JOINING FORCES : Community Policing Faces Its Toughest Challenge in the Busy South Bureau, Where Tension Between the LAPD and Residents Often Runs High.

Officer Zimbalist Williams, visiting the home of one Los Angeles family, was praised endlessly for helping to make life safer in South-Central.

“I can say, ‘Zim, something’s going on,’ ” said Charles Marsaw, 49, a local homeowner for 15 years. The officer’s efforts have “really changed a lot of things.”

Later the same night, Williams was among half a dozen Los Angeles police officers greeted with cold stares by several residents during a call allegedly involving a man beating a woman at the Avalon Gardens housing development in Watts.

“They’re an organized gang,” said a grimacing Bob S., 23, a former gang member who stood outside a friend’s apartment watching the officers. “They’ve got a license to do whatever they want.”

Such is the reception Williams receives one year after the LAPD’s highly touted community policing program went into effect in the South Bureau.

He may bask in praise from some residents, thankful that he has taken the time to chat them up and get to their neighborhoods--a key goal of the program. But many other residents remain at best skeptical and suspicious.

Overcoming the negative reactions is the challenge facing officers like Williams, who are at the forefront of the department’s program.

The program calls for officers to get out of their patrol cars and onto the streets, getting to know residents and merchants in a way that will help police solve crimes and create an atmosphere of well-being.

It means Williams and a corps of other officers--known as senior lead officers--concentrate on organizing community meetings, knocking on doors to recruit civilian volunteers as block captains and other community representatives, or pulling over to chat with residents one-on-one. The program emphasizes crime prevention, with activists leading their neighbors toward improving relations with police.

The South Bureau--an area that includes the hotbed of the 1992 riots--is the department’s community policing proving ground. It covers a 57-square-mile area from San Pedro to the Santa Monica Freeway, with 750,000 residents living in some of the city’s toughest neighborhoods.

Community policing is being pushed citywide, but the South Bureau faces the greatest challenges because of high crime and severe tension between police and the community. Many observers believe whatever is generated from the bureau’s Southeast, Southwest, 77th Street and Harbor police stations ultimately may determine the program’s success or failure.

Coordinating the effort on South Bureau streets are 28 senior lead officers. They are considered energetic, friendly and eager to talk to residents at times other than when there is trouble.

But everyone agrees that community policing, even if it works, will take years to improve the city on a large scale.

And whatever success community-based policing may have had so far--police attribute a drop in crime last year in part to the program--many city residents say it is doing nothing to improve the quality of their lives.

In some neighborhoods, gunshots are still heard frequently, drug sales remain brisk and prostitutes walk the streets as usual. There are hard-working, law-abiding residents who continue to feel alienated from the latest police efforts to fight crime.

At the same time, there are other residents who view community policing as much more than a feel-good opportunity for police and a relatively few neighbors. They are pleased that hundreds of volunteers are now working directly with police to improve neighborhoods. They say some city blocks are having fewer problems with drug dealers or graffiti taggers. They know the task is huge, but to them, improvements are visible.

“I think (police have) made a great effort to try to make changes,” Mabelle Pittman, 54, a lifelong city resident and a South-Central homeowner for 22 years, said during a recent visit by Williams to her home. “You’re never going to make everybody happy.”

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Williams, a powerfully built man who exercises regularly to keep up with the physical challenges presented in his job, said he enjoys being a senior lead officer.

Using an aggressive yet polite style, Williams, 35, said he helps residents who are struggling for a better life. He covers the area bordered by 93rd and San Pedro streets, Vermont Avenue and Imperial Highway.

The job for Williams, a 13-year police veteran, and other senior lead officers includes recruiting residents as block captains, who organize Neighborhood Watch groups and keep in touch with police under the supervision of other residents selected as community police representatives. Civilian advisory boards created throughout the city suggest areas for patrols to concentrate on, but are without the power to determine police tactics, policies or discipline officers.

During a recent night shift, Williams spoke of the good he believes the program has brought.

“It’s a monumental task,” said Williams, known as “Zimmie.” “Part of the problem is an apathy that has pervaded this community.”

