Crime Spike Renews Frustration with LAPD

Robberies increase in December, but overall crime fell in 2006

Crime fell by nearly 8 percent in Pacific Palisades from 2005 to 2006, according to data released by the LAPD. But a spike in burglaries late last year has stoked long-running frustrations among community members that the police department has understaffed the area. At a Pacific Palisades Community Council meeting last Thursday, Captain Carol Aborn-Khoury, commanding officer of the LAPD in West L.A., applauded her department’s role in reducing crime throughout West L.A., including the Palisades. “West L.A. is doing phenomenally,” Aborn-Khoury said. “We had a very successful year. Our arrests were up 29 percent, and we reduced crime by 12 percent.” The Palisades was no exception to West L.A.’s falling crime rate. In 2006, there were fewer incidents of burglary, robbery, car theft, and miscellaneous theft than in 2005. However, during the same time period, there was an increase in assault, theft from vehicles and sex crimes. But those data rang hollow to many community members who have observed–sometimes directly–an increase in crime in their neighborhoods. “In 15 years, I don’t think I’ve had six burglaries in a year,” said Paul Glasgall, the Community Council’s Highlands representative. “And now I’ve had six burglaries in a month. Six in a neighborhood where you never had crime is a big deal.” Glasgall attributed much of the increase in crime to LAPD’s virtual invisibility in the Palisades. Community Council Chairman Steve Boyers had requested that Captain Aborn-Khoury attend the council’s meeting to address community concern about the December crime spike and to discuss ways of increasing LAPD’s coverage here. The police department provides only one 24-hour patrol car in the Palisades, and that allocation has long rankled community members, who want more police protection. “If you look at comparable cities with populations and crime rates comparable to the Palisades like Moorpark, we have significantly less police coverage,” said Mike Streyer, the council’s alternate representative from Marquez. “I understand that we have less crime than other parts of L.A., but I think we’re grossly under-covered and police response time is one result of that.” In mid-December, longtime Marquez Knolls resident Bill Simon experienced first-hand slow police response times. At 2 a.m., he and his wife heard an intruder trying to break into their home. While Simon was calling 911, the intruder turned off the electricity and Simon lost his connection. His wife’s screams did not deter the trespasser from trying to break into the home. Bunkered in their living room, Simon called the police again using his cell phone. Twelve minutes later–five minutes longer than LAPD’s target response time–the police arrived. The intruder fled the scene at that time and never succeeded in breaking into the home. Police suspected one of the Simon’s neighbors, but charges were never filed against him. The incident has shattered Simon’s ‘illusion of security.’ “This was a wake-up call,” he later told the Palisadian-Post. “I respect the police and I know what they’re up against. But there should be more of a police presence here.” Simon hosted his first Neighborhood Watch meeting at his home on Tuesday night with the help of the LAPD. Dozens of his neighbors have signed up for the program, some of whom have also been recent victims of successful burglaries. A burglar stole thousands of dollars in jewelry, sports memorabilia and computer equipment from the home of Simon’s neighbor, Perry Richards, on January 2. The daytime burglary happened when Richards and his family left their home for two hours. “Getting through to the detectives is almost impossible,” Richards said. “They seem spread really thin. It’s as if we got put on the back burner.” In the absence of a visible police presence, Palisades homeowners have been willing to spend large sums of money for private security. The 17 homeowners’ associations representing about 1,300 homes in the Highlands collectively spend almost $500,000 per year for Bel-Air Patrol/ADT, a private security company, Glasgall said. At the Community Council meeting, Aborn-Khoury credited LAPD’s exodus of retiring officers and a less-than-successful recruitment campaign with the low police presence in the Palisades and throughout the city. “The bottom line is that the department is woefully understaffed,” she said. “But I can tell you that we are being responsive to crime here. This area was one of the only areas where cars weren’t cut.” The City Council raised trash collection fees to increase funding for the LAPD. But the increased revenue paid for by residents cannot currently be used to fund additional police officers or overtime hours, Aborn-Khoury said. She added that the use of that new revenue will depend on approval by the Mayor and City Council. Chairman Boyers hopes that the Community Council can lobby the City Council for more LAPD officers here and to find innovative ways of reducing crime. “Most of the community would feel better if we had a more significant police presence here,” Boyers said. “But if crime stays the same in the rest of the city, it will be hard to get more police in this area.” —————- Reporting by Staff Writer Max Taves. To contact, e-mail: reporter@palipost.com