Arrests Fall, Calm Starts to Return After Violence : Civil unrest: ‘I think we’ve got control of it now,’ a top police official says. But National Guard patrols continue.

With few reports of violence and declining numbers of arrests, San Fernando Valley residents began a return to their routine Sunday, prompting Los Angeles Deputy Police Chief Mark A. Kroeker to declare: “We’re through.”

“I think we’ve got control of it now,” said Kroeker, who heads operations in the Valley. “If there is something that pops up, it’s going to be the sporadic, regular type of criminal conduct that goes on.”

Arrests during a 24-hour period Saturday and Sunday fell to about 328, mostly for curfew violations, Police Capt. Patrick McKinley said. Police had arrested 832 people Thursday and Friday.

Despite the drop, Kroeker said, police officers will continue to work extended shifts and National Guard troops will patrol Valley streets and shopping malls for several days.

“I don’t think there is going to be a de-escalation of resources for a while, and then it will be very gradual,” Kroeker said.

Even as Kroeker spoke, one more victim was tallied.

In Mission Hills, the charred body of an unidentified man--possibly a transient--was found Sunday morning after firefighters responded to a blaze beside the San Fernando Mission Boulevard off-ramp of the southbound San Diego Freeway, authorities said. A Los Angeles County coroner’s spokesman said the death was being preliminarily classified as riot-related, but police reported no suspects or possible motive.

Foothill Division police reported the discovery of three unlit Molotov cocktails in bushes in Lake View Terrace, close to the spot where motorist Rodney G. King was beaten 14 months ago. Sgt. William Yarbrough said a bomb squad was dispatched to Osborne Street and Foothill Boulevard after a resident found two of them about 8 p.m.; officers found the third.

For the most part, police returned to more mundane chores, from chasing stolen cars to catching up on paperwork left unattended during four days of chaos that left many parts of the city in ruin.

The respite gave officials a chance to tally the final toll of the violence that began Wednesday after four police officers received not guilty verdicts on charges stemming from the King beating.

McKinley said that in the Valley, two people were killed, 13 injured and about 1,160 were arrested, about half for curfew violations. There were 63 building fires, only two of which did major damage, he said.

On Thursday and Friday, roving gangs of looters and vandals attacked stores and set small fires in shopping areas of Pacoima, Lake View Terrace, Panorama City and Sylmar. Scattered looting was reported in other Valley communities as well.

But few incidents were reported in the Valley on Saturday and Sunday.

All Los Angeles Unified School District campuses are scheduled to reopen today, officials said. Classes throughout the district were canceled Friday.

But Supt. Bill Anton said Sunday that schedules will return to normal today, including the busing of thousands of students from the ravaged neighborhoods of Los Angeles to schools in the Valley and the Westside.

Several groups in the Valley set up distribution centers for people wanting to donate food and clothing for riot victims in other parts of the city.

At Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, temple member Gregg Alpert said about 100 bags of food and 100 bags of clothing had been donated by Sunday afternoon.

A United Way spokeswoman said the temple was one of two places in the Valley where food and clothing could be donated. The other was at the KNBC Channel 4 studios in Burbank.

At Greater Community Baptist Church in Pacoima, parishioners made plans to donate clothing and assistance to ravaged areas of South Los Angeles. “We’re getting together food and clothes,” the Rev. Dudley Chatman said.

Chatman had hoped to send several busloads of people to help clean up debris in South Los Angeles on Sunday, but the idea came too late to properly organize the trip, he said.

Instead, the church members plan to go Wednesday, Chatman said.

“I’m going to go out there,” parishioner Shirley Blaylock said. “I want to help out down there in some way. “I think it’s important we do something.”

Times staff writers Henry Chu and Jim Herron Zamora contributed to this story.