NORTHRIDGE : Police Station to Hold Open House
The prisoners have all been moved from the Devonshire Jail in preparation for a weekend slew of new detainees: housewives, grade schoolers, grandfathers and other ne’er-do-wells.
Officers will lock them up for a bit, then open the steel doors and point the way to the hot dog stand.
It’s all part of an open house at the Devonshire Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, held annually to give locals an inside peek at law enforcement and a chance to meet the officers who patrol their streets.
“The primary reason is to open the station to the community and help them understand what we do, break down some of the myths that are continually given to us in the movies and such,” said Devonshire Capt. Vance Proctor.
In addition to temporary lockups, tours of the station will be offered. Beat officers, detectives and explosives and hazardous material experts will be on hand, as well as a SWAT team, a K-9 unit, motorcycles, helicopters and displays on nearly every aspect of modern law enforcement in Los Angeles.
One dollar hamburgers, 75-cent hot dogs, and 50-cent sodas will raise a little money to support community policing efforts at the station, but at those prices, Proctor said, “fund raising is secondary.”
The idea is to show residents that police officers “are the guy next door,” he said. “We’re the Little League coach, we’re members of the Kiwanis. We’re just like everybody else.”
The open house will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Devonshire Division station house, 10250 Etiwanda Ave., Northridge.
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