Toxic Gumshoes Keep an Eye on Industry : Law enforcement: Police in Irvine, Newport Beach and Huntington Beach now have environmental crime investigators.

It started as a routine police check after a silent burglar alarm was activated in a deserted industrial area of Irvine on the morning of July 4, 1989.

But as the officer left his patrol car near a large electronics firm, he encountered an acrid odor. His eyes stung and it was difficult to breathe.

That’s when R.J. Hansen was called.

Hansen, in his second year as hazardous-materials investigator for the Irvine Police Department, represents a new kind of police investigator.

In the July 4 case, authorities discovered that about 1,300 pounds of ammonia had escaped from a holding tank, creating a huge cloud that could have posed a threat within a half-mile radius had it been a regular business day.

“We were just lucky on that one,” Hansen said.

Police departments in Irvine, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland and Simi Valley are among a handful of U.S. cities that have created a position of environmental crime investigator.

Such investigators add a new dimension to existing countywide environmental crime teams that typically include fire, health, wildlife, pollution and law enforcement officials who respond and investigate. In the past, these teams rarely relied on local police for anything beyond emergency road closures and evacuations, state and county officials throughout the state said.

“We’re starting to see an increase in (environmental) violations that adds a new dimension to law enforcement,” said Lt. Bob Rivas of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, which has seven deputies handling hazardous-materials incidents and investigations.

“We haven’t gone full time with anyone yet, but I think it’s inevitable that it’s going to occur,” Rivas added. “It’s become a big thing.”

Hansen said his duties include checking tips, answering inquiries and regularly patrolling industrial areas to remedy problems before they can pose a health threat.

“You can say there are plenty of burglaries, murders and rapes to take care of,” Hansen said. “But there is a safety factor that you just can’t leave out in terms of protecting the public.”

Despite its reputation as a predominantly residential community, Irvine ranks third in the county--behind Anaheim and Santa Ana--for the number of hazardous waste producers in the city, according to the county environmental health department.

Irvine Police Lt. Mike White said these surprising statistics spurred city officials to request more control over toxic substances, which led to the creation of Hansen’s position in April, 1989.

“This area looks very pristine,” Hansen said, referring to well-landscaped industrial parks in the sprawling Irvine Business Complex, a commercial area next to John Wayne Airport. “We don’t have the chain-link fences and old warehouses you would find in Santa Ana, so it’s not blatant to the public what is going on.”

Most of Irvine’s potential polluters are computer-related industries that use highly toxic metals to produce circuit boards, and smaller machine shops. Recently, a pharmaceutical company in the business complex was cited by the federal Environmental Protection Agency for venting large amounts of ethylene oxide, a carcinogenic gas, into the air.

In Newport Beach, concerns about litter and noise pollution rallied city officials to create a position for a police environmental services coordinator in 1980.

Water pollution in Upper Newport Bay, Balboa Bay and Newport Harbor has been a continuing concern, said Police Lt. Tim Newman, who helped set up the position.

“It was an unusual move for a police department,” recalled Newman, who said Newport Beach was the first city in California to create such a position.

The Los Angeles Police Department boasts the largest environmental police force in a single U.S. city. The five-person hazardous-materials unit works closely with the Los Angeles County Hazardous Waste Control Program, a county-funded arm of the Public Health Department that has grown from six to 87 employees since its origin in 1982, according to the program chief, Anastacio Medina.

Huntington Beach recently added a part-time hazardous-waste investigator; the Oakland Police Department has a full-time investigator, and Simi Valley police, plagued by increasing illegal dumping of toxic wastes, added a part-time investigator.

Police departments are also trying to educate regular patrol officers about accidental exposure to toxic chemicals, said LAPD Sgt. Bryan Pearson, who heads the hazardous-materials unit. He said a mandatory, four-hour course on toxics needs to be extended.

“When a guy blockaded in his house with a gun takes a shot at you, you know if you’ve been hit,” Pearson said.

“But if you are exposed to a toxic compound and there is no immediate effect, it might not show up until years later. And how many cops understand the chemistry involved?”