Police Signs Go Up--and Crime Goes Down

Carol Hamilton squinted and surveyed the crowd of about 150 people eating hot dogs, dancing to rap music and playing softball Sunday afternoon at Ross Snyder Recreation Center in South-Central Los Angeles.

“If there are gang bangers here they must be having a good time,” said Hamilton, executive assistant to Councilman Gilbert W. Lindsay, standing in the shade of a yellow- and white-striped tent and handing out cookies to youngsters. “Today, there’s no turf thing going on here.”

A year ago, the upbeat mood at the recreation center on East 41st Street might have seemed incongruous--the park is smack in the middle of what Los Angeles police say was the most violent neighborhood in the 10 square miles patrolled by the department’s Newton Division.

But on Sunday, residents peacefully mingled with police officers to celebrate signs that the community is safer than it was last year: Drive-by shootings have dropped 85% and overall crime dropped 24% in the half-square-mile area bounded by 33rd Street, Vernon Avenue, Central Avenue and Compton Avenue, said Police Capt. Gordon Harrison.

He attributed the decline to 50 wooden and concrete barricades surrounding the neighborhood with orange signs warning passers-by in English and Spanish that they are entering a narcotics enforcement area. Since February, 10 police foot patrols have been assigned to the area at a cost of $27,000 a month to the city, Harrison said.

“People see these signs and say, ‘Wait a minute, I’ll go somewhere else to buy my dope,’ ” he said.

Sang Brown, 69, founder of the neighborhood’s Jefferson Community Block Club, said gang members have stopped congregating in front of his home on 40th Place.

Not every resident agreed with the program’s success. “I see them smoking (crack) like it’s nothing,” said Sergio Miguel Cardenas, 17, a sophomore at Jefferson High School.

His friend, Jose Delgado, piped in: “There were three drive-by shootings here yesterday. If (police) had any idea what was going on, they’d stay here overnight.”