Bogus Fire Zone Passes Show Up in Laguna : Security: City issues new permits into burned areas, hires private firm to guard five checkpoints.

In two moves to tighten security in fire-damaged areas of the city, police Thursday began issuing new permits for entry into burned neighborhoods, and city officials signed a contract with a private security firm for unarmed guards.

The moves were taken because police “were coming across some counterfeit passes,” Capt. William Cavenaugh said. “Field units have been advised of the situation and are stopping and checking people” and confiscating the fake documents, he said.

Most of the offenders were trying to sell services to fire victims, Cavenaugh said.

Residents “were being solicited, and they are fed up,” said Sgt. Danell M. Adams, the department’s supervisor of support services. “They are sick and tired of it. They’ve got all these people crawling all over the place, and they’re furious.”

Those found with fake permits are escorted from the area, Adams said.

Making the counterfeit permits, which look like standard city permits with the municipal logo, “wouldn’t have been hard to do,” she said.

Legitimate permits are being issued to residents who could prove their addresses and to insurance claims agents with clients in the areas, utility representatives and various government employees.

People with bona fide permits are being asked to go to the police department to exchange them for new forms. Adams said residents were doing so without complaint.

In a related move, the city signed a contract with Westec Security Inc. of Irvine to provide unarmed guards at the five checkpoints to fire-damaged areas, Cavenaugh said. The company, a subsidiary of the Japanese company Secom, sells electronic security systems and maintains its own 150-member security force to respond to alarms at homes with the systems.

Some of the checkpoints will be open 24 hours a day, Cavenaugh said, and others will be blocked at night with locked, chain-link fences.

The guards, although not deputized, will have radios to contact city police patrols, Cavenaugh said, and will assume their posts at 6 a.m. Monday.

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Earlier this week, the last of scores of police from other Orange County jurisdictions who helped with fire-related security, under the county’s mutual aid request, left the county.

That meant that the Laguna Beach Police Department, with 42 sworn officers and 31 civilians, has had to depend on overtime--at time-and-a-half--to handle the additional responsibilities. As a result of the Westec contract, Cavenaugh said, the city expects to realize “substantial cost savings.”

The contract is for one year, but may be canceled with 30 days’ notice.

“We don’t know how long this is going to go on,” Cavenaugh said.