PENINSULA : Sheriff’s Dept. Opens Low-Key Center at Mall

On the quiet Palos Verdes Peninsula, even getting information on building permits can be a pleasant experience.

With pop music and jazz wafting through the air, residents now can find information on everything from fire safety to Neighborhood Watch programs inside a former flower store and storage room at the Shops at Palos Verdes.

Working from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department volunteers will answer questions and pass out flyers from the Community Resource Center inside the Rolling Hills Estates mall.

Deputy Danny Gomes, who is overseeing the airy, well-lit center, acknowledges that the name is a bit bland, but officials feared that calling it a sheriff’s substation would indicate crime was a problem.

“If you call it a community center, you don’t have to worry about that,” he said.

Although Sheriff’s Department stars are emblazoned on the center’s doors, deputies will make only periodic visits for phone calls and supplies. Otherwise, unarmed civilian volunteers will staff the center.

But Rolling Hills Estates Councilwoman Barbara Rauch said the center will give shoppers a sense of security and possibly deter crime.

“It’s also a place someone could run to as a safety spot,” she said.

Mall manager Elena Butorac said she first discussed the need for a convenient community center several months ago with the local sheriff’s captain and the Rolling Hills Estates city manager. But she noted that all peninsula cities that contract with the Sheriff’s Department will benefit.

Deputies contract with three of four peninsula cities--Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates and Rancho Palos Verdes--but the main substation is on Narbonne Avenue in Lomita.

The mall provided and furnished the 868-square-foot center. Butorac valued the donation at a couple thousand dollars, and said the center will remain as long as it is needed.

Officials say the mall, which provides unarmed security guards, has few security problems. But one shopper welcomed the possibility of more deputies passing through the mall.

“I’m happy to see more guns here,” he said, recalling the 1992 armed robbery of Finley’s Jewelers, located next to the community center.