LA Weekly reports he was taken to the LA County Jail to be booked and processed.  When he was finally able to use a pay-phone to call out, Petrick realized the only number he had memorized was a friend’s cell phone number.   Cell phones, however, are unable to accept collect calls.

Petrick, whose bail had been set at $150,000; said he had no issue in being able to pay for a bail bond.  He did, however, have problems locating a number for Los Angeles bail bondsman.   A phone book was not provided nor was list of bail bonds companies and their numbers posted on jail walls.  He said this situation “effectively denied him the ability to make bail”.

American Civil Liberties Union jails monitor Esther Lim and LA County Sheriff’s Department Spokesperson Nicole Nishida confirm that numbers for bail bondsman are not posted within the vicinity of the phones accessible to inmates. Nishida said this is to ensure that the Sheriff’s Department cannot be accused of “showing favoritism” toward any specific bail bonds company.

Spokespeople for the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, though, said they each have a list of bail bonds companies and their phone numbers posted in common rooms of their respective jails.  Both counties are under contract with a company who provides that list.   Bonds companies pay a fee to the company in order to have their listing included.

Greg Rynerson Bail Bonds has made it easy: remember 8+8+8=24 hour bail bonds for any California jail and call 888-Bail Bond.

Don’t do it.

NBC Los Angeles reported the Los Angeles Police Department Avoid the 100 DUI Task Force said they will be deploying special roving DUI patrols on Sunday, Feb. 5  in communities throughout the area looking to stop and arrest drivers who are impaired by alcohol or drugs. These DUI patrols are, in addition to regularly scheduled patrol officers, all looking for the tale-tell signs of an intoxicated driver behind the wheel.

In 2010, over 10,000 people were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes that involved at least one driver or motorcycle rider with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher, law enforcement officials said.  In California, this led to 791 deaths because someone failed to designate a sober driver.

If you are hosting a Super Bowl XLVI Party, you are asked to:

• Make sure all of your guests designate their sober drivers before kick-off
• Make sure sober drivers’ cars are easy to access when it is time to start driving people home
• Serve plenty of food
• Offer a variety of non-alcoholic choices like non-alcohol beers, soft drinks, juice, and water
• Add the numbers of local cab companies into your phone so they are just one touch away
• Take appropriate steps to prevent anyone from driving while impaired
• Be prepared for guests to spend the night if an alternative way home is not available

If you are attending a Super Bowl party or watching at a sports bar or restaurant:

• Designate your sober driver before the party begins and leave your car keys at home if you plan to drink
• Offer to be the designated driver the next time you go out
• Cover the cost for parking or even pay for a tank of gas
• Avoid drinking too much alcohol too fast. Pace yourself, eat enough food, take breaks and alternate with non-alcoholic drinks.
• Take appropriate steps to prevent anyone from driving while impaired.

The Disney Star will be partying, drinking, and getting crazy with her girlfriends, she told US  Weekly.  In one scene, the coeds even wind up robbing a restaurant as a means of funding the trip.   Although the edgy part is a far-cry from her off-screen persona, Gomez said she was up for the challenge and embraced the role. Viewers should keep in mind that movie-set jails are quite different from what celebrity female arrestees like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan experienced when they were booked into the Lynwood Jail, the Los Angeles County women’s jail.

As far as having concerns about her younger, tween-fans sneaking into the film, Gomez said she’s not worried.  The film, written by Harmony Korine, will be released as independent, she said.  It will be shown globally at a number of film festivals and will be less-easy to access than films released to main-stream theaters.

Production for the film is set to begin in the early part of this year. No word as to if a bail bondsman will be used by the Gomez character.

Gomez first got her start in 1992 when she was cast to play Gianna in Barney & Friends.  Since that time she has stared in Spy Kids, 3-D: Game Over; the 1996 made for TV movie Brain Zapped; and has played varying roles in series such as Hannah Montana and Wizards of Waverly Place.  She has starred in a number of Disney Channel Original Movies and currently has a recording contract with Hollywood Records.  Her most recent single, Love You Like A Love Song is ranked number 23 on the The Billboard Top 40.

The LA Times reported the four-year veteran of the department was survived by his wife, father and sister.

It is believed the officer knew he was being investigated for allegedly having a relationship with a 17-year old girl.   The Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department further stated they believed it was in the “best interest of the public” for the officer to be arrested before the end of his shift.

Department representatives said that information pertaining to the investigation began to “unfold rapidly” and that Covarrubias would have been taken to the Santa Maria jail and booked on “multiple felony counts”.

The shooting is currently under investigation by the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department.

CBS San Francisco reported that 46 of the arrests were for felonies and the remainders were for misdemeanors.  Suhr said that of the arrestees had a warrant for attempted murder and that another suspect had been wanted for aggravated assault.  Another was for robbery, he said.

