Banner Effort : Parthenia Street Neighborhood Employs Signs and a Little Illusion to Battle Street Drug Dealing

The red and white banners hang from street lights like a row of urban scarecrows, declaring this Parthenia Street neighborhood an “LAPD Video Zone” and warning would-be crooks: “Buy Drugs, Go to Jail.”

But how well the signs work may depend on how long it takes the would-be criminals to learn the secret behind this latest crime-fighting tool: there are no video cameras. And even after the cameras are installed--when is still uncertain--the videotapes will be monitored by a civilian volunteer, not police.

“Do we have cameras going now? No,” said Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Vance Proctor, who oversees the Devonshire Division. “Do the people over there think we do? Yes.”

The program is part of what one City Hall employee called “the David Copperfield era of law enforcement,” in which illusion replaces more expensive--but effective--crime-fighting methods, such as increased patrols.

The week-old program is an outgrowth of the LAPD’s community relations efforts--in this case, sanctioning a crime-fighting idea created by neighbors. There is, for instance, no such thing as an “LAPD video zone.”

The banners were purchased by local apartment and business owners seeking to ward off street-corner drug dealing and turn around the neighborhood’s crime-tarnished reputation. Although drug dealing in the once-notorious Bryant-Vanalden neighborhood has declined dramatically in the past 18 months--largely because of LAPD sting operations and increased patrols--property owners rallied around the idea of posting the banners.

While the program is new to the San Fernando Valley, it is not unique in the city.

A similar video surveillance program operates in Hollywood by apartment owners. Cities such as Tacoma, Wash., and Baltimore have also begun videotaping high-crime street corners.

But experts say it is difficult to measure how well the programs deter crime. Arrests based on the videotapes are rare, and are sometimes ruled inadmissible as evidence in trials.

Nonetheless, community leaders and police support the 14 new banners, which hang on Parthenia Street between Tampa and Wilbur avenues. Beside the slogans, the banners depict a video camera and a person behind bars.

“This is an example of one community that’s working closely together--with the Police Department--to have a positive impact,” said Lorraine New, a spokeswoman for the Park Parthenia Apartments, a large housing complex on Parthenia Street. “We all decided we’d like to have this as our prevention program.”

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The apartment owners, community leaders and business owners who purchased the banners have the support of Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson. At his urging, the City Council waived fees charged to groups seeking to hang street signs on city property.

“One of the reasons they [the banners] were permitted was because it was such a positive program,” said Francine Oschin, a Bernson spokeswoman.

“I think they’re letting people know drug dealing won’t be tolerated there.”

Some crime experts say such programs tend to move drug dealing and related crime to other neighborhoods. And civil libertarians say video surveillance programs are a poor replacement for police patrols.

“We are not dismissing the frustration that leads to these measures . . . but do we really want every single aspect of our daily lives monitored?” said Ann Bradley, media director for the Los Angeles chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. “What right does the government have in monitoring people . . . innocently going about their daily lives?”

Moreover, she said, video cameras used in convenience stores and banks still have not stopped robberies or holdups. “It gives an erroneous sense that we’ve solved the problem,” Bradley said.

Still, police and community activists in Hollywood say their program--also advertised with banners before the cameras were installed--has driven away gang members and prostitutes.

The program began on Yucca Street in February.

“It’s an excellent deterrent--whether the cameras are working or not,” said Joe Shea, president of the Ivar Hill Community Assn. and a member of the Community Police Advisory Board in Hollywood. “It went from being one of the worst [areas] . . . to one of the safest.”

The last banner on Yucca Street was recently torn down by vandals.

Police say they don’t have the personnel or money to buy and monitor video cameras.

In Hollywood, the apartment owners and residents raised money for three cameras, and the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency contributed $25,000 to buy three more cameras.

Los Angeles police say they endorse the program because it gives neighbors a chance to address specific, local problems.

“If it works, great, I’ll be the first to buy stock in banners,” said LAPD Sgt. Eric Davis, who works with the FALCON narcotics abatement group that includes city attorneys and building and safety officials. “If it doesn’t, what have they lost?”

Narcotics detectives assigned to Northridge say they are concentrating on street corner drug dealing in North Hills, where most crack cocaine is sold in the Valley.

“As of right now, we aren’t working there,” said Det. Bill Deuel, referring to the Parthenia Street area. “But any kind of deterrent helps.”

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Proctor, of the Devonshire station, agreed the video camera program is mostly a community relations effort.

“We’ve knocked down the problem there but we have to remain working there,” Proctor said. “We don’t want it to become a place to buy drugs.”

Toward that end, Proctor said, he will seek money from the city Housing Authority to buy video cameras. In the meantime, he expects to have at least one camera operating soon.

“It will be in a covert site, focused on an area where we believe there is loitering,” Proctor said. “We will not leave it in the same location.”

Once a day, the videotapes will be viewed by a volunteer at the police station, he said.

“Prevention is the name of the game,” said New, the apartment owner spokeswoman. “We’re just a community that’s involved in staying as nice as we are.”