LAPD Youth Center Offers Free Classes

In a celebration attended by more than 200 guests, the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Valley Division unveiled on Friday the showcase of its community policing effort, a substation and youth center in Reseda created as a haven from the temptations of gangs and drugs.

The ceremony began with a ribbon-cutting ceremony under a bright blue awning at 7033 Reseda Blvd., a site that was little more than four quake-damaged storefronts just a couple of years ago.

Today, thanks to the efforts of LAPD Sgt. Joel Price, Police Activity League Supporters and many donors, the spacious, modern facility is home to several offices, a kitchen, restrooms, a computer laboratory funded by City Councilwoman Laura Chick and a multipurpose recreation room.

“This facility exemplifies our community policing spirit,” Mayor Richard Riordan told the assembled guests.

“I see the faces of people who care about their community and are doing something about it.”

Citing the recreational and educational programs for children as a “front-end intervention” against the lure of crime, LAPD Chief Willie L. Williams said the site is further proof of the department’s willingness to extend itself into the lives of the city’s residents.

Richard Friedkin, president of PALS, said the center plans to offer field trips and programs such as weightlifting, karate, boxing, fencing, wrestling, arts and crafts, cosmetology and self-defense for children 10 to 17.

Services are free, but children must register first with staff members, he added.

Approximately 70 children have signed up in the three weeks the center has been unofficially open, a figure that Friedkin expects to grow dramatically as word spreads.

“This is the kids’ facility,” he said as children swarmed through the recreation room sampling the pinball machines, air hockey tables and exercise bicycles. “It doesn’t belong to us.”

For more information, call (818) 342-5725.