Similar sweeps are scheduled to take place in the upcoming months.

The San Francisco Police Department consists of 10 substations in two divisions.  The Metro Division includes the Central Station, Mission Station, Northern Station, Southern Station and the Tenderloin Station, which serves downtown San Francisco.   The Goldengate Division includes the Bayview Station, Ingleside Station, Park Station, Richmond Station and Taraval Station.

The San Francisco Sheriff’s Department has a staff of approximately 950 and is comprised of 850 sworn officers as well as 100 civilian staff.  Department Divisions include the Custody Division, the Special Response and Tactical Unit Team, Investigative Services and City Hall Security.

California law prohibits bail bonds companies from making attorney referrals.  The Top 50 Criminal Defense Attorneys Online list was thus created by allowing people to nominate attorneys who they feel are the most influential and have the strongest social media presence.

All nominees underwent a stringent evaluation process and the winners were selected based on multiple factors, including their use of social media marketing and AVVO rating.   AVVO ratings are calculated based on number of years in practice, professional achievements, industry recognition, and disciplinary history.  Company representatives say their ratings are easy to understand, lack favoritism and are completely unbiased.

Greg Rynerson Bail Bonds is family-owned and operated and has more than 40-years of experience in helping people get friends and loved ones out of California jails.  They have offices located throughout the state and have long-standing A+ accreditation with the Better Business Bureau.

The current jail is only rated to house 880 inmates, but that number has been stretched between 1,300 and 1,500 inmates total, at times. This has caused some concern that the new jail will reach capacity quickly. Mayor Dwight C. Jones has promised, however, that the new facility is not going to be “a bigger jail to warehouse more prisoners.” He hopes to move the city forward in different alternatives to incarceration, such as ankle monitors.

Council Vice President Ellen F. Robertson is supportive of these types of actions and asked that the public hold the city leaders accountable for these types of changes.

Robertson said, “I’m glad that today, by choice, we are saying no more than 1,032 in the city of Richmond. By choice today we are making a decision to end the mass incarceration.” She has also been critical of the governor’s public-safety agenda, which calls for stricter punishments for repeat drug offenders instead of using funds to help drug users and prevent the drugs from entering the state and cities in the first place.

With the harsh conditions of the old jail, Sheriff C.T. Woody Jr. called the construction of the new jail a “historic moment.”

The total cost of the proposed project in Tuolumne County Jail is estimated at $48 million. The other counties that applied for the small county category of funding are Kings, Shasta, Sutter, Madera, Imperial, San Benito and Siskiyou.

There is only $102 million available from the state for county corrections projects and the eight counties requested a total of $188 million. The criteria for receiving money is based on how many inmates the counties sent to State prisons in 2010. If Tuolumne is to receive any money, other counties will have to drop their requests.

CAO Craig Pedro is not optimistic about the county’s chances of being granted money this cycle. The state board is going to review each application in March before making its final decision on where to settle the money. Pedro said, “If we don’t receive grant funding this cycle, I can’t imagine proceeding at this time. That will be a decision for another day.”

According to The L.A. Times, in the film, the Los Angeles Police Department, which is trying to overcome failing public trust due to the exposure of wide-spread corruption, is less than thrilled with his street-justice antics.  The public embarrassment he’s become by getting caught,  may be a bit more than the higher-ups can handle.  Harrelson learns he faces potential sanctions and may even be forced into early retirement.

Protestors begin to gather outside his station, politicians and the district attorney’s office start to swarm, and the relationships Harrelson has with his two ex-wives and daughters continues to strain.   Rampart, in true Hollywood fashion, then takes the storyline from bad to worse, leaving audience members sitting on the edge of their seats.

Rampart is rated R, was written by Oren Moverman and James Ellroy. It will be released to theatres this February.

Due to the new California realignment plan, counties all across the state are taking a closer look at their jail facilities. Many of them, like Los Angeles County, are already facing severe overcrowding in the jails. While Santa Clara County does not have an overwhelming influx of inmates, they have other issues.

Jails in Santa Clara are not built to hold inmates for extended periods of time. Cells may have wooden doors instead of metal and walls are Sheetrock instead of cinder block. Inmates have to spend 23 hours a day in small cells because of the lack of rehabilitation programs and secure workout areas. This goes against the whole purpose of realignment: rehabilitating inmates instead of only incarcerating them.

Along with the cost of the expansion, it will cost the county an additional $14 million annually in order to run the facility. This includes the hiring of an additional 119 deputies and jail staff.

Santa Clara County is number six in the line of counties seeking state funding for jail expansions. The state only has $300 million to go around for the larger counties. Eight counties are seeking $100 million from California to build with. The majority of funds will likely be given to counties with overcrowded jail facilities.