Social Service Offices Opt for Security : Safety: Faced with increased violence, the county fortifies workplaces of welfare and mental health workers. Some critics say the steps dehumanize clients.

Metal detectors, panic buttons, a bevy of guards and interview booths divided by thick, shatterproof glass partitions--Los Angeles County’s newest jail?

No, a welfare office in the eastern San Fernando Valley community of Panorama City.

And it is not the only one to have been converted into a veritable fortress. Its recent remodeling reflects a trend toward increased security at welfare offices and other county facilities in the wake of the 1989 stabbing of mental health worker Robbyn Panitch at her office.

After her death, a citizens commission criticized the county’s lack of security measures. Since then, safety features have been installed at eight of the 30 welfare offices, and the welfare department plans to eventually fortify all of them.

Some of the county’s 20 mental health clinics still lack alarm systems and other recommended security measures because of bureaucratic delays and financial constraints. But the number of metal detectors countywide in courthouses and other facilities has doubled to about 50, the use of closed circuit TV has increased substantially and the number of security personnel has grown 20% to 1,600 guards, said Lt. Patrick Soll, who runs the county’s Office of Security Management. The county established the office two years ago at the request of the Economy and Efficiency Commission to track violent incidents and teach self-defense to employees.

In some offices, chairs have been bolted to the floor or replaced with furniture made of extremely light plastic to prevent clients from causing injury by hurling them at employees, Soll said.

Despite the enhanced security, crime in county offices rose 22% last year, from 299 incidents a month in 1991 to 364 per month last year, Soll said. One explanation for the increase in assaults, thefts and other crimes may be better reporting by county bureaucrats, who before the last six months of 1991 were not required to report criminal incidents to the county, Soll said.

“It’s a shame that we’ve come to this point,” Soll said. “But we’ve got so many people unemployed or homeless who feel the only way they can survive is violence.”

Nevertheless, welfare recipients and advocates for the poor object to the security measures, saying they are unnecessary and dehumanizing.

“I’m not no criminal, but this is like visiting Wayside,” said a 20-year-old pregnant Pacoima resident applying for benefits at the Panorama City office last week. Wayside is the former name of Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho jail in Castaic.

“It robs them of their dignity and makes it a crime to be poor,” said Tim Whisman, an attorney with San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Legal Services. “I don’t deny the need for some security, but why should the majority of people, who don’t cause any problems, have to pay for the few who do?”

In contrast to the Department of Public Social Services, the county’s mental health department has rejected the use of metal detectors and interview booths with glass dividers in favor of methods such as additional security guards and convex mirrors similar to those in convenience stores, so social workers can see if someone is following them down corridors, said Guido De Rienzo, union representative for the county’s 200 psychiatric social workers. Panitch was a psychiatric social worker in Santa Monica.

“I can’t believe we’re still waiting for some sort of sensitive security and they’re implementing dehumanizing measures against welfare mothers,” De Rienzo said.

County officials defended the measures by pointing out that 1,063 incidents occurred last year at welfare offices. The statistics include crimes and a smattering of medical incidents, such as heart attacks, involving workers or clients, Soll said.

That incident rate was about four times higher in 1992 in welfare offices than in mental health offices--three incidents per 100 mental health workers and about 12 per 100 welfare workers, according to a county report.

“It’s a common, everyday occurrence that guards have to interfere either with upset clients, clients fighting or caseworkers being attacked,” said Carol Matsui, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Social Services.

She attributed the violence partly to frustration with overcrowding and delays resulting from the department’s soaring caseload, which has risen 65% in the past three years--from about 960,000 welfare recipients to almost 1.6 million.

The new security measures completed last week are popular with social workers in the Panorama City welfare office, which disperses government benefits to about 78,000 clients a month, making it the busiest in the county. The security upgrades are part of a $117,750 remodeling project that includes more than doubling the size of the waiting room, improving handicapped access and increasing the number of interview booths.

Before the expansion and installation of security measures, clients often would have to wait outside the two-story building on Lanark Street to see a social worker, even in the winter, said district director Mel Kuznets. As a result, tempers occasionally flared, leading to several attacks on social workers, he said.

“Oct. 16, 1992--that’s when one of my clients gave me a left hook to the jaw,” said a social worker in the Panorama City office who declined to identify herself for fear of reprisals. “I’m not as a general rule afraid of people, but I’m glad they put in these barriers.”

The social workers did complain about the difficulty they are having in hearing their clients through the thick glass windows and small speakers in the interview booths, and county officials said they hope to fix the problem soon.

But workers welcomed the changes, despite the kinks.

“I got beat on seven times in one month,” said Edward Nazarian, a union steward who represents the more than 300 social workers in the Panorama City office. “Some of these are people just coming out of jail, junkies. So what if it looks like a prison.”