Latino Input Target of Crime-Tip Program

The WeTip hotline, which takes anonymous crime tips from area residents, will soon begin an awareness program to encourage Spanish speakers to report illegal activity, with posters and brochures targeting Latino students, city officials announced Monday.

Mayor Richard Riordan unveiled a program that would encourage Latinos--beginning with teenagers in the Los Angeles Unified School District--to report crime.

Funded with a $40,000 federal grant, the program will be accessible throughout Los Angeles, including the San Fernando Valley. Posters and brochures printed in both Spanish and English will be distributed to selected LAUSD schools as well as city parks.

The program--also introduced by Councilman Mike Hernandez, who represents a heavily Latino district in Los Angeles--targets schools and community centers, and helps residents get involved in the policing of their own neighborhoods.

“This is really a bilingual program that will focus on some of the largely Hispanic areas,” said David Eckert, WeTip’s program development manager.

The council is expected to give the program final approval at its meeting today.

Allocation of the materials will begin about a month later, Eckert said.

“We’re targeting the schools and parks because they are the recruiting grounds for gang members and drug dealers,” Eckert said. “We want to get [youngsters] educated and let them know this is available and that they can turn in these drug dealers.”

Informants are often paid for tips that lead to a conviction, and tip operators take information on all crimes 24 hours a day, seven days a weeks.

To report suspected illegal activity in English or Spanish, call (800) 47-DRUGS or (800) 78-CRIME.