Shedding Light on the Gang Problem : Bullet-Resistant Street-Lamp Shields Rob Criminals of Their Cloak of Darkness

A street light that has been put out of commission by gunshots or other means may have been the target of a simple act of vandalism. In another respect, however, the stretch of darkness that results can be a sign that an important public place is no longer under public control. If the street-light busters can operate with impunity and if a cash-strapped local government can’t keep up, then gang members and muggers may feel as though they can attack people on that street with equal impunity.

The criminals are emboldened; the law-abiding citizenry is left with less confidence. As Jean Green, the Los Angeles Police Department’s senior lead officer for the Blythe Street area in Panorama City puts it: “The darker the street, the more crime that can occur on the street.”

This kind of thinking is part of the essence of community-based policing, a concept we have long supported. In it, police work in concert with other municipal agencies to correct the problems that help crime flourish. The city’s Bureau of Street Lighting has come up with such a problem-solver: a street-light shield that is impenetrable to most bullets.

It has been tested on about a dozen street lights throughout Los Angeles. As Times reporter Hugo Martin wrote recently, the results, so far, have been glowing. As Green suggests, the street-light cover that has been tested on Blythe Street has lasted for weeks and has discouraged crime.

The shield will save the city money on repairs because it costs $130 per light, while the price tag for replacing shot-out lights can go as high as $500. But there is another way to consider the costs.

Blythe Street has been the site of some of the city’s costliest crime-fighting initiatives, such as a labor-intensive ban on gang activity in which police must scour the streets for suspects. The gang in question has done much to alter the neighborhood to suit its own needs, such as installing lookouts on rooftops and fashioning escape routes through yards.

Officials say light shields have been installed only on lamps that have been shot out five or six times. But ensuring that the lights are always on on Blythe Street, so to speak, and similarly afflicted neighborhoods would be one way to fight back.

It would make police work a bit easier. Law-abiding citizens would be better able to observe and report crimes. Better yet, it would be a sign that the public and the authorities, not the criminals, control the streets.