Making Venice Beach a Safer Place for All
The Venice Beach Area Police Advisory Council works to increase understanding and cooperation between the community and the Police Department by finding solutions to problems as they arise.
The unfortunate incident May 16 (in which police cleared the beach after fighting broke out between members of two rival gangs) was not surprising to us, given the long history of incidents occurring on warm weekend days and our unheeded pleas for increased police presence on those days.
The issue is not gangs, it is the need for adequate police coverage for the hundreds of thousands of visitors flocking here on weekend afternoons. The police are doing a wonderful job, but we need more of them. We would hate to see closing portions of the beach become policy. There are solutions.
The recent much publicized incident might have been prevented had any of the solutions previously proposed by merchants, community groups and residents been adopted. Among the proposals are:
* Development of an ongoing demand-responsive deployment system for Venice Beach, which would treat the area as the site of a weekly “special event” requiring the same type of planning and staffing now used at the Coliseum, Sports Arena, Greek Theater, etc.
* Designation of Venice Beach as a venue for off-duty uniformed police officers to augment city resources.
* Deployment of a Korean-speaking police officer.
* Acceptance of use of walkie-talkies by merchants and others to assist identification of hot spots.
* Deployment of two police officers from each council district, as those residents can often be found here.
* Coordination among the Department of Transportation, LAPD and L.A. County Beaches and Harbors personnel to ensure better traffic flow.
* Exploring ways to better monitor and limit liquor sales on the boardwalk, the most contributing factor to violence.
Our organization wishes also to be trained by the police to answer telephones at the beach substation so that uniformed officers can be in the field.
We hope to turn the May 16 negative incident into positive solutions. We love our community and want to work cooperatively to ensure that Venice continues to be a safe, fun place to live, play and work.
LINDA LUCKS
Venice
Lucks is chairman of the Venice Beach Area Police Advisory Council.
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