PLACENTIA : Anti-Crime Panel Members Appointed

The City Council has appointed five residents to a new drug and gang advisory committee that will recommend ways to curb violence and strengthen neighborhood watch programs.

Council members named Melissa Albidrez, Jodi Stout-Ward, Rod Jimenez, Mike McMillan and Roseanne Covarrubias to the committee this week. Police Chief Manuel Ortega is expected to appoint three additional members to the committee sometime this month.

Albidrez called on city leaders to take action after the June shooting death of a 17-year-old boy in the La Jolla neighborhood. Police have reported more than a dozen shootings in the area this year.

The committee is also expected to study crime in the Santa Fe and Atwood barrios, as well as complaints of skinhead activity on Placentia’s north side.