Still Wary

Pouring rain did not deter 200 South San Gabriel residents from their appointment with sheriff’s deputies. Shaking off raincoats and snapping shut umbrellas, they streamed into an elementary school auditorium after a long day of work in order to have their fears relieved.

One at a time, they stepped to the microphone, some demanding, others pleading. What steps, they asked, are police taking to combat the gangs? Why are there so many burglaries? What is being done to shut down drug dealers?

Nevermind that the crime rate in the city--as in other parts of Los Angeles County--has dropped over the past five years. Residents were scared. Their neighborhoods, once seemingly tranquil, now felt dangerous.

It is a common theme repeated in communities across Los Angeles County: Although Southern California is safer than it has been in years, residents hang onto the old perceptions that their neighborhoods are rife with crime.

The fear--fed by media reports of random killings and rumors of break-ins and gang activity--has become as much a part of day-to-day life in many Los Angeles-area neighborhoods as trash pick-up and street cleaning.

It came as no surprise to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department that the citizens of South San Gabriel--a microcosm of sorts for the Los Angeles area--turned out in force to voice their concerns.

“The truth is, the community is a lot safer than people might think,” said Deputy Jesus Anguiano, the crime-prevention officer for the area. “They’re not crime-free, but they’re pretty much close to that. . . . People are hanging onto the past.”

Changing Face of a Small Town

Thirty-five years ago, the tiny community of South San Gabriel was a patchwork of strawberry fields and new tract homes, built on rolling hills about a mile and a half from the Rio Hondo.

Although just 12 miles from downtown Los Angeles, it felt like living in the country. “It was beautiful,” said resident Olga Marquez-Mitsunaga, 58, who moved there with her husband in 1964. “There were eucalyptus trees everywhere. It was considered horse country. . . . But all that went.”

The fields gave way to haphazard housing developments. Traffic clogged the major streets as commuters looked for quick thoroughfares to the I-10 and the California 60 freeways. A gang of youths patrolled the streets, splashing graffiti on the walls. Wild roosters jumped from one backyard to the next. Their crowing seemed out of place amid the sound of cars whisking along Del Mar Avenue and San Gabriel Boulevard.

Neighbors started to talk about a rash of thefts in the area. Some moved away. The neighborhood, they said, was not what it used to be.

Marquez-Mitsunaga and her family opted to stay.

This was their home. They were burglarized twice, as were many of the residents who lived in her cul-de-sac off Arroyo Drive. Marquez-Mitsunaga started to wonder if she should continue taking her daily walks at dusk during the summertime. She held out hope that the community was--for the most part--safe.

On February 3, 1993, that hope was shattered.

“My girlfriend called me at work and said, ‘Olga, there’s a hostage situation in your neighborhood,’ ” Marquez-Mitsunaga said.

Four members of a family that lived across the street from Marquez-Mitsunaga were held captive for nearly six hours by two armed men who ransacked the family home. The men tied up the father and son with neckties and twice forced family members to a bank to withdraw cash.

The siege ended with a car chase and crash in Monterey Park that injured one suspect. The other suspect was arrested about a hour later by the sheriff’s SWAT team as he tried to flee the family’s home.

Detectives later determined that the suspects were part of a violent Chinese gang who had targeted the family’s well-kept house because they thought the owners were rich.

Although the suspects were caught, the day left a deep impression on the neighborhood.

“I was scared,” Marquez-Mitsunaga said. “I heard that they intended to rob our neighbors’ house and two others. I didn’t know if they were going to come back.”

Five years later, Marquez-Mitsunaga has heard the presentations from the Sheriff’s Department, seeking to reassure her and others that such incidents are rare.

Nevertheless, she keeps her doors locked at all times. She never walks the streets alone after dark. And there are others in her neighborhood who share her feelings. Many residents have either been burglarized over the years or know someone who has.

A man who lives around the corner from Marquez-Mitsunaga has been burglarized a half-dozen times over the years. “I’ve lost five TVs and I’ve been mugged twice,” said J.D. Rodriquez, 82. “Every time I see a teenager, I go the other way.”

In a recent survey of some 800 South San Gabriel residents, sheriff’s deputies found that 303 people listed youth gangs as the primary threat to the safety of their neighborhood. An additional 220 residents said they were most concerned about thefts.

Forty-five named vandalism as their main worry, while 38 residents listed narcotics activity. Twenty said they were most concerned about violent crime.

When asked to identify their primary concerns regarding nuisance activity in their neighborhoods, 366 said traffic. One respondent expressed fear that if a lot of people drive through the community, some might take notice and come back to rob the residents.

