LAPD Doesn’t Ask Citizens to Police the Streets

* As a senior lead officer of the Van Nuys division of the Los Angeles Police Department and the officer most knowledgeable about the two mini-malls in question, I feel compelled to respond to the misinformation contained in the April 3 opinion article by Gideon Kanner of Loyola Law School.

It is obvious the he did no research before taking pen in hand.

He stated that the Los Angeles Police Department and the city attorney’s office are turning citizens into victims by asking them to patrol their own storefronts and confront criminals, or face criminal prosecution themselves. That is simply not true. No member of the Los Angeles Police Department would ever put a citizen in the position of having to confront or arrest criminals. Those duties belong to police officers, and may I say that our officers do a great job in that arena!

When I was assigned to this position four years ago, my goal was to clean up west Van Nuys by putting criminals in jail and working in partnership with citizens who live and work in Van Nuys, so their lives would be safer.

My attention was directed to the mini-mall on southwest Sepulveda and Roscoe by numerous citizen complaints of drug deals, prostitution and gang activity. This corner was so well-known for criminal activity that people from as far as Ventura County, Glendale and Lancaster traveled to engage in crime. One evening my partner and I worked undercover at this site. We observed about 100 drug transactions. Unfortunately we were only able to arrest about 25 people for selling or buying because we couldn’t keep up with the activity.

I took a close look at this mini-mall and wondered why it was so inviting to this type of criminal activity. I noticed the area was poorly lit, the building lacked “No Trespassing” signs and the property was dirty.

I contacted the owner of the complex and advised him of the condition of his property and the nature of the criminal activity occurring. He indicated he wanted no part in cleaning up the property. Instead, he sold the property. The business owners in the complex had simply turned their heads to the activity occurring on their property. They denied the existence of criminal activity. Some merchants even allowed crimes to be committed in their stores.

As for the Vanowen/Sepulveda mini-mall, it has narcotics and prostitution problems. The complaints and restrictions placed on these businesses are due to citizen complaints. The citizens initiated a hearing before the zoning administrator for these restrictions.

Mr. Kanner can ride with me any time for a firsthand look. I hope future articles will accurately reflect what his eyes have seen.

JOE LOSORELLI

Los Angeles Police Department