El Monte woman found floating in Pacific a possible suicide

Here’s the story, first reported in our sister paper the Daily Breeze by Larry Altman:


Whale watchers on a boat a quarter-mile off Redondo Beach on Wednesday spotted a woman’s body floating in the water.

Police said their preliminary investigation indicates the woman committed suicide.
Sightseers aboard the Voyager noticed the body about 10:30 a.m. Nearly 100 people, including many children, were aboard, Redondo Beach police Sgt. Phil Keenan said.
Redondo Beach Harbor Patrol officers pulled the woman – identified later as Cindy Denq, 39, of El Monte – from the water onto their boat and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but she was already dead.

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El Monte cops worried about budget cuts

El Monte cops say longer response times, less cops on the street and higher crime will be the end result of proposed budget cuts. They took their message to City Hall Tuesday night in hopes of impressing the City Council that no matter how cash poor the city might be it still needs its police force.

Here’s Bethania Palma’s story:

City officials have warned the police department that 14 to 17 officers could be laid off in an effort to manage a ballooning budget deficit. POA officials said Tuesday they hoped President Barack Obama’s signing of the stimulus bill and the possible pending resolution of the state budget could help resolve the need for such lay-offs.

“It’s going to kill the police department and it’s a slap in the face to the people that live and work here,” said El Monte police Detective Eric Walterscheid, the association’s vice president. “It’s going to disrupt the department’s ability to protect the city.”

Some said losing more than a dozen officers could jeopardize public safety and result in a longer wait before help arrives in some types of calls

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Standoff in El Monte — students locked down

EL MONTE — As many as 125 elementary students remained locked down for hours in a elementary school cafeteria while police Friday attempted to coax a robbery suspect from a home in the 4100 block of Gibson Street, authorities said.

Modesto Alcala, 29, is suspected of participating in an armend robbery at a South El Monte motel in late December. Police said the standoff is tied to a similar incident in West covina last week that resulted in the arrest of another suspect in the case.

El Monte police officers, U.S. Marshals, hostage negotiators and a special weapons team have set up a command post at nearby Shirpser Elementary School. About 125 students there have been locked in a cafeteria since 2 p.m., officials said.

“The suspect, Modesto Alcala, we believe is inside the house and has refused to surrender,” El Monte police Detective Ralph Batres said. “He is a parolee at large and is considered armed and dangerous.”

Alcala had recently moved into the neighborhood and was seen earlier Friday with a handgun, Batres said.

“He’s putting a lot of people here at risk,” Batres said.

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Five-hour standoff ends with arrest of teen

A teenager suspected in a carjacking incident held off police for five hours Thursday evening, before he ultimately surrendered in El Monte. Here’s the story from reporter Robert Hong:

WEST COVINA – A teenage carjacking suspect was in custody late Thursday, after leading a standoff with police for more than five hours, officials said.

The boy surrendered about 11:40 p.m. after police used tear gas, according to El Monte police Detective Ralph Batres. No one was injured, he added.

An El Monte police investigation lead police to surround an apartment building in the 200 block of North Grand Avenue where they believed to have located two “people of interest” in a pair of carjackings in El Monte and Baldwin Park and a vehicle theft in El Monte.

When police arrived about 6:30 p.m., one teen boy came out peacefully, while the other barricaded himself inside an apartment, police said

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The El Monte murder room

A woman and her companion who live in an El Monte motel room at the Gibson Inn where a murder was committed recently call the room the “Murder Room.”

This is just one of the things reporters Brian Day and Rebecca Kimitch learned after several tours of El Monte motels along Valley Boulevard. Here’s how their story, scheduled to see print on Sunday, will begin:

With one-third of El Monte’s murders this year at or near several motels, some El Monte elected officials are becoming increasingly concerned about crime near the businesses. Meanwhile, police officials dispute assertions that crime in motels is significantly worse than elsewhere, but do say the motels can be problematic.

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El Monte standoff update*

*The boy was apparently shot in the thigh.

*The boy and the man, described as a male in his 30s wearing army-type fatigues, were seen inside a Rite-Aid drug store where they attempted to buy clothes. At some point the suspect got spooked and fled to a nearby restaurant where he barricaded himself and the boy in a back room.

Here’s live police audio from the scene.

What we know is here.

Apparently officers set off flash bangs — devices designed to create a diversion in a hostage situation. Shots were fired. At least one person was taken from the scene in an ambulance. ABC 7 reported it was the six-year-old.

Our story:

EL MONTE – At least one person was injured Tuesday after police rushed into a restaurant where a little boy was being held hostage.

A hostage situation has come to an end after Police moved in on a man holding a 6-year-old boy hostage in a restaurant bathroom.

The condition of the boy and the suspect are not known, but both were taken away from the scene in ambulances.

Police used a flash bang grenade and the sound of shots fired could be heard, according to reports from the scene.

The fire department was also called to the scene.

Police were at the scene of a hostage situation involving the 6-year-old boy who was grabbed by a man with a handgun, officials said.

Around 3 p.m. officers were called to the Santa Fe Plaza, at the 3800 block of Santa Anita Avenue, after a boy was reportedly taken by a Latino man in his 30s, according to Detective Ralph Batres of the El Monte Police Department.

The man took the boy into a nearby restaurant and locked himself in the bathroom with the boy, officials said.

“We believe his armed with a 45 caliber handgun,” Batres said. “At this time they are inside the Tai Pan restaurant and the situation is still ongoing.”

Police do not know if the suspect is the boy’s father.

The restaurant and surrounding businesses have all been evacuated, Batres said. Officers are currently inside the restaurant and would not confirm if they have made contact with the suspect

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Home burglary captured on video and posted to YouTube

We received this note this a.m. with a link to the YouTube video above:

Hi,

For the safety of El Monte neighbors and other area surrounding, I
post a section of this video that I had captured during the invasion
on November 20, 2008 around 10: 35 am.
 
infor: on this day, two hispanic men broke into the home through the
garage door. They took away properties that valued more than
$10,000. They also tried to take the big TV but they gave up after 2
minutes trying unsuccessful. They are in large and considered
dangerous. 

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Program faces challenges in current economy

Reporter Rebecca Kimitch took at look at El Monte’s community policing program in a piece that ran this morning.

Besides noting that the program serves as a model for police departments across the San Gabriel Valley, Kimitch’s story points that the program could be in jeopardy thanks to budget shortfalls:


EL MONTE – It’s not a scene you might expect to see in a police station: an angry teen sits on a couch talking to a therapist in one room, in another, an off-duty officer packs food baskets for needy families, while across the hall a gang member talks to an officer about getting his tattoo removed.

But it is a scene you could find at the El Monte Police Community Services Station. And though not entirely conventional, police Chief Ken Weldon says the station’s services have been key to reducing crime in El Monte.

The station’s programs are so successful they serve as models across Southern California in a growing shift from criminal policing to community policing, according to Baldwin Park police Chief Lili Hadsell.


<snip>

Despite the asserted effectiveness of these programs, they may be the first on the chopping block as El Monte faces a $4 million budget shortfall and city agencies are facing major cuts, according to Weldon.

“Our first line of defense is radio calls – you have to have somebody on patrol and in the detectives bureau,” Weldon said. “My hope is that we will have at least enough left to keep the town clean.”

Officers were optimistic many of the programs will survive with grants or outside funding.

While many of the programs have value in themselves, they play a larger role in building trusting relationships between the public and the police.

“As you open doors for communication, you gain confidence and trust,” Weldon said. “People are going to tell you things when they happen and that is how we solve crimes.”

El Monte’s community policing programs date back to the 1970s when the city struggled with eight gangs that had thousands of members.

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