Chief Reassures Residents That Police Will Be Ready

The Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. hadn’t seen a turnout like this in years.

A crowd of about 500 was packed into the Dixie Canyon Elementary School auditorium, but not to discuss the usual issues, like zoning, development or politics.

The topic of the night Wednesday was fear.

“We haven’t had a turnout like this since the days of Proposition 13!” said the association’s longtime president, Richard Close.

The guest was Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams, speaking about “Making the Valley Safe.”

“I am sure the fact that this second King trial is going on was an influence in people coming here tonight,” said City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who was on hand for the meeting. “People want to know what the top policeman is going to do for the Valley.”

What the audience got from Williams, who spoke for about 30 minutes and then took questions, was reassurance coupled with warnings that the city needs to find a way to fund the hiring and training of additional officers to provide adequate law enforcement.

The riots following the verdicts in the first trial of the four officers accused of beating Rodney G. King “changed almost the fabric and the design of this city forever,” Williams said. But the Police Department will be ready if violence erupts again following a verdict in the federal trial.

“The department will never, ever perform in such a way that you lose faith in it,” said Williams, assuring the audience that the department had painstakingly worked out plans based on numerous scenarios.

He told them of both “tabletop” and field exercises that the force has staged to prepare for potential trouble when the verdicts are announced.

“We want to assure you,” Williams said, “that this department has heard your awakening call.”

Moving on to other concerns, Williams told the homeowners that his aim is to redesign the Police Department according to priorities set by citizens. He referred to the people of the city as “our customers” and said that the department should be as aware of its customers’ needs as any business.

This summer, Los Angeles police will sponsor telephone and written surveys aimed at determining those needs.

But the homeowners had several they wanted addressed on the spot.

Gail Hoxworth, who works for a law firm, complained that because Sherman Oaks is a middle- and upper-middle-class community, the police do not pay enough attention to it.

“It’s like nothing happens to us because we live in Sherman Oaks,” she said. Although Hoxworth lives on a “quiet street,” she has had two cars stolen and noted the rise of graffiti there in recent years.

“I just don’t believe we get the same police protection” as other areas, she said.

The police chief said that everywhere he goes in the city, there are complaints that other areas get more policing. He said that during a recent meeting in South-Central Los Angeles, he was asked, “Why do you have so many police officers in the Valley?”

He said the Police Department is so understaffed that if a street has little crime, officers will rarely be seen there.

“We don’t have the time for the niceties anymore,” Williams said, such as routine patrols just to show a police presence in a neighborhood.

He said that funding is needed to bring the Police Department up from its current force of about 7,000 officers to the 9,000 he considers the minimum to handle the city’s crime.

Leaving the hall after his talk, Williams said he had heard all the questions before.

“There are no surprises,” he said. “I have done a lot of these and the concerns of people here are the concerns of people everywhere in the city.

“They want to see more police in their neighborhood. They want to know we are there.”