West Hills : Fallbrook Mall Hires Holiday Safety Patrol

Fallbrook Mall is a safe place to shop, insists the shopping center’s marketing director, Sherry DeCovich. But after three slayings on or near mall grounds, executives are using big bargains and extra security to attract holiday shoppers.

During the peak shopping days of Nov. 17 through New Year’s, two red-shirted mounted security officers will patrol the Fallbrook Mall parking lot every afternoon and evening.

The Royal Courtesy Mounted Patrol officers will be there, DeCovich said, to “help with traffic control, serve as a crime deterrent in the parking lot during our busiest time of the season, escort families and kids to their cars, pass out coloring books to kids and pose for pictures.”

The emphasis is on crime deterrent.

On Sept. 6, 23-year-old Ryan Willis of Woodland Hills was shot to death in front of the mall’s L.A. Tronics store after a quarrel with an acquaintance, apparently over a stolen gun. In June, Taft High School student Ramtin Shaolian was killed in a drive-by shooting behind the General Cinemas theaters.

And in 1993, Oscar William Torres, 29, assistant manager of L.A. Tronics, was killed when he offered a ride to a man who said his truck had broken down.

The mounted officers, provided by Alpha & Omega Services of Southlake, Tex., are “never armed,” DeCovich said, but they are trained to use their horses in self-defense.

The Northridge Fashion Center employs a similar patrol during the holidays.

“While they are not technically part of our public safety department, they are an extra set of eyes and ears and will be equipped with radios so they can contact our officers at any time,” DeCovich said.

In the meantime, retail giants K mart, Old Navy and Burlington Coat Factory have opened at the beleaguered Fallbrook shopping center.

“We have evaluated our public safety department with the LAPD and are very satisfied with the level of security we have at this mall,” DeCovich said.

Citing the mall’s tangential connection to the crimes committed there, DeCovich sighed. “This mall is a safe place to shop. Fallbrook Mall is not a breeding ground for crime. We’ve just had two unfortunate incidents . . . that just happened to culminate on our property.”