Police Crack Down on Illicit Trade

A crackdown on street vending, sales of forged documents and other illegal activity along Pacific Boulevard has resulted in 22 arrests over the past two weeks, police said.

Police launched Operation Crackdown in response to concerns of boulevard merchants who have long complained about loiterers selling false identification, or micas, on sidewalks along the busy thoroughfare.

Complaints also have been lodged with the city over street vendors selling food, counterfeit cassettes and clothing.

Four motorcycle units from the Police Department’s traffic enforcement unit have been assigned to patrol a stretch of about three-quarters of a mile on Pacific Boulevard between Florence and Clarendon avenues and to investigate the document sales, said Sgt. Desmond Fitzgerald, who is overseeing the effort.

“We’re hoping that Crackdown will get the word out to people, that they can call us anonymously if they know where (false identification) cards are being made,” Fitzgerald said.

“Even if it’s not in Huntington Park, call and tell me and I will relay the information (to the proper authorities).”

Police have been making arrests along Pacific Boulevard for a variety of offenses since the operation was launched Dec. 14, including possession and sales of forged documents as well as violations of county health and safety codes, Fitzgerald said.

The names of all suspects are being withheld because of ongoing investigations, he said. But in two raids on Dec. 17, police and U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service agents confiscated 1,500 bogus documents, including phony Social Security cards, driver’s licenses and birth certificates at an apartment in the 6100 block of Rugby Avenue and a garage in the 6300 block of Malabar Street.

Merchants say the loitering that accompanies the false ID trade has hurt their businesses because families and others avoid shopping on Pacific Boulevard.

“If we don’t have security in that area the people don’t come to buy anything,” said Tony Moreno, president of Tacos Mexico Inc., which closed three of its six Pacific Boulevard restaurants over the past two years because of the problems.

“There have been a lot of hard times, a lot of hard problems on that boulevard.”

Moreno said business at his remaining restaurants has dropped 20% over the last year, and he plans to move them to surrounding communities.

Extra foot patrols were deployed on the boulevard for the holiday season, but budget constraints forced the Police Department to stop them last week.

City Councilman Luis Hernandez said a task force of merchants, police, residents and city officials is developing long-term solutions, possibly including bike patrols and adopt-a-block programs in which merchants would help pay to provide trash cans on the boulevard.

The crackdown is slated to run indefinitely, and is being reviewed every month to determine its effectiveness, Fitzgerald said.

The Police Department is not spending additional funds on the plan because officers are being redeployed from traffic duties, he said.

Merchants welcome the efforts but remain pessimistic. They fear that the false ID trade and street vending will return if police scale back the operation.

“People don’t feel like coming to shop in an area where they feel like they are (being) molested,” said one restaurant owner who asked not to be named.

“When you see them, you steer away. We cannot have that happening on the boulevard.”

To report illegal activity on Pacific Boulevard, including the sale of false documents, call the Police Department, (213) 584-6285.