2 Officers Added to Del Amo Mall Patrol : Security: The increased police presence could be in place by June 1. The Torrance City Council action comes in the wake of the slaying of an arcade manager at the Fashion Center.

The Torrance City Council has agreed to deploy two more police officers to patrol the Del Amo Fashion Center on foot after a series of incidents prompted a flurry of complaints about security at the sprawling retail center.

Under an agreement approved by the council Tuesday, The Torrance Co., owners of the mall, will pay $264,000 toward the cost of the new foot patrol, which could be in place by June 1. In addition, the money will partly fund two new positions for civilian employees, whose hiring will free sworn officers for patrol duty.

“I think we’re all aware of the fact that there certainly needs to be a greater police presence in the mall,” Mayor Katy Geissert told the council. “We’re all victims of the society in which we live, and the society begs for more police officers in all sorts of places.”

Security at the mall has come under close scrutiny since the March 7 slaying of mall arcade manager Michael Ellis, 21, of Long Beach. His death prompted several merchants to complain about lax security at the center, the second largest in the United States.

Torrance police think Ellis was confronted by a robber in the arcade’s back office shortly after his mother dropped him off to open the business. His assailant might have been hiding in a nearby service hallway, said police, who have offered a $15,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for Ellis’ death.

He was the second Del Amo worker killed at the mall in just over two years. Donald Hernandez, a 19-year-old movie usher and newlywed, was shot to death in a January, 1991, robbery at one of the mall’s two theater complexes.

Several weeks ago, gang members fought in the mall’s central plaza area with off-duty Torrance police officers who were working as security guards at the center, according to authorities. Several suspected gang members were arrested, but no one was seriously hurt.

Last week, an athletic clothing store manager, John Towns, was chased in a parking lot by a man he thought was going to rob him, according to police and mall authorities. The chase ended when Towns, who said he had been robbed at the mall several months earlier, threw down a duffel bag he was carrying. The man chasing him scooped it up and ran, he told police.

Mall management maintains that the fear of crime at Del Amo is greater than the actual number of incidents justifies. Nonetheless, recent incidents have necessitated increased security measures, said James Jones, president of The Torrance Co.

“One of the things that we feel that this uniformed presence will do will simply give comfort and give reassurance to the shoppers,” Jones said.

According to statistics provided by the Torrance Police Department, serious crime has fallen 24% in an area that largely comprises the mall. In 1991, there were 1,639 incidents in the Del Amo Fashion Center district, mostly larceny, auto theft and burglary. Last year, there were 1,244 incidents in the Del Amo Fashion Center district.

Councilwoman Dee Hardison said some of the recent incidents have been blown out of proportion.

“I personally have used the mall; I’ve never had an incident at the mall,” Hardison said. “By and large, I think most people, that’s their experience.”

But Councilwoman Maureen O’Donnell said “definite gang types” walking five or six abreast down the corridors of the mall intimidate customers and merchants alike.

“I’ve watched this,” O’Donnell said. “(It’s) nothing you can really arrest them on. You can’t arrest them for dirty looks. You can’t arrest them for being menacing, because they have not made a physical threat to anyone or verbal threat to anyone. But their appearance is menacing, and it is frightening to our citizenry and we need to drive them out.”

The two new officers, who will work exclusively at the mall, will join four other officers who work out of a Torrance police substation in the mall. The council also renewed its agreement with the mall to maintain the substation.

Besides the on-duty officers, 24 off-duty Torrance police officers work as security guards at the mall.