Police Aim to Halve Crime at Project in Northridge

Members of a special Los Angeles police task force assigned to patrol the Bryant Street-Vanalden Avenue area of Northridge told a sparse gathering of residents Tuesday night that their goal is to cut crime there in half in the next year.

The meeting at Napa Street Elementary School was called by Capt. Mark Steven, commanding officer of the Police Department’s Devonshire Division, to let residents get to know the 12 officers who will attempt to “re-establish a safe feeling in the community.”

The meeting came on the second day of the stepped-up patrols and Stevens reported that about 15 arrests had been made, most of them drug-related.

“Right now we have about 50 crimes per 1,000 people a year in Devonshire, but it’s about double that in the Bryant-Vanalden area,” Stevens said. “Our goal is to cut that amount in half.”

Officers Fluent in Spanish

Many of the officers in the task force were selected in part because they are fluent in Spanish, a necessity since most people living in the Bryant-Vanalden area are Latino, Stevens said.

On Tuesday, police officers stopped many people in the area for routine questioning, and concentrated on preventing street drug sales.

Officers stopped several people to check their arms for signs of needle marks. About 4 p.m., a man in his 20s was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of heroin after he was caught by officers following a short foot chase, authorities said.

Elsewhere, about a dozen small children watched as two officers searched two teen-age boys for weapons or drugs.

Meanwhile, men stood on corners listening to radios as a vendor sold bakery goods from a van. Patrol officers, for the most part, were stern as they went about their business, occasionally chatting with residents.

“What they’ve been told to do is strictly enforce any and all violations of the law,” said Sgt. Chuck Helm, head of the special police task force. “We’re going to be pursuing everything from building and safety violations, to trash, to abandoned vehicles and narcotics and other crimes.”

Sara Gonzalez, manager of a 90-unit apartment in the area, said she is not as worried about crime as others.

“If you don’t know the place, it’s scary,” Gonzalez said of the three-square-block area. “But, if you live here, it is not too bad.”

The 12 officers will be patrolling the area seven days a week, primarily from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m., when crime is at its peak, Stevens said.

Embroiled in Controversy

The neighborhood has been embroiled in controversy for months, with Mayor Tom Bradley and City Councilman Hal Bernson proposing different ways to clean up the neighborhood.

Bernson at first pushed for City Council approval of a plan that would make it easier for landlords to evict tenants and transform Bryant-Vanalden into a gated, middle-class community. Bradley said he would veto such a plan, however, and Bernson recently announced that he was dropping it.

Bernson said he now favors voluntary action by the 31 landlords who own the 650 blighted apartment units to improve their buildings.

Bradley, on the other hand, has called on a task force of tenants and landlords to work with police to reduce crime and bring the apartments into compliance with health and safety standards. Bradley said the plan has worked in such troubled areas as the Van Nuys Pierce Park apartments in Pacoima and in the Nickerson Gardens project in Watts.