Rent-a-Cop Keeps the Peace on the Boulevard : Law enforcement: Merchants in upscale enclave felt they needed protection, so they hired a roving guard to shoo panhandlers.

“But down these mean streets a man must go . . . .” --Raymond Chandler

In the glare of high noon, a powerfully built man dressed in black steps out onto the boulevard to make his rounds. He nods at passersby, exchanges a few words here and there, but keeps moving, ever alert to the rhythms of the street. After two blocks, he turns and surveys the scene. All is quiet. All is as it should be.

“A lot of troublemakers, when they see me, it’s whoof! “ says the man, gesturing suddenly with his thick hands. “Like roaches when you turn on the light.”

Meet Mike Craig. Age: 29. Vital statistics: 5 feet 9 inches, 245 pounds. Profession: security coordinator. Beat: Larchmont Village.

Larchmont Village?

Granted, the streets aren’t exactly mean in this cozy corner of Hancock Park, with its outdoor restaurants, neighborhood shops and unhurried pedestrians. Larchmont Village, in fact, is known as the Los Angeles version of Main Street U.S.A.

But merchants there say they had been bothered by aggressive panhandlers. So they did what other crime-conscious communities have been doing: They contracted a private security force--in this case, Mike.

“(Now) we have far less panhandling, even to the point where it doesn’t exist,” said Tom Kneafsey, a real estate investor who has offices and property on Larchmont Boulevard.

Concurs Connie McCreight, who relocated her interior design business to the village in April: “I can’t remember the last time I saw (a panhandler).”

For Larchmont Village, crime is mostly something that happens somewhere else--albeit nearby at times. According to police, the corridor along 3rd Street between Western and Normandie avenues has one of the highest rates of street robbery in the city.

Until this year, the village’s major problem was its homeless, a band of 10 to 15 who would not have drawn a glance in other parts of Los Angeles but who were very visible along the boulevard. There, say police, they collected as much as $125 a day from shoppers.

The idea to hire a security guard to shoo them away was proposed by area resident Patty DeDominic, president of the private security and investigations firm that employs Craig. Says DeDominic, whose husband is president of the Larchmont Boulevard Assn.: “It seemed a tragedy for the neighborhood that people were not feeling confident or secure here.”

Enter Craig and exit the homeless. Though there are one or two holdouts, Craig is adamant about keeping the village pristine from the uglier realities of urban life. “There’s no gangs, no graffiti around, nothing,” he said approvingly.

But if he were to leave, Craig said, the panhandlers and troublemakers would be back within days: “This is a beautiful place, but it could go to hell real quick.”

Craig’s services do not come cheap. The tab for his patrol runs about $2,000 a month and is picked up by about 30 businesses contributing between $50 and $150 each.

But contributors get access to Craig’s pager. So although all businesses along Larchmont Boulevard between 1st Street and Melrose Avenue benefit from Craig’s presence, only those who help fund his beat can phone him in times of need.

So far, there have been few such calls. Asked to recount some of the more perilous encounters during his seven months on the job, Craig mentions the appearance one day of three suspicious-looking men who seemed to him to be readying to rob one of the village’s banks. The men left, Craig says, after they found they were being watched by him and bank security personnel.

Other than that, and a traffic accident that culminated with the two drivers fighting in the front seat of a moving pickup, Larchmont Boulevard might even be called dull.

That state of affairs is just fine with Craig. Security, he explains, is not about physical confrontations, but about being prepared to handle a range of different situations. Craig says he considers his job akin to that of a neighborhood cop walking the beat: equal parts goodwill, knowing everybody’s business, and just being visible.

That, he says, is what keeps the streets of Larchmont Village safe.

“Some days I get five to 10 calls,” said Craig, pointing to his pager. “Some days, I don’t get any.” Then he joked: “There’s nothing going on. I cleaned it up.”