Today, what were once considered assets to the area can seem threatening. Twenty years ago, for instance, residents in the area lobbied to have a park wedged between Hill and Arroyo drives.

“We thought it would be great for the kids,” Marquez-Mitsunaga said. Now neighbors believe the small grassy plot has become a haven for drug dealing and gang activity. “It’s terrible,” she said.

One neighbor, who declined to give his name for fear of becoming a target, said he has called the Sheriff’s Department on several occasions to investigate strange noises and confront strangers who appeared to be casing his cul-de-sac.

“Even though this is a dead-end street, people will come in and circle around slowly,” said the resident. “We see a lot of characters who look like they’re cruising the neighborhood. It really seems like the neighborhood is slipping.

“Let’s put it this way,” he added. “We don’t go walking in the evening on Arroyo Drive. I don’t even let the kids walk to the corner store.”

Said another resident: “You hear about so many things on the news. It’s just horrible. You start wondering if it can happen in your own neighborhood.”

Combating Fear With a Personal Touch

Sheriff’s deputies worry about the fear in this and other neighborhoods. Teams of deputies go door to door, hold meetings, try to answer questions.

“They heard about the gang activities from five or six years ago,” said Capt. Jon Engebretsen. “Many of them thought those things were still happening. It reinforced our need to talk to residents about what’s going on.”

According to the sheriff’s officials, serious crime in the area has dropped, as it has in virtually every other area the department patrols. Serious violent crimes and burglaries in this area are down by about 4% over the past few years. And, according to the Sheriff’s Department, there have been virtually no homicides or rapes in recent years in the community.

At a recent candidates forum, Sheriff Sherman Block--who is seeking reelection this fall--told an audience of about 60 Latino peace officers that one of the biggest challenges facing his department was helping residents to feel safer in their neighborhoods.

“While crime is down, the fear is high,” Block said. “It impacts the quality of life.”

Indeed, in a 1997 survey of 26 communities patrolled by the Sheriff’s Department, 23% of the residents questioned said they felt it was unsafe to walk in their neighborhoods after dark. But after meeting with deputies in community workshops, 12% said they felt it was unsafe.

“That’s a 47% drop,” said Assistant Sheriff Mike Graham. “We believe that working with our citizenry is the way to solve the problem of crime. We have to empower those neighborhoods to take back their communities.”

Anguiano said he can remember a time about 10 years ago when it was unsafe for deputies in South San Gabriel to drive alone down some of the isolated roads--many of them nothing more than narrow, dead-end alleyways--because thugs would pelt their patrol cars with rocks.

But Anguiano credits neighborhood watch efforts, Supervisor Gloria Molina and the sheriff’s High-Impact Cops program with turning the area around.

About a year ago, Molina’s office sponsored an effort to paint murals on the cinder block walls, reducing the instances of graffiti in the area, Anguiano said.

“It’s been a major blessing to bring this program to this area,” he said. “The gang visibility has gone down quite a bit.”

The neighborhood watch groups have also been effective in winning the confidence of the residents, Anguiano said.

The more neighbors are involved, the better they usually feel about the safety of their community, he said.

“When the peace and tranquillity of the neighborhood is at stake, we are not going to sit back and let things happen without getting involved,” said one resident. “I think our persistence is paying off.”

Street lights have helped. So has making an extra effort to get to know neighbors. South San Gabriel remains haunted by crimes past and the threat of crimes to come. But Anguiano sees hope.

“I don’t see us as a neighborhood living in fear,” he said. “I see this as a neighborhood that is very concerned, very watchful and very diligent.”

The complete ‘Living in Fear’ series is available on The Times’ Web site. Go to:

https://www.latimes.com/crime

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Series at a Glance

Sunday: A decade of falling crime has not left Americans feeling safer. One reason for that is a coalition of self-interests--politicians, media, police and security companies--that exploits the fear of crime in order to gain from it.

Monday: The Los Angeles Police Department is committed to reducing “the fear and incidence of crime.” It has succeeded in one mission but failed in the other.

Today: In one Los Angeles County neighborhood, fear outruns reality, leaving residents uncomfortable in their community even though the statistics suggest that they should be enjoying a sense of security.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Series at a Glance

Sunday: A decade of failing crime has not left Americans feeling safer. One reason for this is a coalition of self-interests--politicians, media, police and security companies--that exploits the fear of crime in order to gain from it.

Monday: The Los Angeles Police Department is committed to reducing “the fear and incidence of crime.” It has succeeded in one mission but failed in the other.

Today: In one Los Angeles County neighborhood, fear outruns reality, leaving residents uncomfortable in their community even though the statistics suggest that they should be enjoying a sense of security.