Armed Deputy to Patrol Jordan High, Deter Gangs : Security: He will serve as teacher, role model and deterrent to gang activity, school officials hope.

Increasing gang activity around Jordan High School has prompted the Long Beach Unified School District board to hire a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy to patrol the area and help with school programs.

After nearly an hour of debate over the role of law enforcement in North Long Beach, the board voted 3 to 2 Monday to pay $35 an hour for a deputy to work full time at the school.

Because the school is located in a commercial area near the Long Beach-Compton border, Jordan High School is particularly vulnerable to gang intrusion, Assistant Supt. Mary Ann Mays said.

“Over the last several years, there has definitely been an incremental rise in gangs coming into the area,”’ Mays said.

Last year, weapons were seen and several shots were fired in the shopping area across from the school, Mays said. In addition, students were involved in fights off the campus with suspected gang members, she said. With six weeks remaining in the school year last spring, the board hired Deputy Anthony Lucia to patrol the area temporarily.

On Monday, the board voted to give Lucia a one-year contract to work at Jordan at least six hours a day, with extra hours for sports or other special events. Board members Jenny Oropeza and Karin Polachek strongly opposed the hiring.

“By going ahead with this contract, we are letting (the Sheriff’s Department) off the hook in terms of their responsibility. We’re saying, we only need you when we pay for it,” Polachek said.

But Supt. E. Tom Giugni emphasized that the full-time deputy would be more responsive to problems at the school. “I don’t like it, but we’re not getting the service this will provide,” he said.

Jordan High School is at 6500 Atlantic Ave. in North Long Beach, which is covered by the Sheriff’s Department under contract with the Long Beach Police Department. The school area also is patrolled by Police Department cars before and after classes and during lunch breaks.

Board member Edward Eveland said hiring the deputy should not be seen as a critique of the Police Department.

“We’ve had tremendous cooperation from the police over the years,” he said. “But until we stop gangs around the schools, police can’t do the whole job.”

But Oropeza said she found the idea of hiring a deputy to patrol a school unacceptable. “We should demand the kind of service that applies to the rest of the community,” she said.

Mays said that Jordan’s problem is unique and officials do not anticipate needing deputies at other district high schools.

Lt. Mark Cavanaugh of the Lakewood sheriff’s station and liaison with the Police Department, said that Lucia was hired mainly as a teacher and role model.

Lucia, who will work in uniform and carry a weapon, will teach classes two hours a day. The rest of the time he will patrol on and off campus and spend time with students.

He said that last year during lunch breaks he parked his patrol car at Burger King, a popular hangout for students, and the gang members who used to frequent the area went elsewhere. Several board members referred to gang problems at that location last year.

Jordan Principal Alta Cooke downplayed problems with gangs and said she requested that Lucia be hired so he could teach classes in civil and criminal law.

“Having a deputy on campus helps the kids see police in a positive light,” Cooke said. However, she acknowledged that gang fights near the campus have involved Jordan students.

Jordan, which has an enrollment of 3,200, has six full-time security guards. They are unarmed and are not allowed to leave the campus.

Lucia said his primary job is to talk to students and direct them toward future careers.

“I have contacts in the business community and can steer them in the right direction, said Lucia, who worked in the sheriff’s Compton division for four years and has been assigned to the Lakewood division for five years.

He and other advocates of the program repeatedly stressed the need for positive role models for students.

“I can act as a friend rather than an authority figure,” Lucia said.