STUDIO CITY : Residents Planning Local Crime Patrols

A Studio City residents association is expected to announce today the formation of a walkie-talkie-linked program that will patrol their Southeast Valley community up to three times a month.

Under the “South End Strike Force” program, scheduled to be unveiled at a special “crime watch” meeting of the Studio City Residents Assn., 10 volunteers in five walkie-talkie-equipped cars will randomly make patrols of Studio City. During the sweeps, expected to begin some time this summer, volunteers will be in contact with officers from the Los Angeles Police Department who will also have a walkie-talkies in their patrol cars.

“We’ll have the Studio City area blanketed with volunteers,” said John DE Pascale, who will run the program for the residents association. “With 10 people out on patrol, that means you’ve got 10 more chances of catching the bad guy.”

The residents association has agreed to spend $4,500 to purchase the walkie-talkies as well as a special electronic “repeater” the group plans to place atop a tall building nearby to improve the range of the walkie-talkies.

“With all the challenges faced by the city and by LAPD, we feel it’s our responsibility to help be the eyes and the ears of the Police Department,” said Tony Lucente, president of the residents association. DE Pascale said the program, which will be run in cooperation with LAPD, differs from other Neighborhood Watch programs because it is being run through the residents association and because the group will purchase communications equipment.

“We’ve always just been winging it with the communications equipment,” he said. “This is what is going to make a difference.”

But DE Pascale emphasized that the group will not intervene with police proceedings.

“This is just a continuation of the “eyes and ears-type program,” he said. “We’re not going to interfere with anything.”