Crime Soars in Downtown L.A.:  An article in last week's News Scan showed that crime was rising all over Los Angeles in all categories, but in Downtown L.A. in particular, violent and property crimes are soaring significantly.  Eddie Kim of Los Angeles Downtown News reports that in LAPD's Central Division, which covers nearly all of Downtown, violent crime in 2015 shot up 52 percent over 2014 levels, while property crime spiked 28 percent.  Specifically, aggravated assaults jumped 63 percent, robberies soared 42 percent, vehicle thefts surged 65 percent and burglaries increased 43 percent.  Central Division Capt. Mike Oreb believes that the factors contributing to the overall rise in crime include gentrification, Downtown's status as a tour destination, the influx of thousands of new residents, a rise in the homeless population and prison-reform policies such as AB 109 and Prop 47.  To combat the surge, the LAPD is transferring some officers from the elite Metropolitan Division to assist in Central, and are looking to establish partnerships with the city and county to bring mental health and addiction treatment to the area.

3 Radical Associates of Terror Suspect at Large, PA Police Warned:  A tip to the Philadelphia police warned that three "radical" associates of a self-proclaimed ISIS-inspired gunman who attempted to assassinate a police officer last Thursday are on the loose and that "the threat to police is not over."  Fox News reports that the tipster informed law enforcement that 30-year-old Edward Archer, accused of shooting and wounding Officer Jesse Hartnett while he sat in his patrol car, was associated with three other men who were described as "more radical" than Archer.  Late last Thursday, Archer approached Hartnett's patrol car and opened fire, firing 13 shots into the vehicle, hitting the officer three times.  Harnett managed to get out of his vehicle, and return fire, wounding him before he was captured by other officers a block away.  Following his arrest, Archer, told authorities he was "following Allah" and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.  Despite traveling to Mecca, and possibly Saudi Arabia in 2011 and Egypt in 2012, Archer's brother, Shane, believes the shooting was more closely related to "police mistreatment of black men" than religion.  Archer faces charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault, assault of a law enforcement officer and several firearms crimes.

Trial of Freddie Gray Van Driver Delayed:  The trial of Caesar Goodson, one of the six Baltimore police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray, was delayed by a state appeals court that said it needed time to address whether another officer should be compelled to testify against him.  Juliet Linderman and David Dishneau of the AP report that Goodson, the driver of the police van that transported Gray, faces the most serious charge of second-degree murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison if convicted, contingent on prosecutors' ability to prove that Goodson was "so callous in his disregard for Gray's life that he deliberately allowed him to die."  The officer who was ordered to testify against him, William Porter, argued that the order violates his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, running the risk of being in contempt of court or committing perjury.  The Maryland appeals court put the ruling on hold until it reaches a decision.  In the meantime, while Goodson's trial is delayed, Porter's retrial is postponed indefinitely pending further proceedings.  His first trial ended in a mistrial last month.

2015 Sets New Record for Terror Plots in U.S.:  A tally released Friday by the Heritage Foundation revealed that last year saw the most terrorist attacks and plots in the U.S. since Sept. 11, 2001, announced just as a number of high-profile arrests and indictments dominated the media.  Stephen Dinan and Andrea Noble of the Washington Times report that the 13 total Islamist-inspired attacks and plots that were uncovered last year were more than the previous three years combined, and the start of 2016 appears to be following the same concerning trend with last Thursday's attack on a Philadelphia police officer by a man who proclaimed allegiance to the Islamic State terror group, and two separate terror-related indictments of two Iraqi refugees reported by the Justice Department.  Lawmakers on Capitol Hill say that the fact that the two refugees were allowed into U.S. shows that major holes exist in President Obama's security plans.  House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce also stressed that "ISIS cannot be contained, it must be defeated," suggesting the need to "eliminate sanctuaries and counter ISIS's ability to recruit and radicalize over the Internet."