3 Companies OK Plan to Block Pay-Phone Use by Drug Dealers

An effort to limit drug dealers’ access to pay telephones in the east San Fernando Valley got a boost Tuesday from a tentative agreement that would permanently ban reinstallation of phones removed from problem areas.

The agreement--by GTE and the largest two of 25 other companies that operate pay telephones in the East Valley--aims to prevent the companies from installing phones at locations where they have been removed at the request of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Community leaders in Pacoima and other East Valley communities had complained that other pay telephone companies were installing phones in locations where GTE had been asked by the Police Department to remove them because of their use by drug dealers. The dealers give pay telephone numbers--which cannot be traced to an individual--for customers to use in placing orders.

The agreement was brokered Tuesday by Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda) between GTE, the Southern California Pay Phone Co. of Van Nuys and Pacific Coin Telephone. Under the agreement, the companies agreed to program pay telephones used by drug dealers not to receive incoming calls and to restrict the phones’ capacity to communicate with answering machines and electronic beeper message systems.

If that does not deter drug dealers from using the phones, then they would be removed, Katz said.

GTE agreed to notify the statewide California Payphone Assn. and Katz’s office of locations where pay telephones had been removed at police request. Once a phone had been removed, the other pay telephone companies would not install a pay telephone anywhere on the same block.

The voluntary agreement is to be presented next month to the pay-phone association’s monthly meeting in the hope that the other 22 companies that operate pay phones in the East Valley will agree to join the pact.

“When phones come out of an area, they’ll stay out, and the phones already in the area will be made so they can’t be used by drug dealers,” Katz said.

GTE spokesman Bud Brown said his company had removed between 30 and 40 pay telephones from the East Valley in recent years at police request. The company has removed the bells from another 50 to 60 telephones, making it difficult to use them for receiving calls.

But Brown said other companies had installed telephones at several locations, including at Glenoaks Boulevard and Osborne Street, outside Lakeview Terrace Liquors on Foothill Boulevard and at several 7-Eleven stores. The new agreement should “put stop signals into it” so that once a telephone is removed, it is not replaced, Brown said.

James DeArkland, co-owner of the Southern California Pay Phone Co., said restricting the phones’ usefulness to outgoing calls should make a difference, while still making telephone service accessible to low-income people who cannot afford to have telephones in their homes.

‘Can’t Ignore Problems’

“Let’s give it a try and see how successful it really is and if it really does hinder the drug dealer,” DeArkland said. “We can’t ignore the problems with the community . . . so we tried to develop a system that was fair and equitable to everyone involved.”

DeArkland’s company was among those accused by community leaders of capitalizing on GTE’s decision to remove telephones in certain areas that had become popular outdoor marketplaces for drug dealers. But DeArkland said he had not been told that telephones installed by his company had caused concern in the community.

Fred Taylor, who is active in Merchants for a Better Community, a group of 22 East Valley liquor store owners attempting to discourage drug dealers from doing business outside their stores, was pleased with the agreement. “In order to deal with drug and alcohol problems, everybody has to do their little bit,” he said.

The 22 liquor stores have agreed to a set of 16 conditions, ranging from limiting operating hours to removing video games and pay telephones, which the owners hope will reduce loitering, discourage public drunkenness and hamper drug dealing.

Police Participation

Police Capt. Tim McBride of the Foothill Division, based in Pacoima, participated in the discussions that led to the agreement with the telephone companies.

He said the Police Department requests the removal of pay telephones only in areas where other measures have failed to discourage blatant drug dealing. If other pay telephone companies operating in the East Valley abide by it, the agreement announced Tuesday could make a difference, he said.

“It shows a certain commitment by the business people,” McBride said. “It shows they’re willing to do something for the community.”