Notices to Park-Goers Questioned

If you have driven the family to Hillcrest Park in the past 10 days, or just parked there briefly with a loved one, or even stopped to admire the view, the odds are that a policeman jotted down your license number.

And if you already haven’t received one, the chances are good that you will soon get an official letter from the Fullerton Police Department advising that:

“We are investigating a number of complaints and arrests” for soliciting lewd conduct or performing sex acts in public.

Police began stepped up patrols of the park on Feb. 16, mainly to stem sexual solicitation and lewd acts in the park, which has become a mecca for homosexuals, officials said. Since the patrols began, there have been 50 arrests and citations, the vast majority of them for infractions and misdemeanor offenses, but in all a substantially higher number than before the new patrols.

500 Letters Mailed

During that time, police also have mailed 500 letters to the registered owners of vehicles whose license numbers were noted by the uniformed and plainclothes policemen in the park.

When advised of the practice, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union Monday questioned the intent of the letters and suggested that their effect may be to discourage law-abiding people from returning to Hillcrest, the city’s largest park.

But Police Capt. J.D. Bankhead, whose signature appears on the letters, said the intention is only to find victims or witnesses to illegal sex acts and solicitations.

And since the letters have been going out, Bankhead said, attendance at the park is on the rise. He said police may even use the letter at other Fullerton parks to curb crimes.

ACLU Official Concerned

“I think anyone who received a letter like that would be pretty shocked about it,” said attorney Randall Wick, president of the ACLU’s Orange County chapter, when advised of the Police Department’s mailing campaign. “It makes me wonder what the intention of the letter is. Is it really to find witnesses to some illegal activity which may or may not have occurred, or to harass anyone who happened to park near the park?

“I think the effect of receiving a letter like that, even though the letter is written as if it’s asking for witnesses, is for someone to never park in that area again because they know they are on someone’s list.”

But Bankhead advised, “don’t read anything into” the letter. “It means just what it says.”

The letter begins with the salutation “Dear registered owner,” then quotes Department of Motor Vehicle records identifying the owner and the vehicle. The owner is advised that his car was “observed by police officers in Hillcrest Park” on a particular date and time. Then it says:

“Currently, we are investigating a number of complaints and arrests for violations of the Penal Code, soliciting anyone to engage in or engaging in lewd or dissolute conduct in a public place or in any place open to the public . . . .

“I would appreciate your assistance in identifying the driver on the above date and time. If the driver observed any such violation, or was approached and solicited, personally becoming a victim, please contact Sgt. Ron Rowell . . . . “

Says Calls Are Supportive

Fullerton Police Lt. Lee Devore said Monday that police have received “a lot of calls on (the letter), but most of them are very supportive and appreciate what we’re doing.”

“We’ve had one person who was concerned about it,” Devore said. “Apparently he was using a vehicle that belonged to another member of the family and they got the letter.”

Officers at the park write down “just about everybody’s (license number) we can,” Devore said, adding that the numbers are kept on hand to keep track of responses, but that “we have no reason to keep them after they respond.”

Devore said he is not aware of any information leading to an arrest that has been provided by people who received the letters.

But, he said, there has been an “increase in the number of families and kids” at the park.”

Apart from responses to the letters, police have received numerous calls from people in support of the stepped-up park patrols, Devore and Bankhead said.

With the exception of those who park in lots around the edge of the park, drivers entering Hillcrest Park must pay a fee and once inside are clearly within the park grounds.

The ACLU’s Wick said the letter campaign appears unique.

Finds It Suspect

“I’m not familiar with police sending a letter like that to people near where a traffic accident has occurred or in other law enforcement cases,” Wick said, adding:

“I’d say that any time the Police Department singles out a particular area that they are going to randomly collect information from some people who aren’t suspected of committing a crime, that becomes suspect as far as I am concerned.”

But Devore said the Fullerton city attorney, the district attorney’s office and the presiding judge of the North County Municipal Court were advised of the letter-writing program and found it to be legal. Wick said he is unprepared to comment on what constitutional issues may be raised by the letter-writing campaign.

Since the increased patrols of Hillcrest park, there have been 50 arrests for “lewd conduct, indecent exposure, being in the park after it is closed, some narcotics activity, an auto theft arrest, suspicion of robbery, two (instances of) contributing to the delinquency of a minor and some alcohol-related violations,” Devore said. The arrests for contributing to the delinquency of a minor were felony matters that dealt with homosexual acts involving minors and adults, he said.