Gunning for Speeders

In a new twist on Neighborhood Watch, residential crime fighters in Beverly Glen are waging a bold new battle against scofflaw speeders.

Armed with a radar gun and a defiant attitude, they have taken up positions along steep and winding Beverly Glen Boulevard to monitor cars and write down license plate numbers.

Police will send out warning letters to the registered owners of vehicles caught speeding down a three-mile stretch of the lush canyon road between Sunset Boulevard and Mulholland Drive.

The radar patrol is the first of its kind in Los Angeles but police are already getting inquiries from other neighborhood groups about duplicating the effort.

For neighbors who spend their mornings and afternoons playing traffic cop, the new Community Speed Watch Program is a welcome relief from an old problem.

“Get behind the radar gun and it’s like letting steam out,” said Sylvi Brown, 48, a member of Residents of Beverly Glen Inc., the group that officially launched its citizens patrol Wednesday. “We’re so angry at the way people drive here--whether it’s speeding, tailgating or not letting you out of your driveway.”

Police say the campaign is simple but effective. Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Traffic Division provide a radar gun and a logbook for the citizen patrols, which take place about twice a week during the day.

The volunteer crime fighters typically work in groups of three, with one person holding the radar gun and the others noting license plate numbers.

The group, which began practicing last week, will conduct its patrols up to four hours at a time on unspecified days. Police will choose the locations to be staked out on Beverly Glen.

Although the warning letters sent by police are expected to have an impact, residents say the mere presence of the radar gun already appears to be working.

“It’s obvious people are slamming on their brakes,” Robert Ringler, a former UCLA dean and president of the neighborhood association, said as he clocked cars Wednesday. “You watch the speeds drop as they go through here.”

Ringler, 55, who is also a justice of the peace, spent the better part of two hours gleefully calling out speeds as cars passed the group’s checkpoint for the day, a small dirt patch alongside the road.

“I’m actually getting them before they even see me, when they come around the turn,” Ringler said, steadying the radar gun with two hands.

Among the 20 or so cars caught speeding through the canyon Wednesday were a Mercedes doing 48 mph, a Corvette at 42 mph and a BMW at 48 mph.

“We’re heavy on the luxury cars,” said Adam Siegler, 38, an attorney who took time off from work to join the radar team.

Beverly Glen residents have long complained about speeders zipping down the two-lane roadway, which snakes up Beverly Glen canyon amid overhanging trees and exclusive homes.

The street serves as a quick route for commuters traveling between the Westside and the San Fernando Valley.

In all, 17,000 cars a day travel the street, where speed limits vary from 20 mph at sharp turns to 30 and 35 mph along most stretches.

Police say the street has earned an accident-prone reputation, with 29 collisions last year, including one in which a motorcyclist lost a leg. But those who live along the street and in the quiet hills around it say the official reports fail to capture the true extent of the trouble. They complain about motorists crashing into mailboxes, street signs, trash cans and parked cars--with minor accidents occurring at least once a week. Residents say they put their lives at risk every time they pull out of their driveways.

“It’s fearful,” Ringler said. “Try to back out and you don’t know how fast somebody is coming around the curve.”

Last year, an answer emerged. A member of the neighborhood association heard a radio report about a small community in Ohio that was using radar guns to curb speeding. The group decided to contact Los Angeles police about trying a similar approach on Beverly Glen.

Brown, head of the neighborhood group’s traffic committee and the person who initiated the program with police, recalled that some residents were apprehensive at first about taking aggressive action.

“A few people said, ‘What if the motorists pull over and pick a fight or pull a gun?’ ” Brown said. “The police said that if it looks like a motorist is going to get hostile, call on [your] cellular phone.”

Police held a training session to teach the activists how to use the radar gun and log license plate numbers and other vital information.

Two other Westside groups--one on nearby Roscomare Road and another in the hills above Hollywood--are preparing to start their own patrols. Other groups in the area have also expressed interest, police say.

Ultimately, authorities hope that the program will be duplicated in neighborhoods citywide.

“The response to this has been tremendous,” said Officer Sol Lebus, coordinator of the program for the West Traffic Division. “We’re hoping more people will get involved. We’ll train them and get them out on the street.”