Crime Uptick Seen in the Palisades, Advice from Local Entities

By MAGNOLIA LAFLEUR | Reporter

There has been a slight increase in property crimes, according to the Compstat for West LA. With more reports of burglaries occurring in town, Pacific Palisades’ Senior Lead Officer Brian Espin said burglary prevention starts with the residents.

“If a neighborhood has good communication with each other and can notify one another of suspicious activity and be visible on the street this usually will deter crime,” Espin explained to the Palisadian-Post. “Most criminals do not want to be noticed.”

Espin said the best way to notify the police of an unwanted person or people on one’s personal property is by means of a security system. He noted that the Los Angeles Police Department deploys their officers based on spikes that are annotated as dots on a map.Detective supervisors, command staff and area senior leads then meet every week to discuss the current state of crime in an area.

“We look and discuss the dots (crime) on the maps and see if any can be connected, or trends that we can try to curve,” Espin said. “We deploy our resources based on the crime in the area. Extra patrol of officers is difficult as we are spread very thin. But we still try.”

Espin explained that if someone is trespassing on property, and they have been notified of their unwanted presence and refuse to leave, or if there is a visible sign that reads “No Trespassing,” the property owner has the right to place someone under a Private Persons Arrest. Trespassing holds a charge of a misdemeanor, which means the person will solely be given a ticket then released shortly after.

“This does not prevent the person from coming back other than possibly being arrested again,” Espin said. “Due to AB109, Prop 47 and under our current District Attorneys agenda. Prosecution of certain crimes have been dropped down to lesser penalties.”

Alex Bastian, special advisor to District Attorney George Gascón, said “advancing public safety is at the core of everything we do at the Los Angeles district attorney’s office. It is why we are actively working with our law enforcement and community partners to both hold offenders accountable and to prevent crime.

“It is especially important to focus on repeat offenders and it is why we are working with our law enforcement partners collectively to identify repeat offenders and to ensure a proper response. We are focused on advancing public safety in the Palisades as well as everywhere else in the county. That is especially the case when it comes to violent crime, and in particular homicides.”

According to Patrol Manager of Gates Security, Captain Griffen Dietrich, he has noticed a dramatic increase in crime in the Palisades—noting that in December alone, they dealt with 24 thefts, five burglaries, two robberies and six stolen vehicles. Dietrich explained they believe approximately 40 to 50% of Palisadians are not reporting theft as they have “lost faith in the system or do not care to see their property retrieved.”

“The numbers speak for themselves. Since August, thefts are up 41% and burglaries are up 25%,” Dietrich said to the Post. “Since December, our officers have responded to 31 calls for service for trespassers and 134 disturbance calls. Our success is proven in the prevention of crime, not necessarily the apprehension of criminals”

Dietrich explained that while Gates Security is able to prevent many thefts and burglaries from occurring with their mere presence, they are receiving an unprecedented amount of calls for their services.

Gates Security has offered its security service in the Palisades for the past 21 years. They suggest homeowners lock all windows, doors and fences that cannot be easily breached as a means of prevention.

In order to detect and report the crimes, they suggest fully-functional alarm systems and monitoring cameras that a company can install and gather live surveillance. And having a security company that can respond to calls is imperative as a follow through. While arrests cannot be made by any security companies, they are used as a deterrent to criminals.

“Our officers are committed to the safety of West LA. West Los Angeles Division area of responsibility is approximately 65 square miles and we have the least amount of officers for the area we serve,” Espin concluded. “We have to make it harder for burglars to get access to our homes.”