Beyond Van Nuys : Police to Extend Truancy Sweeps to Curb Crime

A decrease in burglaries in the Van Nuys area during the first half of the year has prompted the Los Angeles Police Department to broaden an experimental program designed to crack down on truants who may be committing the crimes.

Deputy Police Chief Dan Sullivan said Thursday that, when school starts in September, special police patrols will be assigned to do nothing but pick up truants throughout the San Fernando Valley. Sullivan, the top-ranking law enforcement official in the Valley, said truants commit a high percentage of reported burglaries.

The project, called Operation Stay in School, was in effect in the Van Nuys Division in the last few months of the recently completed school year, and contributed greatly to a 15.8% decline in burglaries there, Sullivan said. Overall, burglaries in the Valley fell 8.6% in the first half of 1985 contrasted with the same period last year.

“Burglaries are a big problem out here, and it’s known that kids who aren’t in school when they’re supposed to be commit a lot of crimes, especially burglaries,” Sullivan said. “Our whole game plan is to attack that problem. . . . If we can keep those students in school, we’re hoping our burglary rate will go down.”

Expanded Program

Under the expanded program, each of the five Los Angeles police divisions in the Valley will assign at least two officers to pick up students who are supposed to be in school, then detain them at the police station until parents or school officials can pick them up, Sullivan said.

While the pilot project was in effect in Van Nuys from March 4 to May 25, nearly 1,200 truants were picked up by police, Sgt. Jeff Sheldon said. Of those, 335 had arrest records, 96 for burglaries, he said.

In the first six months of 1985, the number of burglaries in the Van Nuys area dropped to 2,364 from 2,808 during the same period last year.

Despite the decrease in the number of reported burglaries, the Van Nuys Division still had more burglaries in the first six months of 1985 than any of the other 17 police divisions throughout Los Angeles.

Overall Increase

Overall, crime in the Valley rose 0.9% during the first six months of 1985 over the same period last year, police said.

There were 48 homicides, up from 39 in the first half of 1984. The number of killings in the Valley is still well below that of other areas of Los Angeles.

In the Valley, auto thefts jumped 15.7%, assaults dropped 2.6%, and there was no change in the number of reported rapes.

Sullivan said robberies, which were up 13.7%, will be his major concern for the rest of the year.

Sullivan attributed the rise in robberies to increased drug activity and said that his elite group of undercover officers, known as the Cobra Corps, will focus on the problem by monitoring suspected drug dealers and users.