The Region - News from Feb. 14, 1985

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) called on Los Angeles-area law enforcement officials in a City Hall meeting to join in attempts to deal with career criminals under terms of a new federal law he authored. The Armed Career Criminal Act was signed into law in October but so far, according to Specter, no one has been prosecuted under it. The act defines a career criminal as anyone who has been convicted of three or more robberies or burglaries and is found in possession of a firearm. It provides for trial in federal court and a mandatory 15-year minimum prison sentence without possibility of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block and U.S. Atty. Robert C. Bonner of Los Angeles appeared as witnesses to support the law.