HUNTINGTON PARK : Merchants Welcome Police Substation

Help is always welcome, Mario Castellanos says, especially if it’s to fight crime.

Castellanos, a security guard at El Gallo Giro at Pacific and Florence boulevards, opened his arms to embrace the Los Angeles Police Department’s new substation, which will open Tuesday.

“This is going to help me tremendously,” said Castellanos, who is one of three security officers at the 24-hour Mexican eatery.

The substation, at 7130 Pacific Blvd. in an office next door to the restaurant, is home to a two-officer bicycle unit that started about two years ago. Two more officers will have desks there, working from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Castellanos said the police presence will alleviate some of the danger faced by him and restaurant customers. “When drunkards get into fights in front of the restaurant or whenever there’s a dangerous confrontation, I can run to the substation and ask for assistance,” he said.

“This puts the criminal element on notice,” said Capt. John Nerlinger, who is in charge of the substation. “This is just the good ol’ basic goal of the police officer, which is to assure the safety of the common citizen.”

Dialing 911 is still the fastest way to get a police response, “Unless, of course, it’s in front of the substation,” said Officer Danny Dominguez.

“We are pretty much in the heart of the district, giving us a quicker response time and keeping the bad guys out of the area,” said Dominguez, who is on the bike unit that patrols the boulevard, known as La Calle , Wednesday through Saturday.

The substation will help combat drug dealing and other criminal activities that business owners and shoppers say have plagued the city’s main commercial thoroughfare.

Police say the greatest problem is the trafficking of counterfeit documents. Over the last two years, police have cracked down on the boulevard’s miqueros , who sell phony identification such as Social Security and resident alien cards and driver’s licenses.

Last summer 29 men were arrested in a raid where a fake ID operation was uncovered. All but four men were deported to Mexico by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. But that hasn’t meant the trade in counterfeit IDs has diminished, Dominguez said.

“Some of the people that were arrested have been replaced,” Dominguez said. As for the solicitors at the substation’s doors: “Many of them have figured out our schedule and they go back on to the full swing of selling things when we are not around.”

By July, that will change, officers said. Two more bike patrol officers will allow one unit to patrol every day of the week instead of four.

The substation also will act as a police information center where citizens can report crime and officers can reach out to the community. The office will house a state-funded traffic safety program that provides safety tips to pedestrians and drivers.

In addition, the city’s five security guards, who were hired as a foot patrol to ensure vehicle safety, will have better access to police in the event of a crime, said Nerlinger.

Car theft is a big concern among shoppers and retailers, who say people fight over parking spaces on the boulevard so that they won’t have to park in back alleys where much of the area’s crime occurs.

Despite the obvious move by police to step up vigilance on the boulevard, some business owners and shoppers said it’s going to take even more to rid the district of crime.

Pushing a stroller containing her 1-year-old daughter while keeping her 7-year-old boy within sight, Andrea Amaya said she’s a bit skeptical about how much a substation can improve safety on La Calle .

Although she doesn’t feel threatened by the miqueros , Amaya worries about the visibility of drug deals and its impact on impressionable children like her son.

“Maybe the (substation) will help, but not by much. The police station is just five blocks away and not much has happened to decrease the number of drug dealers on the street.”

“The worst thing about it,” said Jack Rovero, owner of El Norteno clothing store on Pacific, “is when we hear a woman say, ‘I’m not coming here anymore.’ ”

“If I had four police officers, I’d clean La Calle in one day. Everybody knows who’s selling what out here.”