The Battle for the Streets : Lennox Deputies on Bikes Make Big Inroads in Crime

The difference in the Lennox-area stretch of Inglewood Avenue, long notorious for drug dealing and related crime, is obvious to Zulie Herrera.

Gone are the groups of gang members and transients who sometimes threw bottles at her and other customers at the mini-mall where she regularly shops. Now she can buy groceries and not have to worry about being harassed on the way in or out, she said.

The reason for the improvement is just as obvious, she added, nodding toward Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies zipping through the mini-mall parking lot on mountain bikes.

For almost a year, a special detail of bike-riding deputies has patrolled the one-mile section of Inglewood Avenue and surrounding streets, serving as modern-day versions of the old cop on the beat.

Clad in green fatigue pants and white shirts, the deputies have taken a public relations approach to crime fighting--handing out business cards, establishing a rapport with merchants and working with residents to identify and root out the community’s criminal element. Their mobility, meanwhile, has allowed them to respond more quickly to the drug dealing, drinking and loitering that once plagued the area and, if necessary, make arrests.

“It’s a big difference,” said Herrera, an El Segundo resident. “It’s a lot safer now.”

The statistics back her up.

Sheriff’s officials said that in the first five months of 1991, burglaries in the Lennox community declined by 27%--to 103, compared to 141 during the same period in 1990. And robberies dropped a whopping 53%--to 58 from 121.

In another sign of the success of the patrols, the sheriff’s narcotics bureau has ceased undercover drug operations on the portion of Inglewood Avenue under county jurisdiction.

“They said it just wasn’t worth the amount of man-hours to put forth that kind of operation. . . . The bike teams have chased away the drug dealers,” Sheriff’s Lt. Lawrence Schwartz said.

“Give (the deputies) 150% credit for the job they’re doing,” said Oscar Russell, a Lennox resident and an employee at a nearby liquor store. “They keep the bad guys out of here. . . . They are the only ones who look out for the little guy. We thank them in any way we can.”

The program began in October after the Lennox Coordinating Council, a community group, lobbied the Sheriff’s Department to more effectively crack down on crime along Inglewood Avenue.

The patrol consists of three deputies. Two ride the bikes, which were donated to the Lennox Sheriff’s Station by the manufacturer, Nishiki, while the third deputy backs them up in a patrol car. One patrol wheels through the streets during the morning hours and into the afternoon; a second patrol works into the late evening.

Although the patrols initially targeted the Inglewood Avenue strip, their success there has allowed them to fan out to other neighborhoods in the 1.25-square-mile Lennox community.

Sheriff’s officials acknowledge that, to some extent, the patrols have merely caused crime to shift to other streets. But they say the problems in these other areas have not surfaced to the degree that plagued Inglewood Avenue.

“You had a street where we had drug dealers that were on the sidewalk, flagging people down,” Schwartz said. That isn’t the case on the other streets, he added.

Lennox residents and merchants cite everyday proof of the bike patrols’ success. Children play on Inglewood Avenue again. Families are less afraid to walk to nearby shops. And graffiti and other vandalism are less prevalent.

Said Jim Keen, co-president of the Lennox Coordinating Council: “I think the bike patrol is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Even the old cop on the beat isn’t as effective as the bike patrol. As far as I’m concerned, that should be the wave of the future.”

Indeed, mobile bike patrols have become increasingly popular among local law enforcement agencies.

Police in Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach have used bikes for several years to patrol congested areas near the beach.

In Lennox, residents and merchants are quick to wave and greet the deputies as they tool around their community on the two-wheelers. These greetings sometimes startle the officers.

“That was the hardest thing for me to get used to, people saying ‘hi’ to you,” said Sheriff’s Deputy Duane Decker. “You’re used to people giving you dirty looks.”

The bikes, he said, allow freer communication with residents and “humanize” the deputies.

He recalled a minor accident when a deputy was knocked off his bike by a car exiting a driveway.

“I was very surprised at the amount of people that came out of their apartments and houses to help us, putting ice on his head, calling the station on the phone,” Decker said. “It really, really touched me that they cared about us.”