Buzzed Driving is Impaired Driving - CA DMV

The California DMV reminds us to designate a sober driver for your group before the drinking begins.

Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving!

@CA_DMV

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month

The CDC reminds us that April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Sexual violence is a very serious public health problem that affects millions of women and men. In the United States, 1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men have been raped in their lifetime and nearly 1 in 2 women and 1 in 5 men have experienced other forms of sexual violence at some point in their lives.

Don't Be A Zombie!

April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month!

Heroin Use Misery Spreads in US - AP

Two recent stories regarding heroin use:


AP - On a beautiful Sunday last October, Detective Dan Douglas stood in a suburban Minnesota home and looked down at a lifeless 20-year-old — a needle mark in his arm, a syringe in his pocket. It didn't take long for Douglas to realize that the man, fresh out of treatment, was his second heroin overdose that day.

"You just drive away and go, 'Well, here we go again,'" says the veteran cop.

AP Story


KABC - Heroin addiction is on the rise nationwide and in Southern California. It can be a deadly high, and young people are the most vulnerable.

"Black tar" heroin was recently seized during a drug raid in Simi Valley. Law enforcement officials say they are seeing an alarming number of kids ages 18 and younger addicted to heroin.

KABC Story


Drug Abuse strikes all ages, communities, demographics, and socio-economic levels.

Find more information at www.drugabuse.gov

What's the Big Deal?

Here's some of the "why" behind the distracted driving warnings.

It's Not Worth It!

April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month

Graphic courtesy Monrovia PD / Huntington Park PD

Are You Totally Unprepared?

The “Totally Unprepared” campaign is a year-long collaborative effort between Cal OES, the California Seismic Safety Commission (CSSC) and the California Earthquake Authority (CEA) that is helping Californians better understand their risk of earthquakes and how to prepare for them.



April is Earthquake Preparedness Month
City of Los Alamitos Emergency Preparedness

Crime Summary

A new Weekly Crime Summary is available for March 23 - March 29.

The most recent Weekly Crime Summaries will be listed on the homepage of our website, http://www.losalamitospolice.org/

Measles Outbreak in Orange County

As of March 27, there were twenty-one confirmed measles cases in Orange County, the most reported by any county in California.  Orange County typically sees zero to one case of the measles a year.  In fact, there were only three (3) cases in total during the five years preceding this outbreak (2009-2013).

Measles is a highly contagious and potentially severe disease, but is one that can be prevented by vaccination.  Health officials expect that the measles outbreak will continue to spread, and remind people that the best way to prevent the measles is by getting vaccinated.  For further information, please clink here to see the press release from the County of Orange – Health Care Agency.

April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month

Cell Phones, Texting. It's Not Worth It. It's Just That Simple

There are plenty of facts, figures and details about distracted driving, but let’s get the plain and simple ones on the table first:

• 80 percent of vehicle crashes involve some sort of driver inattention.
• Up to 6000 people nationwide are killed in crashes where driver distractions are involved.
• Talking on a cell phone or texting is the number one source of driver distractions.
• Texting takes your eyes off the road for an average of five seconds, far enough to travel the length of a football field at 55 mph.  Most crashes happen with less than 3 seconds reaction time.
• The act of talking on a cell phone, even hands free, can give you “inattention blindness,” where your brain isn’t seeing what’s right in front of you.  You aren’t even aware that you are driving impaired.  If you think you can handle both driving and talking on a cell phone or texting, you are kidding yourself and putting us all at risk.
• Want a bunch more good reasons?  Check out the Distracted Driving Fact Sheet.

Distracted driving is anything that takes your eyes or mind off the road or your hands off the steering wheel - especially texting and cell phone use, whether hands-free or handheld. Who’s doing it? Most of us. It has been estimated that, at any one time, over 10 percent of drivers are using a mobile device.

A ticket for $162 for texting or talking on a cell phone is a major distraction to your wallet.
What can you do? Most important, obey the law.  It’s there for a reason.  Also, do your best to eliminate distractions:

• Never text and drive
• Turn off your phone when you get behind the wheel
• Don’t text or call someone when you know they are likely to be driving
• Make a pact with your family, spouse, and caregivers never to use the phone with kids in the car.
• No eating or drinking while driving
• Don’t program your GPS, MP3 player or other devices while driving
• Pull over and stop to read maps.
• No grooming
• No reading
• No watching videos
• Try not to get too involved with passengers
• If something falls to the floor, pull over before trying to reach it.

Some great places to learn more about distracted driving and what YOU can do:

National Safety Council  – Info, studies, tips on distracted driving
Focus Driven – advocates and families of distracted driving victims give you the facts, stories and tools you need.
Impact Teen Drivers – working to share with teens the dangers of reckless and distracted driving through their effective campaigns online and in schools.
Distracted.Gov – the US government’s official website on distracted driving.
No Phone Zone – Oprah Winfrey’s distracted driving website
NHTSA – the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s distracted driving website
AAA – Info, studies, tips on distracted driving

April is Earthquake Preparedness Month

April is Earthquake Preparedness Month, it has been recognized since the April 1906 San Francisco earthquake and continues to be supported by the state assembly urging all Californians and government agencies to engage in education, evaluation of seismic hazards, mitigation, safety activities, and the exchange of information related to earthquake preparedness with other states and nations.

 

Surprisingly, many Californians don't consider themselves at risk unless they live on or near the line of a well-known fault, such as the San Andreas or Hayward Fault. This misconception leaves millions of Californians unprepared for an earthquake.

 

Quick Facts:

• Major earthquakes registering magnitudes between 6.3 and 8.3 have occurred in California every 5.4 years, on average, for the past 200 years.
• The United States Geological Survey estimates that there is a 90 percent chance that a major earthquake will strike an urban area in California within the next 30 years.
• The majority of Californians live within 20 miles of a major earthquake fault.
• Being prepared could save your life!

While California is a world leader in emergency response and recovery capabilities, our responders can't do it alone. It is the responsibility of every individual to take action, get informed, and get actively involved in emergency preparedness.

California Earthquake Preparedness Month
City of Los Alamitos Emergency Preparedness