Neighborhood Prosecutor Tackles Crime, Quality-of-Life Issues

Homelessness, theft, fire risk – these are just some of the more prominent issues in Pacific Palisades that Neighborhood Prosecutor Veronica de la Cruz is focused on improving.
A Deputy City Attorney and Los Angeles native, De la Cruz was assigned to the West Los Angeles Division of the Neighborhood Prosecutor Program in November 2014.

Stationed at the West LA Police Station, her division covers 63.5 square miles and includes the Palisades.
The Neighborhood Prosecutor Program, which was launched in 2002, aims to make LA safer through crime prevention.
It also combats quality-of-life concerns that can negatively affect a community, such as graffiti, drug sales, prostitution, theft and even things like overgrown vegetation or dark parking lots that could pose problems.
Issues vary from community to community, De la Cruz told the Palisadian-Post in an interview at the police station.
De la Cruz had been with the City for 13 years when she was tapped to join the Neighborhood Prosecutor Program in 2011. At first, she was overseeing three divisions. Now she is glad to be able to focus her energy on one division, she said.
“During a period of budget struggles (from approximately 2009 to 2013), the program went down to eight prosecutors for the whole City,” De la Cruz said.
City Attorney Mike Feuer revived the program and doubled the number of neighborhood prosecutors very shortly after beginning his term in 2013.
“We now have a neighborhood prosecutor in each of our 21 police divisions throughout the City,” De la Cruz said.
“Neighborhood prosecutors are assigned to police stations in specific geographic areas of the city. We work with all city partners, including police, law enforcement, the Department of Transportation and the Department of Recreation and Parks, among others.”
As a neighborhood prosecutor, it is De la Cruz’s aim to understand how the area is being impacted by quality-of-life issues and to figure out a solution prioritizing the best interests of the community.
One way she does this is by attending community meetings within her division.
In the Palisades, De la Cruz said she has already attended a Homeless Task Force meeting and a planning meeting for the Homeless Count. She is on the agenda alongside LAPD Senior Lead Officer Michael Moore for this evening’s Pacific Palisades Community Council meeting at the Palisades Branch Library at 7 p.m.
“Sometimes people are grateful but when they are not happy, we’re the face of the City at these meetings,” De la Cruz said. “But I’m also a resident of the City so I understand that people are sometimes just frustrated.”
Since De la Cruz spends a lot of time in the communities she covers, she is able to familiarize herself with the issues in more ways than many law enforcement officials can – and work with other City partners to solve them in creative ways.
In one case outside of the Palisades, De la Cruz worked to address the issue of prostitution without prosecution.
“You could prosecute the johns, and you could prosecute the prostitutes, but the problem persists. New people will take their place when they leave,” she said.
In order to help combat the issue, De la Cruz worked with DOT to add red curbs in the area, making it more challenging for cars to casually pull over without being ticketed.
She also cited one hypothetical example that hits close to home on the issue of theft in the Palisades.
“If somebody who wasn’t a resident was found with burglary tools in the Palisades, but was arrested for drinking in public, we might grant him a stay-away order because he has no reason to be there,” she said.
As for the issue of homelessness in the Palisades, De la Cruz said the goal is to get the individuals the help they need.
“Being homeless is not illegal,” she said, adding that the real problem is when individuals are trespassing or being aggressive.
“There isn’t a short-term solution to a lot of our bigger problems,” De la Cruz said. “But for some things, there are quicker-fixes when we have compliance.”
A typical workday for De la Cruz might include filing cases, court appointments, administrative tasks and an evening meeting at a community organization.
When she isn’t working to help make West LA safer, she spends time with her husband and two children.
“I have kids to put to bed at the end of the day,” De la Cruz said. “So right now, home life is important, too.”