Voters Edgy Over Crime Issue : Elections: A series of well-publicized killings alarms Torrance residents. Issue dominates mayoral, council campaigns.

When Torrance City Council candidate Marcia Cribbs walks the precincts, she often speaks to residents through peepholes, screen doors, intercoms, even fences.

“Sometimes you cannot even see them,” Cribbs said. “They’ll say, before they open the door, ‘Who are you?’ They are afraid to open the door.”

Other candidates are coming back from precinct walks with similar stories. Crime, or at least the fear of it, they say, is No. 1 on the list of voters’ concerns. As a consequence, the issue has dominated campaigning for the Tuesday City Council and mayoral elections, even though the candidates’ stands on the issue and solutions to the problem sound much the same.

Voters will choose among two candidates for mayor, 11 candidates for three council seats and three candidates for city clerk. City Treasurer Linda Barnett is running unopposed.

As in other middle-class communities nationwide, crime has hit home, or at least uncomfortably close to home, in Torrance. Well-publicized shootings at Del Amo Fashion Center and the Redondo Beach Galleria, followed by the slayings of a Manhattan Beach police officer, the daughter of an El Segundo councilman and two Palos Verdes Estates police officers, have forced candidates to try to come up with solutions, even if their city faces another year of budget constraints.

“More and more, people have heard of or know victims of a crime,” said City Council candidate Mike Mauno. “Crime is everywhere, and people are realizing it is everywhere.”

The Torrance Police Department reports that crime rose 4% last year. Except for a 2% drop in 1992, crime in the city has risen 4% every year since 1988, according to the FBI.

The biggest percentage increase in violent crime was in the number of homicides: from three in 1992 to 10 in 1993.

But the number of rapes dropped 14%, and robberies dropped 15%.

“It may just be the perception or fear of crime,” said Torrance Police Officer Don Sherwood. “But if it is the perception, it may just as well be the real thing. We have got to do something about it.”

One crime that raised the level of fear among residents occurred in a shopping mall. In March, Michael Ellis, 21, an employee of Aladdin’s Castle, was shot to death in a robbery at the popular Del Amo Fashion Center arcade. The assailant was not caught, and the incident prompted police to beef up patrols at the sprawling retail center.

Two months later, an intruder entered a couple’s north Torrance home through an unlocked door, tied up Lynn Finzel, 28, and assaulted her. When her husband, Joseph Finzel, entered the room, the assailant shot him to death.

The assailant then shot Lynn Finzel, who survived. Randy Eugene Garcia, 22, of Oregon, was arrested and charged in the attack.

Area residents’ nerves had been frayed since April, 1992, when riots in Los Angeles spilled over into nearby Inglewood. Since then, gun stores all over the South Bay have reported a sharp rise in business. Sharpshooter Range in Torrance had trouble keeping guns and ammunition in stock.

Many residents have installed screen doors made of heavy metal, which are difficult to punch through. In the Hollywood Riviera, a high-income beachfront area of the city, many residents have installed motion detector lights.

“You walk down the street, and lights follow you,” said Glenn Tanner, a member of the homeowners association. He said heightened concern about crime is prevalent throughout the neighborhood.

Torrance residents are not alone. The percentage of Americans who put crime issues at the top of the nation’s problems jumped from 21% in June to 43% last month, a Los Angeles Times poll shows. Violent crime actually dropped by 3% nationally in the first six months of 1993, according to the FBI.

Although the Torrance area may be relatively safe, officials still are grappling with issues that a decade ago were associated only with urban areas.

“There was a real concern when people started seeing kids wearing gang attire at the mall,” said Councilwoman Dee Hardison, who is running for mayor. “It made them nervous. . . . We used to think it was (another city’s) gangs. But that is no longer necessarily the case. They’re here.”

Said her opponent, Councilman Bill Applegate: “You have to ask yourself, ‘Why do we have parks if we can’t use them safely, or libraries, or our own homes?’ If you can’t feel safe, nothing else is relevant.” Other candidates have spoken out on the issue, too.

Applegate and council candidate Dan Walker were the only candidates endorsed by the Torrance Police Officers Assn., although, according to the latest campaign finance statements, the group contributed $250 to Joe Martinez, $150 to Joe Quinones and $250 to Mike Botello--all of them council candidates.

Candidates are promoting expanded Neighborhood Watch programs, police reserves and more volunteer help for the department. The additional eyes and ears, candidates say, will help spot problems before they get out of hand.

“We haven’t hired Wyatt Earp to take care of it, so it means you have to expect Neighborhood Watch or community-based policing,” Botello said.

Some candidates want to take community-based policing a step further. At a recent candidates’ debate, Mauno suggested the formation of a Public Safety Advisory Committee, and candidate Burton Fletcher made a similar proposal for a police commission. Both bodies would respond to residents’ concerns about the Police Department and crime in their neighborhoods.