Surge in LA Crime in First Six Months of Year:  Overall crime in Los Angeles through the first six months of the year has risen by about 12 percent, ending more than a decade of consecutive declines dating back to 2003.  Kate Mather and Ben Poston of the LA Times report that violent crime in the city has jumped 21 percent, particularly in the category of aggravated assault, and property crime has climbed 10 percent.  In April, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti faced criticism after announcing plans to double the number of LAPD's elite, tactical metro police officers to swarm high-crime neighborhoods, due to public belief that their presence would "undermine years of progress the department has made in building better relationships with communities."  It is unclear whether the expansion of LAPD's Metropolitan Division has had an impact on the city's crime rates.

Gun in SF Killing Stolen from Federal Agent's Vehicle:  The gun used in the shooting death of a woman walking on a San Francisco pier last week was stolen from a vehicle belonging to a federal Bureau of Land Management agent, sources say.  Sara Sidner and Ed Payne of CNN report that illegal immigrant and six-time deportee Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez shot and killed 32-year-old Kate Steinle last Wednesday as she walked along the busy pier with her father.  Investigators are still determining how Lopez-Sanchez ultimately obtained the weapon, which was the agent's personal firearm, not official.  Note: stealing a firearm valued at under $950 in California is a misdemeanor under Prop. 47, adopted last fall with the high profile  support of San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon. 

Missing Baby's Body Found in River:  The body of the infant, who was reportedly being held by his father as he plunged from a bridge into the Connecticut River on Sunday night, has been recovered.  Shawn R. Beals and Alaine Griffin of the Hartford Courant report that 7-month-old Aaden Moreno's father, 22-year-old Tony Moreno, and his mother were in the middle of filing a child custody application after a judge refused to grant the mother a restraining order against Moreno because he was not convinced of a "continuous threat of present physical pain or physical injury."  Tony Moreno was rescued from the river, hospitalized and arraigned on murder and capital felony charges.

Illegals Make Up 37% of Federal Sentences in FY 2014:  Though only 3.5 percent of the U.S. population, illegal immigrants accounted for 36.7 percent of federal sentences in FY 2014 following criminal convictions, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC).  Caroline May of Breitbart reports that when broken down categorically, illegal immigrants represented 16.8 percent of drug trafficking cases, 20 percent of kidnapping cases, 74.1 percent of drug possession cases, 12 percent of murder convictions and 91.6 percent of immigration violations.  The USSC does not include state or death penalty cases and only has data for federal offenders sentenced under the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984.

Top 5 Districts for Criminal Cases on Mexican Border:  A staggering 41.7 percent of federal criminal cases filed nationwide by attorneys in U.S. district courts in FY 2014 were in the five districts that sit along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the U.S. Justice Department.  Terence P. Jeffrey of CNS News reports that the same five border districts - located in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Southern Texas and Western Texas - also had the most defendants found guilty as a result of cases filed in U.S. district courts.  A single U.S. attorney's office in Western Texas had a total of 5,832 cases filed in FY 2014, while the sum of every federal case filed in the 17 U.S. district courts spanning the Canadian border totaled at only 5,257.

Prison Riot Sparks Concern of Escape:  Unrest that began at a privately run Arizona prison on July 1 and lasted for days following a corrections officer's attempt to stop an inmate-on-inmate assault has prompted Gov. Doug Ducey to initiate a probe into the facility that has a history of security problems.  Bob Christie of the AP reports that a full-blown riot broke out on July 2, resulting in trashed housing units and injured guards and inmates.  The rioting has some worried of an escape occurring amid the chaos; especially considering prisons Director Charles Ryan's scathing review regarding the facility's security flaws and poor operational practices.  Thousands of inmates have been transferred to other facilities while the damage is repaired.