Mar Vista Foot Patrols Halted : Crime: Police say program at the housing project succeeded in cutting gang and drug activity.

Despite its apparent success at reducing gang- and drug-related crime, a temporary police foot patrol program at Mar Vista Gardens has been quietly discontinued, in part because of lack of money.

In its place, authorities are encouraging residents of the crime-plagued housing project to start their own Neighborhood Watch organization.

“The patrols were never meant to be permanent,” said Capt. Patrick Froehle of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Pacific Division. “Ironically, the reduction in crime and lack of money came at the same time. We probably would have run them longer if we had the funds--for an undetermined period of time.”

The Mar Vista Gardens foot patrols were paid for out of an account set aside for police overtime work. Foot patrols in another crime hot spot, the Oakwood section of Venice, are separately financed and will remain in place.

Aided by a barricade of one of two street entrances to the 601-unit public housing complex near Inglewood Boulevard and Braddock Drive just west of the Culver City boundary, the Mar Vista Gardens foot patrols succeeded in decreasing most major crimes associated with drugs and gangs during 10 weeks of operation.

From April 11 to June 22, when officers patrolled the area on foot, there was a 62% reduction in robberies, thefts, armed assaults, homicides, rapes and other serious crimes compared to the same period last year, according to LAPD statistics. And compared to the three months preceding the deployment of the foot patrols, crime dropped 41%.

No announcement was made of the pullout because authorities feared that gangs and drug dealers would immediately re-enter the area, Froehle said.

Froehle and other police officials met this week with housing project managers and civic leaders to determine how to get residents interested in starting a watch program.

Police hope that by organizing into an LAPD-sponsored Neighborhood Watch group, residents will deter gang- and drug-related violence by maintaining a visible presence in the area, marking and identifying property, posting warning signs and immediately reporting suspicious activity to authorities.

The police barricade, which blocks off the Marionwood Drive entrance to the complex, will remain. All motorists must enter and exit the complex at Allin Street and Inglewood Boulevard.

Froehle said the foot patrols and the barricade were equally responsible for the drop in crime.

“It was the combination of the two,” agreed Michele Roth, a spokeswoman for the city’s Housing Authority, which oversees Mar Vista Gardens. Gang members “were not willing to go in and corner themselves that way, especially with police around.”

The result was that residents of the projects, often a battleground for warring gang factions, felt safer, Roth said.

“They were at least willing to go out and barbecue a little bit, rather than stay inside all the time, and more children would play outside,” said Roth. “One of the fears has been the shooting going on and the fear of having your child get caught in gunfire and be exposed to the drug dealers.”

The Housing Authority also plans to erect an 8-foot-tall wrought-iron fence around the complex as a way of keeping out drug dealers and gang members.

The fence is to be installed this fall, and will be paid for out of the authority’s funds. Roth said city officials have not yet determined what the fence will cost.

Police foot patrols have been popular throughout the city because they help reduce crime by increasing the visibility of police officers, and because they made neighbors more at ease. Some lamented their loss.

“It is sad that (the foot patrols) are not still there, but at the same time there will be a fence around the entire complex,” said Salvatore Grammatico, a local activist in the Del Rey neighborhood surrounding Mar Vista Gardens. “Whether that will be able to control the crime element, I don’t know.”