Barrio Residents Complain : Newhall Group Seeks Crime Crackdown

Residents of a tiny barrio in Newhall charged Wednesday night that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has done a poor job of policing their neighborhood and urged deputies to crack down on crime there.

The residents also complained of junked cars and speeders, but reserved their harshest words for rowdy young men who gather outside overcrowded apartment buildings each night to loiter and drink beer. The residents said they want the loitering stopped.

“Do something,” Fernando Vasquez told a sheriff’s lieutenant and two deputies who met with about 30 people at the Santa Clarita Valley Service Center. “Do something that will make these people understand.”

Esther Perez said deputies should not be misled by vagrants and loiterers. There are residents who respect the Sheriff’s Department, she said. “I will stand by you,” she said.

The 90-minute meeting was sponsored by the center and a newly formed and yet unnamed citizens group. Members of the group say they want to rid the neighborhood of vandals, vagrants and crime. The group has held other meetings with county health and fire officials.

Sheriff’s Lt. Jim Wetzel said he could not promise beefed-up patrols but did vow to discuss the complaints with his superiors.

Wetzel said the department does not have enough officers to patrol the Santa Clarita Valley adequately. At any give time, only two patrol cars are assigned to cover an area that includes not only the barrio, but most of Valencia and Newhall, he said.

Wetzel also met privately after the meeting with residents who said deputies have harassed Latinos by demanding that they produce immigration papers.

Vasquez and several residents said they would like to see deputies arrest more loiterers. Vasquez said loiterers disappear “like cockroaches when you turn the light on” when deputies respond to complaints about them.