Officers Say They Have Good Reasons to Live Outside City

Officer John Francois does not live in Los Angeles--the city in which he fights crime--for what he considers two good reasons: his own safety and the high cost of housing.

But those reasons put him at odds with the American Civil Liberties Union, which reported last week that 83.1% of Los Angeles Police Department officers live outside the city, particularly in the northern Los Angeles County suburbs of Santa Clarita, Palmdale and Lancaster.

These officers lack strong ties to the ethnically diverse neighborhoods they patrol, partly because they live in distant, predominantly white suburbs, the ACLU study said.

But Francois, 26, a patrol officer in the northeast San Fernando Valley, is not impressed by the ACLU’s findings. He is one of about 1,000 of the LAPD’s 7,658 officers who head home to the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys when their work shifts end--and do not apologize for it.

By living in Lancaster, Francois said, he avoids potential danger, such as the death threat from a gang member who recognized him in his old neighborhood. The youth also threatened his mother, who lived nearby.

In addition, Francois said he could only rent an apartment in the San Fernando Valley for the mortgage payments he makes on a three-bedroom Antelope Valley home.

Nonetheless, the ACLU report said that the high percentage of officers living in the suburbs contributes to the LAPD’s image as an “army of occupation in the urban communities” and urged the department to offer incentives to officers who move into the city.

“‘We’re not calling for requirements that the police live in the city,” said Allan Parachini, the ACLU staff member who prepared the report. “We’re saying the situation that exists is not optimal. It’s a problem.”

By living in the neighborhoods they patrol, the officers would offer stability and reverse anti-police sentiments, he said.

Francois and other officers bristle at such conclusions. They say that where they live has no bearing on how well they do their jobs. And they insist that living so far from the neighborhoods they patrol does not mean they lack dedication to the areas.

“How can you abandon something you have to face every day?” Francois asked. “Why would I enforce the law differently if I lived within the city limits?”

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The ACLU report said that the long distance between LAPD officers’ homes and their workplaces may have “played a role in compromising responses to major emergency incidents.”

Several officers who live in northern Los Angeles County acknowledge that they have faced longer commutes since the Jan. 17 Northridge earthquake. But they say it has not kept them from doing their jobs.

They note that one of the first casualties of the earthquake was LAPD Officer Clarence Wayne Dean, a Lancaster resident assigned to the San Fernando Valley traffic division.

Dean hopped on his motorcycle and headed for work minutes after the quake and well before the start of his shift. He was killed when his motorbike plunged off a severed Antelope Valley Freeway overpass.

Shortly after the quake, LAPD Sgt. Joe Flores made his way through treacherous road conditions to get from his Lancaster home to Pacoima.

“I ended up spending several nights in my van, staying near the station,” Flores said.

None of the officers dispute the ACLU’s finding that the north county suburbs, with lower housing costs and crime rates, and easy freeway access to Los Angeles, are home to an usually large number of law officers.

The ACLU found that 687 LAPD officers live in Santa Clarita Valley ZIP code areas. Two ZIP codes covering the communities of Canyon Country and Saugus are home to nearly 400 officers.

Farther north, 318 LAPD officers live in the Antelope Valley, the study found. One Palmdale ZIP code area had 120 LAPD officers.

Although the study looked only at the LAPD, northern Los Angeles County--particularly the Santa Clarita Valley--is also home to many Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies and police officers from cities such as Burbank, Glendale and Beverly Hills.

“You hear a lot of people in this community say that they don’t have to walk too far outside their door before they see the home of either a policeman, a fireman or a deputy sheriff,” said Sheriff’s Sgt. Bob Warford, who moved to the Santa Clarita Valley 30 years ago.

Three years ago, LAPD Officer Dennis Farnham learned just how popular the area is among peace officers when he opened the Cop’s Shop, a law enforcement uniform and equipment store. Recently, he said, the Canyon Country store rang up its 20,000th customer.

For Francois, the absence of gunshots, whirring police helicopters and other urban noise outside his home is a bonus.

“The silence was so loud when I first moved to Lancaster, that it was a bit unnerving,” he said.

Flores, 40, a father of three, said he would rather live closer to work but cannot afford a house in Los Angeles.

The ACLU report said the argument about inability to find affordable housing is not always valid. In the report, Parachini said that houses in Los Angeles neighborhoods such as Atwater Village and Los Feliz are often less expensive than similar ones in the suburbs.

Many officers, particularly those with children, say low crime rates and good schools are equally important.

Gary Fullerton, an LAPD detective, moved from Sylmar to the Santa Clarita Valley in 1981 when he and his wife were planning a family. Gang violence in Sylmar was increasing, and Fullerton said he felt unwelcome.

Fullerton, a Los Angeles Police Protective League board member, said that many officers move outside the city to distance themselves and their families from the people they have arrested.

Fullerton denied that LAPD officers who move to distant, mostly white suburbs are motivated by racism. According to the ACLU report, the LAPD is 57% Anglo, but 83% of the officers live outside the city.

“That means there are a lot of minority officers who have gotten out of the city, too,” Fullerton said.

Reversing this flight was one goal of the study. ACLU officials said a solution is for the city to offer mortgage assistance and pay incentives to officers who choose to live in Los Angeles, particularly in high-crime areas. Parachini said that other cities, including Portland, Ore., have launched such programs.

Still, many police officers remain skeptical. Some ask how the financially strapped city could pay for such programs at a time when LAPD officers have gone almost three years without a raise.