Police Rely on Civilian Boosters to Supply Needs Fast

When the vice squad of the Foothill Division needed an old, nondescript car for undercover use, the officers didn’t bother to ask whether there was money in the Los Angeles Police Department budget for the purchase. They already knew the answer would be no.

Instead, supervisors at the division went with an alternative they knew could be counted on, a trusted resource that was waiting and ready to act quickly--the Foothill Advisory Booster Assn.

As a result, only a few days later, members of the vice squad were conducting business out of an old, unmarked sedan, courtesy of the civilian support group.

“We needed a car fast,” Capt. Arthur W. Sjoquist, commander of the Foothill Division, explained last week. “We went to FABA. Wham! Bam! They had a car.”

The way the vice squad got its undercover car illustrates how divisions in the Los Angeles Police Department have come to rely upon the citizens they serve. Booster groups such as the Foothill association provide police with both community support and equipment.

“You can hardly get along without them,” said Sjoquist. “Maybe crime is high, but it would be a lot higher without them.”

One of the newest of the police support groups, FABA comprises about 70 business operators and residents. In the 15 months since its founding, the organization has obtained every item on four “wish lists” handed it by local police administrators and has delivered thousands of dollars in equipment.

“We can’t bear arms and run down the streets arresting people,” said Ed Cholakian, president of FABA. “That’s not our idea. But we can help the police in this way, maybe make their jobs a little easier, maybe make our neighborhoods a little safer.”

Cholakian founded the group after police officials asked him in May, 1986, to help launch a civilian support organization. Membership in FABA has grown steadily ever since, he said.

The group has provided equipment ranging from training pistols to high-tech surveillance devices, from an exercise cycle for the police gym to the “Identikit” used by detectives to make composite sketches of suspects.

Often, police let the boosters know which crime problems need their attention the most. The association will then help solve the specific problems of the Foothill Division, donating surveillance equipment for an auto-theft task force, for example.

“FABA fills a gap,” Sgt. Gary Merrifield said. “The majority of the things they provide we need, but would never be able to get through the normal budgetary and bureaucratic channels.

“The clock moves slow. If you need something now, you have to go through channels and, when it finally comes back, maybe it is too late. If we submitted an item we needed to the city budget right now, we would be looking at July ’88 to June ’89 before we could possibly get it. And that’s if it was accepted. If it was a low-priority item, it would get cut.”

To expedite the purchase of equipment, Foothill police often turn to FABA. Its structure is similar to other police support groups, the East Valley Police Activity League Supporters in North Hollywood and the Mid-Valley Community Police Council in Van Nuys among them.

The groups’ directors or officers meet regularly with police administrators to learn what is needed. “We restrict ourselves to asking for items that cannot be gotten through other sources or in a timely manner,” Merrifield said.

Fund-Raising Activities

The groups usually charge minimal or pay-what-you-can dues for members, and often sponsor fund-raising activities. For example, FABA asks members to donate $120 annually. Each group usually represents a cross section of the community: business people, retired people, parents; the common denominator is that they all want to help.

“We want to put something back,” said Robert Neary, president of the East Valley Police Activity League Supporters. “It’s a two-way street. We feel that what we give will come back to benefit us.”

The East Valley league, known as PALS, has been supporting the LAPD’s North Hollywood Division for nearly 20 years. Most recently, the group delivered $1,000 worth of fingerprinting equipment to the detective division.

“It was a situation where the city could not come up with it when we needed it,” said Officer Dennis Atkinson. “The PALS did. They have provided us with office furniture, searchlights, mobile telephones, many things. These are things we consider vital, but many of them the city would have never bought for us. In some cases, it would not have even been negotiable.”

For their troubles, the groups believe they get a lot in return.

‘Impact on Welfare’

“We feel that we have had an impact on the welfare of our community,” Neary said.

“We get the satisfaction of knowing we have helped make it a better place to live and work,” said Cholakian, who noted that the groups also maintain an open line of communication with police. “We get to tell them our needs and they tell us their needs.”

But that doesn’t mean that members of booster groups have greater access to police than other citizens.

“I certainly respond to problems they have,” Sjoquist said. “But I like to think I respond to all problems” brought by anyone to the division.

“I don’t think there is any return as far as police service goes,” he said. “They get what everybody else does.”

In the Foothill station, from the file cabinets in the detective bureau to the coffee pot in the crime prevention office, the equipment supplied by FABA provides a visible record of the group’s efforts.

Less Visible Role

But FABA, like many of the police support groups, also plays another, less visible role. It also gives time and money to programs to improve relations between police and the community.

FABA and the other groups send disadvantaged kids to camp, sponsor police athletic teams, honor officers of the month and civilians who become involved in crime fighting. The organizations stage community forums and awards banquets. They help pay for and distribute food baskets to the poor during the holidays. And, all of it is done in the name of the local police.

Officers said those good-will deeds go as far to promote crime prevention as the purchase of undercover cars or fingerprinting equipment.

Sjoquist said the activities help “mold public opinion and generate a tremendous amount of community support for police.”

“In the long run,” he said, “that is just as important as the equipment they provide us.”