Efforts to Save Community Hinges on Determined Army : Panorama City demonstrates the power of the people

A professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, Herman Goldstein, is credited with developing the concept of “community-oriented policing.” And the goal of what Goldstein proposed turns out to be very much like the welcome revival that has begun in the Panorama City area of the San Fernando Valley.

But as Goldstein’s idea caught fire in the late 1980s, the message of how to get there had already been warped by various translations. All too quickly, the goal of jump-starting neighborhoods and reclaiming them from an entrenched criminal element had created the unrealistic concept of the “Supercop.”

It was the Supercop who was supposed to have the time to handle his or her regular duties, and develop personal relationships with the terror-stricken residents who were too frightened to fight back. The Supercop was supposed to build their confidence and help them determine everything that needed to be done to let the crooks know that they no longer controlled the streets. Then, the Supercop was supposed to get every lackadaisical city agency to clean off the graffiti, fix the street lights, clean up the trash, and so on.

Well, this is Los Angeles, where the Thin Blue Line ought to be known as the Frayed Blue Thread, and where everyone wearing a cape and leotards is rightly directed toward the nearest community mental health center.

Even when (if) we do get a 10,000-officer Los Angeles Police Department, sworn officers will be hard-pressed to play the demanding role of a latter-day superhero. In a city this large and populous, much of the LAPD’s patrol time will still be controlled by incident-oriented tasks.

One of the biggest lessons of the Panorama City story is the same one that brings us back to a much more realistic notion of community-oriented policing. It all begins, in fact, with a community that is tired of losing and willing to take the initiative.

Times reporters Tim May and Lisa Leff, for example, repeatedly heard that the 3-year-old Panorama City Neighborhood Assn. has served as a catalyst for change. And what began as a small effort to combat slum conditions soon included residents and merchants who were willing to roll up their sleeves to save a community.

Their willingness to step forward eased the way for everything that followed. Police and detectives didn’t have to spend valuable time building bridges to a numbed and defeated part of town. Merchants formed their own Business Watch and a zero-tolerance program for trash, graffiti and cluttered storefronts.

The same engaged and active community made it easier for City Councilman Richard Alarcon to press ahead with revitalization plans. And community spirit has to be part of what convinced a couple of seasoned developers, the Voit Cos. and Selleck Properties, to take a chance on a major project planned for the old General Motors assembly plant there. Wal-Mart, the Arkansas-based retail giant, is also considering Panorama City for its first Los Angeles store.

We doubt that even professor Goldstein would have taken his argument this far.

Community-oriented policing begins with a community that is tired of losing and willing to take the initiative.