Attack Forces Neighbors to Get Defensive : Crime: Entire Neighborhood Watch group takes pepper spray training.

On Monday night, about 30 residents of an affluent, suburban neighborhood stood in an orderly line near a back-yard pool, each of them waiting to test their aim with a water-filled bottle of pepper spray. As they reached the head of the line, they sprayed at a mask in the likeness of Charles Manson.

“Get ‘em, Linda!” cheered Terry Tobin, the neighborhood organizer of the event, as one resident of the 12500 block of Addison Street took aim and fired.

Another neighbor, Ellen Schwartz, said as she waited her turn, “I’ve never shot anything, not even a BB gun when I was a kid.”

It was not your usual “make my day” crowd. But this state-required training session for pepper spray certification--the first involving an entire Neighborhood Watch group, according to trainer Milo Speriglio--was not just a case of well-off people overreacting to urban crime. Six weeks ago a doctor in the neighborhood was shot three times in his front yard during an attempted robbery.

After several meetings, the neighbors decided to get a license to spray.

“This is certainly better than nothing, and people were concerned after what happened across the street,” said Larry Tobin, referring to the attack on physician Paul Hackmeyer.

Hackmeyer, 41, had just returned from delivering a baby at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center when he was ambushed and shot in the chest. He is reportedly recovering from his injuries.)

Tobin said that after the attack, he considered purchasing a gun to protect his home, even with four children under age 14 in the house.

But for now, the residents of the 12500 block of Addison Street have opted to pack pepper.

Under the watchful eye of Speriglio, a state-certified pepper spray trainer who is also a private detective in Van Nuys, the participants, most of them women, stood about eight feet from the bushy-haired Manson mask mounted on a wooden pole.

One by one the neighbors raised the pepper spray bottle and then blasted away. Some of the participants laughed nervously before firing.

“It’s sad that we have to live like this,” said Schwartz as she watched her neighbors.

Pepper spray has become the citizen weapon of choice for many in the state. A state official, who did not wish to be identified, said an estimated 100,000 Californians will be certified to carry it this year.

The two-hour session in North Hollywood included a 30-minute video that informs pepper spray users about the chemical makeup and proper use of the spray. The tape provided a few examples of how not to use it.

The crowd howled as the video showed an upset wife who used the spray to end an argument with her husband at the dinner table. In another example, a woman shopping at a store accused the clerk of shortchanging her and zapped him.

The Addison Street group might have been the first in the area to be group certified, but they will probably be joined by others soon. Speriglio said another Neighborhood Watch group in North Hollywood and one in Woodland Hills have signed up.

While the mood at the training session was generally upbeat and optimistic, some residents acknowledged that there is a vast difference between spraying at a mask on a pole next to a swimming pool and spraying a human attacker. But many of them declared themselves ready to use it if need be.

“The police officers at the last Neighborhood Watch meeting told me that we should always have it ready, which I think is good advice,” said Rose Gitlin, a watch group member.

“If someone comes at me, I’ll be scared and shaking, but I’ll be ready.”