Second Police Car for Sunland, Tujunga Linked to Passage of June Tax Measure

Sunland and Tujunga business leaders were told Tuesday they cannot expect additional police officers this year unless a June tax measure is approved to increase the size of the force.

The Los Angeles Police Department’s 1985 budget includes no money to increase patrols in Sunland and Tujunga, currently served by a single police car, said Capt. Stan McGarry, commander of the Foothill Division.

Other communities patrolled by the division, including Pacoima and Sylmar, have greater crime problems than Sunland and Tujunga and demand a higher police presence, McGarry told members of the Sunland-Tujunga Chamber of Commerce.

Single Patrol Car

Community residents have complained for several years that a single patrol car cannot adequately protect the area’s 53,000 residents. Access to Sunland and Tujunga by other patrol cars is limited to two off-ramps from the Foothill Freeway.

Vito Latino, chairman of the chamber’s crime committee, said Tuesday that Sunland-Tujunga merchants and residents have grown so frustrated by slow police response that they have discontinued reporting minor crimes, such as thefts along Foothill Boulevard.

City Councilman Howard Finn, who also addressed the group, acknowledged that when officers in the Sunland-Tujunga car make an arrest, they must transport the suspect 10 miles to the Pacoima police station and prepare a report. That process takes the car out of the community for up to two hours, he said.

“The more arrests they make, the less service we have on the streets,” Finn said.

McGarry said that because the Sunland-Tujunga area is bordered on three sides by other police agencies--the Glendale Police Department, Burbank Police Department and the county Sheriff’s Department--there are not many Los Angeles police cars nearby.

Not a Hot Spot

“Sunland-Tujunga is isolated from the rest of the Foothill patrol division,” McGarry said. “But police departments deploy to hot spots and Sunland-Tujunga is not considered a hot-spot area. I would like to put three patrol cars up here on a full-time basis, but we don’t have the resources.”

For the past two years, Finn twice has used funds from his office budget to hire an additional car to patrol the area for two-month periods. Finn said the additional car has been instrumental in reducing crime in the community while it is in operation, but that he cannot afford to finance it for longer periods.

A June ballot proposal calls for citywide property taxes to be increased by about $60 a year for the average homeowner to add 1,000 officers to the department over five years. Finn said he has asked the city administrative officer to study whether those new funds could be divided evenly among police divisions in the city.

If that were to happen, McGarry said, the Sunland-Tujunga area could expect one additional patrol car.

McGarry said he is considering a plan under which a police transport car would be responsible for picking up suspects.