Million-Dollar Reward for Dorner’s Conviction

A $1 million reward is now offered for information leading to the conviction of accused cop-killer Christopher Jordan Dorner, as 50 Los Angeles police officers and their families are being watched and guarded against attack by an ex-cop on a murderous campaign of revenge.

And police Sunday for the first time revealed that Richard Crain, 34, was the Riverside police officer killed Thursday, apparently by Dorner. Riverside police Chief Sergio Diaz said his name had been withheld until Sunday because of fears that Dorner might harm his surviving family, Diaz said.

LAPD chief Charlie Beck said search efforts Sunday were still focused on the snowy mountains of Big Bear, where Dorner apparently abandoned his pickup truck and set it afire Thursday.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the reward money is being put up by “business, unions, government, law enforcement and community groups.”

The LA police chief called it the largest award ever offered locally. Some have asked why such a large reward.

“This is an act of domestic terrorism,” Beck said. “This is a man who has targeted those that we entrust to protect the public.

“This is not about capturing a suspect, this is about preventing a future attack, maybe a murder,” the chief said.

LAPD resources were stretched Sunday, as the department not only searched for Dorner but grappled with logistics of providing security for 50 LAPD officers’ homes and families.

At the news conference in Los Angeles, the Riverside chief said it was time to identify the slain officer publicly, with a funeral pending Wednesday.

“There are several news outlets that have had that information (the name) because they have figured it out on their own, we are very, very grateful to you that you have embargoed that,” Diaz said.

“This individual has already shown and stated that the families of police officers are fair game.”

Dorner, nursing a grudge about his dismissal from the force, last Sunday apparently killed the daughter of a policeman and her fiance in Irvine. On Thursday, he apparently was involved in shootouts with Los Angeles police guarding an officer’s home in Corona, where police were shot at but not hit.

Crane and his partner were ambushed by a gunman later that morning in Riverside. The partner was wounded; his name is still withheld.

The unprecedented reward kitty must still be approved by several agencies, including city councils and county boards of supervisors across Southern California.

Los Angeles County supervisors Mike Antonovich and Mark Ridley-Thomas agreed to make the request at the next Board of Supervisors meeting, on Tuesday, Antonovich’s spokesman told City News Service.

-City News Service