Police to Halt Mall Holiday Sting Effort

Forced to deploy more officers to patrol, Los Angeles police have decided to shelve their seasonal anti-theft efforts in San Fernando Valley shopping centers.

As part of “Operation Holiday Surprise,” police planted dummy packages in parked cars, hoping to catch thieves breaking into vehicles.

Plainclothes teams would also cruise lots watching for car thieves.

The effort had to be canceled this year because Chief Bernard C. Parks ordered a redeployment of officers from special units, such as the auto theft detail, to patrol, said Det. Robert Graybill, who supervised the auto theft program in the Los Angeles Police Department’s Valley Bureau.

An LAPD spokesman called the loss of Operation Holiday Surprise unfortunate, but said there is a greater need for officers to be on street patrol to combat all types of crime.

“With limited officers, we don’t have the resources to do all the operations,” Officer Jason Lee said.

The Valley auto theft team is being cut from 11 members to four, Graybill said.

When the redeployment formally goes into effect Sunday, the team will be left with one LAPD detective, one LAPD officer providing administrative support, one investigator from the California Highway Patrol and one from the Department of Motor Vehicles, Graybill said.

He said that force is too small to staff Operation Holiday Surprise, which requires teams of about 10 people. Police used one officer posing as a shopper to park the bait car, and eight officers in four cars positioned to either block or chase a fleeing thief.

A supervisor overseeing the operation completed the team.

Holiday Surprise used as many as 45 LAPD officers and detectives, plus investigators from the CHP and DMV to survey about 35 shopping malls and strip malls in the Valley.

The team went out daily for as many as eight hours a day, from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

Since 1993, when the team began the sting operations, it has made 61 arrests involving auto theft or theft of items from cars, Graybill said.

“It was very effective,” said Louise Marquez, general manager and marketing director for Panorama Mall in Panorama City. “It sent a great message to criminals to watch out because law enforcement was out there.”

Fallbrook Mall in West Hills has hired additional security guards because of the demise of the holiday patrols, said marketing director Marie Garcia, who declined to say how many had been hired.

In addition to the termination of the patrols, Graybill said the downsizing of the team will mean the elimination of special auto-theft training for Valley officers.

During the eight-hour sessions, offered quarterly, officers were taught how to detect counterfeit car titles, driver’s licenses and vehicle identification numbers.

But while the team was scaled back, it was not entirely eliminated as were other special units in the Valley, including one dealing with sex crimes.

In keeping the auto theft team alive, Valley Deputy Chief Michael J. Bostic cited the large number of auto thefts in the Valley.

There have been more than 20,000 auto-theft related incidents in the five Valley divisions this year, Graybill said. That’s about a third higher than the Central Bureau, which has the next biggest auto theft problem.

Graybill calls the Valley a “shopping center for auto thieves and burglaries.” Not only are there large numbers of malls with parked cars, but there are also dismantling yards where cars can be stripped, and repair and body shops that offer a ready market for used parts.

Since the unit was created in 1988, 4,000 vehicles valued at $46 million were retrieved, he said. In the past five years, auto theft crime has fallen 59%, Graybill said.

“‘We’ll never be able to do the same things,” he said.

Tips for Avoiding Thefts

Shoppers aren’t the only ones jamming the mall parking lots these days. Police say thieves are out too, looking for a chance to steal packages from parked cars--or even the cars themselves. Here are some tips police recommend to avoid becoming a victim:

* Park in an area with a lot of pedestrian traffic.

* Lock packages in the trunk. Visible boxes are a temptation.

* Always take the keys out of your ignition if you pull up to a loading area to stow packages. Thieves have been known to slide into the car and drive off while the owner was putting purchases in the trunk.

* Keep your purse with you, and keep the car keys out of sight. Thieves have been known to follow shoppers from the parking lot into a store, stealing keys from a purse while it is unattended.

* Be alert. If you see several people hanging out in the parking lot watching people come and go, park somewhere else and notify the shopping center’s security team.