STUDIO CITY : Merchants, Police to Discuss Crime
Studio City business owners and officers from the Los Angeles Police Department will meet today at 6 p.m. at the Academy of Arts and Sciences, 5200 Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood, for a panel discussion of a new Business Watch crime-fighting program.
Patterned on the department’s Neighborhood Watch, in which residents are organized to report suspicious activities to police, the new program is an extension of the department’s shift toward community-based policing, said Sgt. Richard Webb.
Webb said there have been 840 crimes, including robbery, burglary, auto theft and theft from autos, in Studio City and Sherman Oaks over the past three months.
“But it doesn’t matter if there’s a rise in crime,” Webb said. “It’s just time to stop it. That’s it.”
Jim O’ Riley, senior lead officer for Studio City, helped organize today’s meeting. Although it was called to fight business crime, O’Riley said he thinks another topic is sure to come up.
“Talk about riots is probably going to be a big part of this,” he said. “That’s what is on peoples’ minds.”
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