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Under the new program, Williams and other lead officers treat community relations as their primary responsibility, ahead of radio calls, which had occupied most of their time.

Even so, Williams ended up responding to his share of calls: investigating a report of a man shot in the chest at the Nickerson Gardens housing development; speeding through city streets in search of a suspect joy-riding in a stolen car; driving slowly through garbage-filled alleys looking for shady characters, his 9mm handgun at the ready; and frisking young men suspected of selling drugs.

Williams said he believes he can be a more effective officer if he constantly cultivates law-abiding residents while keeping his own eyes and ears wide open for criminal activity. The law enforcement side of policing, he maintains, has not suffered because of community policing.

Williams made sure he stopped at the homes of a couple of residents he considers crucial to spreading the word about community policing.

One stop was to see homeowner Marsaw, a block captain who stands tall and talks tough.

Marsaw, who lives on 105th Street, said the struggle to rid the area of crack houses, graffiti and plain old hoodlums has gone on for years. About nine years ago, his house was firebombed by troublemakers because of his attempts to help get rid of a local drug house, he said.

“They thought it was harassment,” said Marsaw, who is licensed to carry a .38-caliber revolver to protect himself and his family. “They think I’m crazy as hell. I pack a gun just like they do. They give me respect.”

Nevertheless, Marsaw, a carpenter, said his goal is not to create neighborhood vigilantes, but to encourage residents to protect themselves while helping officers enforce the laws. There have been improvements in recent months through communication and neighborhood cleanup projects, he said.

“I’ve seen families begin to work together,” Marsaw said. “You’ve got to be the eyes and the ears for the police.”

At Mabelle Pittman’s house, Williams joked about staying for dinner and played with her 2-year-old foster child, Benjamin. He also gathered some flyers with community news that Pittman had prepared for him.

Pittman, who agreed that some officers could do more to ease the tension within neighborhoods, thinks so highly of Williams that once she adopts Benjamin, she is going to rename him in honor of the officer. The boy’s middle name will be Zimbalist.

“He’s a real great officer,” said Pittman, a community police representative, a 104th Street block captain and an advisory board member. “I think (conditions) will get better, but I think it will be an ongoing battle.”

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Other versions of community-based policing have come and gone over the years.

These latest attempts by the LAPD to start the program began in 1992 after recommendations from the Christopher Commission, which investigated the department after the Rodney G. King beating.

In December, 1993, Chief Willie L. Williams released his community policing plan. The next month, during a public ceremony in South-Central, newly appointed Deputy Chief Mark A. Kroeker, the South Bureau’s commanding officer, proudly introduced the senior lead officers who would be charged with focusing on community policing in his area.

The effort remains a work in progress, at times criticized privately by officers who have seen similar plans in the past. Some believe the program is turning police officers into social workers at the expense of fighting crime.

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But Kroeker, a dynamic speaker who seems to generate energy for his cause much like a football coach would before a big game, said he feels proud of the program’s progress. There are about 150 community police representatives and about 950 block captains in the bureau’s community policing effort, he said.

While community policing alone cannot be credited with reducing crime, Kroeker said he believes it is undoubtedly a contributing factor.

Crime in the South Bureau’s area showed a decline in several categories, including homicides, according to department statistics. The bureau recorded 347 homicides during 1994, compared to 429 during 1993.

Aggravated assaults, which numbered 11,966 in 1994, were 12,968 in 1993; burglaries, 8,779 in 1994 compared to 10,133 in 1993; robberies, 8,066 in 1994 compared to 9,640 a year earlier; and car thefts, 9,871 in 1994 compared to 11,675 the previous year.

“Looking at those facts, I’m encouraged by the year,” said Kroeker, a 30-year LAPD veteran who came to the South Bureau from the San Fernando Valley. “All of that points in the right direction.”

Rabbi Gary Greenebaum, a police commission member and the five-member panel’s immediate past president, said community policing is bound to face some trial and error, but he believes it is worthwhile. The city’s recent history, including the 1992 riots, has made for slow progress because it eroded whatever trust existed between some police and residents.

