ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : When a Phone Is a Menace

Pay telephones are a lifeline for families in some low-income communities. But when they are used for drug dealing, prostitution or other criminal activity, they are a neighborhood menace.

Santa Ana, in adopting a welcome new ordinance on pay phones, plans to take its cue from local communities as well as police when deciding whether a pay phone is a serious problem. When there are continuing neighborhood and law enforcement complaints, the city will have in place an innovative way to remove a phone that is attracting the wrong kinds of customers.

During debate on the recently adopted ordinance, which will become effective March 4 if approved on a second reading, the City Council was divided on whether removal of problem phones might end up hurting those it is intended to help. Many in low-income areas depend on pay phones for emergencies as well as day-to-day communication.

But the process that will be put in place by the ordinance is designed to fully include the community in the decision to take out a phone.

The city will first ask the telephone vendor to take actions that would impede criminals’ use of a phone. These include moving a phone to inside a store, blocking incoming calls and replacing tone dialing with rotary dialing so that drug dealers can’t use their pagers. If conditions don’t improve after such steps are taken, the legal process aimed at removing the phone would ensue.

Police Chief Paul M. Walters said some pay phones have become “outdoor offices for drug dealers and prostitutes.” They also have become gathering places for lowlifes who use the phones for other illegal activities.

The new ordinance puts in place a good procedure that should help communities now being besieged by criminals.