Police Saturate Neighborhood in Show of Force Against Drugs

Twenty police cars raced up and down a Van Nuys street, their red lights flashing and sirens screeching while residents of the area milled about watching the spectacle.

And a spectacle is just what the Los Angeles police intended the Wednesday afternoon show of force to be.

The show, put on by a narcotics enforcement task force, is being rerun each afternoon and evening this week in neighborhoods of North Hollywood, Van Nuys, Pacoima, Sun Valley and Sepulveda.

At each stop, officers question dozens--and sometimes hundreds--of people walking and driving on the street, asking them why they are there. Occasionally someone is arrested, taken out of a car and searched as a crowd gathers.

The idea is to scare drug dealers and customers away from areas notorious for street drug sales, according to Cmdr. Ken Hickman, who organized the task force, which is made up of four officers from each of the five San Fernando Valley police divisions.

“This is just a demonstration,” Hickman said. “It isn’t going to change anything. We don’t want to cure the dope addicts or people who sell dope; I just want to get them out of the San Fernando Valley.”

In Van Nuys, the police cars on Blythe Street, just west of Van Nuys Boulevard, drew nearly 500 onlookers standing in the yards, sitting on front steps or leaning out of windows. It was a parade-like atmosphere, where an ice cream vendor hawked his wares alongside policeman stopping passing cars.

The audience gave the show mixed reviews.

2-Year-Old Plays Outside

“We feel safer, more protected. The street is better, more tranquil,” said Amelia Ruiz, who moved with her 2-year-old daughter into a small apartment on Blythe Street this month. “I usually don’t let my daughter play outside, but today I did.”

Other residents said that the sweep was ineffective and that innocent residents were harassed.

“They’re exaggerating a lot, more than what’s here,” 45-year-old Ester Fabian said in Spanish. “Why so much noise? They are stopping people who aren’t doing anything, people who visit, those who have legitimate business here. They’re not getting the ones who sell.”

“Most of the police think that everybody here is involved in drugs,” said 28-year-old Eddie Berrios. “So they stop people they shouldn’t stop.”

Minerva Benavidez, 33, complained that police officers on Tuesday yelled at her 14-year old daughter.

“I’m all for stopping drugs, but what I’m not for is the way they treat people. They should treat us with respect,” she said.

Blythe Street is considered perhaps the Valley’s most active location for street sales of cocaine, marijuana and heroin. The task force spent three hours there both on Tuesday and Wednesday, stopping 320 people and making 14 felony arrests and 22 misdemeanor arrests, and issuing 66 traffic citations, Hickman said.

“We’re not out here to harass the neighborhood; we’re in here to help out the low-income people who live here,” Lt. Harvie Eubank said. “Those that feel harassed are either part of the problem or they truly don’t understand the problem.”

Police and the residents agreed on one point--that a couple of performances of the task force’s show would have limited impact.

“I estimate that, two days after we’re gone, it will all be back to normal,” Hickman said.

Said resident Sergio Ordaz: “If the police were always here like this continually, it could change, but, unless they come out every night, it’s no good.”