“Most people I talk to feel positively about it,” he said. “It’s an evolution of a relationship.”

Still, many residents said the crime statistics, no doubt helped by an ongoing gang truce and other factors, do not answer all community concerns.

Some residents say the department-appointed neighborhood representatives are not always the people who know their block best. They worry that too many senior citizens and not enough younger residents are involved. And they worry that the department continues to limit the influence of strong community representatives, surrounding itself with what essentially are boosters.

One group of residents who felt snubbed submitted a list of proposals to Kroeker in October, hoping they could be more involved in shaping the area’s community policing plan. They are still waiting for a response.

Brenda Robinson, 34, and other residents associated with the nonprofit community group Action for Grassroots Empowerment & Neighborhood Development Alternatives, known as AGENDA, essentially want more influence over what police do in their neighborhoods.

“We had been active in the community and no one had bothered to even contact us,” said Robinson, an insurance company administrator who lives on South Gramercy Place. “We were very concerned about that. We felt you could easily end up with a block captain who had just moved into the neighborhood. It was like the first person who put up their hand to say they wanted to be a block captain was picked.”

The group’s proposals include a call for allowing residents to participate in the selection of advisory board representatives, the creation of a database listing community groups, churches, schools, businesses and others involved in the program, and the inclusion of youth representatives at all levels.

In addition, among other things, the proposals call for the advisory boards to review the patterns of complaints against officers and their dispositions and the use of uniform progress reports by advisory boards and police officials.

Virgil Hill, 72, a resident of Hobart Boulevard since 1953 and a local block club member, said he had yet to have anyone knock on his door or call him about the department’s latest program.

“I remain unsatisfied,” said Anthony Thigpenn, AGENDA’s chairman, of the LAPD’s efforts. “If you ask your average person, there is not a perceivable difference. They actually need to be safer.”

“We are hopeful that the proposals will be taken seriously,” he said. “We’re looking for an active role.”

Kroeker said the group’s proposals, like other suggestions submitted to the department, are under consideration by the chief. Adjustments are being made to the program regularly, although some aspects of the program are not negotiable for logistic, safety or policy reasons, he said.

Kroeker, as he has said for months, encouraged anyone interested in the program to contact his office or their local police station. Some segments of the community undoubtedly have been missed, especially among the area’s fast-growing Latino population, but the program is ongoing and problems such as language barriers or recruiting young people are being addressed, he said.

“It’s possible that we would overlook somebody, but that’s not our intention,” he said.

Kroeker said the South Bureau is expected to add several more senior lead officers within the next few weeks for a total of about 35. Only a few of the officers speak Spanish, so efforts to reach more members of the community will include more Spanish lessons for officers, he said.

Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who has kept a close watch on the community policing program and often has been critical of it, said those changes and more will be necessary before a large-scale difference is seen in the city.

“I think community-based policing has yet to blossom in the city of Los Angeles,” said Ridley-Thomas, who agrees with those who say the Police Department is controlling too much of the process. “I have substantial concerns. I think it’s too early to make a judgment, but I think the partnership has to be more real.”

On that point even program supporters like Pittman agree.

“I feel we need more of the younger people involved,” she said. “They’re out there every day and they’re seeing more than we older people are seeing.”

The department hopes officers like Zimmie Williams will steadily draw more residents of all ages and backgrounds.

Nevertheless, residents like Marsaw do not kid themselves about how much good can come from a year of community policing. The streets remain full of dangerous people, he said.

“Even now I’m a little leery and I’ll look over my shoulder,” Marsaw said. “I expect one day one of them will be there.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Crime Drops in South Bureau

The South Bureau, covering a 57-square-mile area from San Pedro to the Santa Monica Freeway, is the department’s community policing proving ground. Since the advent of community policing, crime there showed a decline in several categories:

1993 1994 Homicide 409 333 Aggravated assault 12,968 11,966 Burglary 10,133 8,779 Robbery 9,640 8,066 Car theft 11,675 9,871

SOURCE: Los Angeles Police Department

* BEHIND THE BADGES: Coordinating the community policing effort on South Bureau streets are senior lead officers. Pages 22-23