LAPD Encourages Neighborhood Watch, Video Cameras

With sharp increases in burglary rates across the Pacific area, law enforcement officials are urging more resident involvement in curbing property crime.

That includes locking doors at all times, as well as more Neighborhood Watch groups and a video surveillance network to catch thieves in the act. 

"The question is: How do we harden the target? How do we become less likely to become victims of property crimes?" said Lt. Jeff Bert of the Los Angeles Police Department's Pacific Detective Division, opening up a summit of LAPD senior lead officers Thursday night at the Westchester Senior Center.

As of June 30, half of the eight areas in the Pacific Division saw declines in violent crime, as well as property crime, and crime in the region is down overall, according to an LAPD report.

But police are pointing with concern to steep rises in the number of burglaries. Early release of parolees in recent years, as well as higher levels of drug use, homelessness and South L.A. gang activity, may be contributing factors, Bert said. The Pacific Division sees the third-highest number of crimes in Los Angeles, behind two South L.A. areas.

Mar Vista has received the brunt of what police call “displacement," Bert said. After a heightened police presence and crackdown in Venice, criminals often move east, posing a challenge to police further down Venice Boulevard. 

But Bert added that displacement crime is rarely as strong as in its original location. 

Police tactics to avert car theft include the use of bait cars, or leaving a laptop in plain sight in an unlocked car. The LAPD has also employed a method called High Illumination Deployment Enforcement, which sends officers to make rounds in small areas, such as Palms and Venice, where police see trends. Bert said the high police presence spooks and dissuades potential car thieves. 

The method has been hugely successful, reducing the number of vehicle thefts by more than 20 percent in 2010, he added.

Prevention methods for home burglaries have proved more elusive for the department.

"It’s a difficult nut to crack," Bert said, adding that the education of residents is the biggest part. Simple awareness helps, as people tend to leave windows and screen doors open in the summer, an invitation to would-be burglars, Bert said.

Neighborhood Watch groups and cameras on private property also play an important role.

Arnie Corlin, a developer and property owner who founded the Corlin Resource Network, played several videos of security footage for the group. One video shown was used to help identify a suspect at a shooting at Locke High School in South L.A. a year and a half ago.

Corlin’s footage from the properties he owns in South L.A.—often in combination with that of his neighbors'—has helped lead LAPD to suspects on a number of occasions, he said. Corlin has been part of an evolving process to build a similar network in the Pacific area, starting with Venice and Westchester.

In a talk about setting up Neighborhood Watch groups, Cyndi Hench, president of the Westchester/Playa Neighborhood Council, said she was reluctant to start one until she was burglarized about eight years ago. She has since become a vocal block captain.

“It really starts with being willing to step up and take the first step,” Hench said, adding that the main challenge is simply chatting with neighbors and gathering information.

In south Mar Vista, Senior Lead Officer Marcela Garcia helped design a flier and went door to door, talking to residents. She told Patch she has seen five new groups spring up in the six months since she became the SoMar SLO.

After two years without a block captain on her street, Cheryl Sievers of the Westport area in the Westchester said she is thinking about becoming one.

“[We are] always having crime activity, and the cops always circle our street,” Sievers said.

She and three of her neighbors already call one another when they see something suspicious.

Independent measures can go a long way toward reducing property crime, officers told the roughly 20 people who came for the presentation.

“There’s not enough of us,” Garcia said. “We need people to be our eyes and ears.”

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