Police Temporarily Return Narcotics Unit to East Valley

This week’s addition of four rookie Los Angeles police officers to the department’s Foothill Division has allowed a drug unit that was pulled off the streets because of an officer shortage to return to the eastern San Fernando Valley, at least temporarily, officials said Friday.

The six-officer RECON unit will work in areas of heavy narcotics activity whenever possible until November, when more new officers are expected to be assigned to the division and the drug unit can return permanently, Capt. Valentino Paniccia said.

The unit’s name stands for “Rapid Enforcement Concentrated On Narcotics.”

“Whenever possible, RECON is being deployed now,” Paniccia said.

Paniccia said the drug squad’s return should please members of homeowner groups from Pacoima to Mission Hills, who protested the Police Department’s decision in August to put the RECON officers on patrol duty because of shortages due to retirements and transfers.

Paniccia added that, for the first time, the department’s three-month test of foot patrols included beats in Pacoima. The foot patrol officers will be covering some of the same territory the RECON officers patrol, including the San Fernando Gardens and Pierce Park public housing projects.

“I have no doubt that the community is going to see some improvements,” Paniccia said. “We are going to see the level of narcotics activity drop.”