Wall Rises Outside Foothill Station : Pacoima: Volunteers erect a barrier to protect officers and visitors at the facility, which remains on an elevated security alert.

Citing danger to police and residents in the wake of the unrest that followed the verdicts in the Rodney G. King case, Los Angeles police on Tuesday erected a concrete-block wall in front of the entrance to the Foothill Division Station in Pacoima.

Until construction of the wall began, a bus had been parked as a safety barricade in front of the glass doors of the Osborne Street station since April 29 when a large crowd responding to the not-guilty verdicts gathered in front of the station and threw rocks and bottles at police.

The station has remained on an elevated security alert since then because of intelligence reports that indicate the police compound could still be the target of a drive-by attack by gang members or others.

Capt. Tim McBride, commander of the station, said the wall will go a long way toward making the front lobby of the station safe for police officers and the public.

Although it might seem to add a fortress-like quality to the station, McBride said he will attempt to use the barrier as a means of forging improved community relations. He plans to have local schoolchildren or artists paint a mural on the wall, possibly even organizing a community competition to choose a muralist.

“We will be able to use this to strengthen our police-community partnership,” McBride said. “People coming in and looking at a gray wall--that is going to be about as appealing as having the bus on the sidewalk out front. But I think the mural will be a positive measure.”

McBride said the materials for the wall were all donated by community residents and businesses--just part of what he called an enormous outpouring of support since riots broke out in the city.

King was beaten by officers last year about a mile from the Foothill Station, where the four officers tried in the case were assigned.

The five-foot-tall wall was built by officers and a handful of men assigned to community service work by the courts as well as an unemployed bricklayer who offered to lend a hand after going to the station to report that his sister was missing.

“I said this is a union job and they laughed,” said the mason, Chris Herreres, 32, of Sylmar. “After I made the report, I decided to help them lay block. I felt like I was down there for their help looking for my sister and I thought I could help them out in return.”

McBride said he used donated materials and volunteer officers to expedite the wall-building project. He said waiting for a city crew to become available would have taken several days.

“It would have taken longer to get it done,” he said. “In the meantime, we have the bus sitting there. People made the offers of the material and I hated the bus there.”

In the alcove created by the L-shaped wall, police plan to place benches and create an outdoor courtyard adjoining the lobby, where couches, a children’s table and an aquarium were added earlier this year.

“The wall will help solve the security problem but also provide an atmosphere conducive to doing business here,” McBride said. “We want people to be able to come to the Police Department and feel safe.”

While the wall might help provide that feeling, McBride said other security measures remain in place. There are extra officers on duty in the station and an officer with a shotgun posted in a sandbag bunker at the corner of the station’s parking lot. The bunker was built by National Guard officers. McBride said there has been no date set for relaxing the elevated security alert.