VALLEYWIDE : More Residents Help Police Fight Crime

The number of San Fernando Valley neighborhoods working with police to fight crime nearly doubled in 1993, according to figures released Friday by the Los Angeles Police Department.

The department’s pillar of community-based policing--the Neighborhood Watch program--increased the number of neighborhood block captains in the Valley from 1,674 to 3,330 between January and December of last year.

“I’m very pleased,” said Deputy Chief Martin Pomeroy, who praised former Deputy Chief Mark A. Kroeker, his predecessor, for the increase. “I think it shows a tremendous dedication to improve the quality of life in the community.”

In community-based policing, block captains organize Neighborhood Watch meetings among neighbors. They then take information on criminal activity from these meetings to a police community representative, or PCR.

This person then presents these concerns to the local police station’s senior lead officer, who meets with his captain to plan strategy to eliminate the problems.

“In conjunction with this increase in Neighborhood Watch programs and the activities of officers in the Valley, we’ve had an overall 6.3% decrease in repressible crime in the Valley,” said Polic Lt. Joseph Garcia.

Garcia said “repressible crimes” include robbery, burglary, theft from a motor vehicle and grand theft auto.

The greatest increase among all five Valley police divisions occurred in Van Nuys, where the number of block captains tripled from 250 at the beginning of the year to 762.

Much of the credit was given to Senior Lead Officer Joe Losorelli, who became the first Valley officer to organize Neighborhood Watch captains for all the blocks in his area.

“He set a high standard for the rest of the senior lead officers to follow,” said Pomeroy.

All other Valley divisions reported increases in block captains in 1993. Devonshire jumped from 350 to 804; Foothill increased from 333 to 403; North Hollywood rose from 316 to 366, and West Valley had the most block captains in the Valley, climbing from 425 to 992.