Police Staffing

* I [recently] met with 10 of my neighbors at the Foothill Division police station to complain about conditions in our neighborhood. We are all concerned about the following problems:

* The increase in graffiti and vandalism.

* The problem of trash being dumped at night on the streets.

* Noise from ice cream vendors (just what are they selling at 10 p.m.?), loud parties and loud stereos, especially the bass, which thump, thump, thumps into your house from blocks away.

* Unenforced curfew.

There are laws on the books to deal with these problems, but they are not enforced. When we complain to the police, we are told that there are only a limited number of police to cover the 80 square miles of Foothill Division. Last week, 28 officers were moved from this division. [The Times reported that] they are going to bring in 20 anti-gang officers. That’s a net loss of eight officers! We didn’t need a decrease in the police force; we need a net increase of 28 officers.

The people feel as if they have been abandoned to the gangs by the police. We feel that the city has closed its eyes to the problems of Pacoima. We watch as billion-dollar projects are built while we don’t even have sidewalks along 50% of Laurel Canyon Boulevard between Osborne Street and Van Nuys Boulevard.

If the Los Angeles Police Department cannot cover the Foothill Division, maybe they should turn it over to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Personally, I can’t wait for the San Fernando Valley secession issue to come up on the ballot.

MIKE LEPTUCH

Pacoima