Praise for the Men and Women in Blue : Recent crime-fighting successes illustrate the skill and tenacity of the LAPD

You have to admit that it has been a fantastic two weeks of San Fernando Valley crime-fighting by the Los Angeles Police Department.

The investigative trail in the 1986 Van Nuys murder of Osmin Alfaro, for example, had turned cold and languished for years until it was assigned to LAPD Detective Phil Morritt in 1993. Morritt doggedly worked with the FBI, authorities in Guatemala (where the suspect once fled) and detectives from Long Island, N.Y.

Morritt figured out that the prime suspect in the case had traveled to Long Island to live near his brother. Sure enough, that’s where Morritt and Long Island detectives found and arrested him on April 20. That was a fine piece of work.

So, too, was the investigation that finally led to last week’s arrests in the shocking September, 1993, murder of Laurie Myles. The North Hills mother was brutally shot to death in front of her 9-year-old son as she waited for her teen-age daughter to get out of Bible study class.

According to Stephen L. Cooley, head deputy of the district attorney’s San Fernando Valley branch, LAPD investigators narrowed down 500 robberies to between 30 and 40 cases, based on so-called “follow-home” crimes.

“We were able to make connections between other cases and the killing of Laurie Myles, which led us to focus on particular individuals,” said Lt. Kyle Jackson. “That broke the case for us.”

Finally, there was the bizarre incident in which a motorcyclist decided to add mayhem to the usual rush-hour commute in Woodland Hills last Tuesday. The cyclist ran several red lights, crossed medians and drove onto sidewalks at up to 70 m.p.h. But rather than risk civilian injury and a major accident, police cruisers broke off their close pursuit of the suspect and dropped back as he was shadowed by an LAPD helicopter. The tactic worked, aided by about a dozen citizens who were probably fed up with reckless drivers and eager to vent their wrath on one.

Again, it was good police work, and we’re pleased to acknowledge it.