South Whittier Wins Quest for Additional Sheriff’s Patrol : Law enforcement: Supervisors vote to assign another sheriff’s car to the gang-plagued area. Cost will be $689,000 a year.

South Whittier residents won their quest this week for more police protection when Los Angeles County supervisors approved an additional sheriff’s patrol car for the unincorporated community.

Supervisors voted 4 to 1 Tuesday for the extra patrol despite having to make cuts and adjustments to other services as a result of a $588-million budget deficit.

Supervisor Gloria Molina said the additional patrol, which carries a $689,000 annual price tag, is necessary.

“I can’t limit patrols when young people are killing each other and when people are afraid to leave their homes,” said Molina, who favored the measure along with Supervisors Mike Antonovich, Kenneth Hahn and Deane Dana.

The extra funds will increase law enforcement from two to three full-time patrols in a community with more than 65,000 residents and an increasing gang problem, according to the Sheriff’s Department. The extra car will have one deputy during the day and two at night.

Residents said they would like an even greater police presence but lauded the supervisors’ action as a needed first step toward making their streets safer.

Detectives have linked South Whittier gangs to four homicides, 15 drive-by shootings and 34 assaults with a deadly weapon so far this year. The department has identified more than 1,000 gang members in the community. Deputies investigated 4,500 crime reports last year and made 1,300 arrests in the area.

“It’s long overdue, way overdue,” resident Angel Cabral said of the added patrol. “Maybe with the extra patrol car we can keep a lid on the situation.” Cabral and residents had testified about the need for the additional patrol car at last week’s meeting.

Area residents have long complained that South Whittier has less law enforcement than surrounding communities. Even with the added patrol, South Whittier will have fewer officers on the streets than neighboring Pico Rivera, La Mirada and Santa Fe Springs, each of which have fewer residents than South Whittier.

The difference is that those cities pay for the extra law enforcement they receive. South Whittier, because it is unincorporated, must rely on the county.

“We fought long and hard for this,” resident Laura Lopez said. “It shows that if the community can get together and demand the service, we can get it.”

Funding for the patrol car was part of a $54.7-million amendment to the $13-billion county budget. In addition to adding money for the patrol, supervisors restored partial funding for various agencies originally targeted for deeper cuts. The restorations included $35.4 million to the Sheriff’s Department, which still will have to absorb about $12.5 million in cuts. An earlier $66.5-million cutback in the department took effect July 1, the start of the county’s fiscal year. The county has had to revise its budget in the wake of state funding cuts.

Ed Edelman was the only supervisor to vote against funding the extra patrol. He said he disagreed with the plan because the patrol car, as well as the restored services, rely on funding that won’t be available next year.

The money will come from county reserves, deferred pay increases for non-union employees and deferred county contributions to employee savings plans.

“I have no objection to these programs, but I’m worried about next year. Where are we going to get the (funds)?” Edelman said.