapper in Venice, the LAPD Pacific Department needs to re-evaluate how they disseminate information and put the news out to the community. In this day and age of “instant communication”, the LAPD should deliver this news ASAP, and not rely on the LA Times or this website or anyone else.
Quite simply, the LAPD would be a better policing agency if they simply used the tools they have available to them to get information out in a timely manner via their Webpage, Facebook page or Twitter page.
From the always great Robert J. Lopez at the LA Times:
Man tried to kidnap 13-year-old girl in Venice, police say
Los Angeles police are warning the public about a man who tried to kidnap a 13-year-old girl last week in Venice.
The incident took place around 10:30 p.m. on Nov. 2 at Lincoln Boulevard and Milwood Avenue, the Los Angeles Police Department said.
Torrance police released a sketch of a man who tried to coerce a 16-year-old girl into his car last month. The LAPD says the suspect in that incident resembles a man wanted in an attempted kidnapping in Venice last week.
Police said the man approached the girl from behind and grabbed her arm. She kicked the man and ran away.
The man left in a vehicle described as a white four-door sedan.
Police said the man resembles a suspect who was featured in a sketch by Torrance police after an incident in that city Oct. 16. In that case, the man drove up to a 16-year-old girl as she was walking to school and told her repeatedly to get in his car. She refused and he left.
The vehicle description in the Torrance case is similar to that in the Venice incident, the LAPD said.
The LAPD plans to hold a news conference Friday at 1 p.m. at the Pacific Station to provide additional details. Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at (310) 482-6313.
