Police Will Investigate Incidents as Hate Crimes : North Hollywood: A department captain will urge a swifter response to such complaints as those by the church for gays and lesbians.

A day after being blasted by church leaders for inaction, Los Angeles Police Department officials said Thursday that they are investigating as hate crimes a rash of incidents that have plagued a North Hollywood church for gays and lesbians.

Capt. David Doan of the North Hollywood division also committed officers to help reduce the risk of danger to the congregation of the Metropolitan Community Church and said he would “re-emphasize” a policy among his officers that encourages swifter response to hate crime complaints.

Since the middle of July, congregation members said, a burglary has occurred at the church, an anti-gay sign has been left outside, and church members have been the targets of harassment.

“These are cases we are actively working,” Doan said. “They are serious violations of people. As far as the burglary, we have a possible suspect we are looking at. Any other leads we are getting from the church on the hate crimes we are working on.”

The actions by police, which included sending an officer and detective to the church Wednesday, drew praise from the leader of the church.

“I’m happy they are believing us at this point and taking us seriously,” said the Rev. Sherre Boothman, pastor of the church in the 5700 block of Cahuenga Boulevard.

The incidents began July 18 when a janitor found a sign posted on the property declaring “$10 for Gay Lives Reward,” church members said. On July 28, burglars reportedly entered the building, took several hundred dollars in cash and ransacked file cabinets, an act Boothman fears was aimed at getting personal information on parishioners for future harassment.

Most recently, parishioners reported that a male in a white panel truck drove back and forth while watching members of the church, followed by someone in a maroon Monte Carlo driving by and shouting anti-homosexual epithets. That night, parishioners reported seeing the same maroon car speed away after gunshots were fired outside during church services.

The anti-gay sign and Tuesday’s incidents are being investigated as hate crimes that could be related, authorities said. As of Thursday, there is not enough evidence to call the burglary a hate crime, but it is not being ruled out, they said.

To prevent further incidents, Doan said he is committing an officer to work with church members “and see when (the congregation) may be at greatest risk and see if we can’t provide an extra patrol during the time they are at greatest risk.”

Chartered in 1973, the 200-member North Hollywood congregation is one of the oldest in the Hollywood-based Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches. The fellowship was founded in 1968 in Huntington Park and now boasts 32,000 members in 291 churches in 17 countries.

John Ferry, co-chairman of the Gay and Lesbian Police Advisory Task Force, talked in a conference call Wednesday with Deputy Police Chief Mark A. Kroeker and Doan about the incidents.

While Boothman was pleased with the performance of the officers who responded Wednesday and to the July 28 burglary, she said she was still disappointed that complaints to the division about the sign and gunshots were not investigated “until the captain was informed that there was a problem.”

Police did have a report of the July 28 burglary, but Doan said there may have been some communication breakdowns that prevented officers from being sent out to the initial calls on the sign and Tuesday’s incidents.

“There’s also a distinct possibility that my people didn’t grasp what was going on,” Doan said. “As a result, we have re-emphasized our training regarding the reporting of hate crimes. We will send out a unit as soon as a unit becomes available.”