WESTLAKE : Cooperative Effort Cuts Crime Rate

The combined efforts of the police, property owners, city staff and community activists have helped reduce the crime rate in Westlake, which once had the city’s highest, said the chairman of a neighborhood watch group.

In the past three years, daytime crime in Westlake has dropped about 35%, said Thomas Coyle of the Westlake Neighborhood Watch Group, citing figures provided by the Police Department’s Rampart Division.

Last year, there were 24 homicides in the neighborhood west of MacArthur Park, compared to 10 so far this year, Coyle said. But Westlake and the adjacent Pico-Union and 11th and Lake streets neighborhoods are still among the city’s most crime-plagued, he said.

A neighborhood alley reclamation project, currently being discussed by several city agencies, could provide some relief if approved, said David Marquez, senior field deputy for City Councilman Mike Hernandez.

The proposal would coordinate the efforts of the police, the city attorney’s office, the sanitation and street maintenance departments, City Council staff, property owners and residents to clean up designated alleys, Marquez said.