Police After-School Center Aids Needy Kids

Los Angeles Police Officer Dora Lantz pounds a different sort of beat these days.

For seven years, she patrolled some of the toughest areas in the city, dealing with some of its most dangerous adults. Now, she hangs out in a storefront building at a North Hills mini-mall, helping children.

Lantz runs the Devonshire Police Activity League Supporters Center, better known as PALS to the 6- to 18-year-olds who congregate there.

The center, which has received a $10,000 grant from the Los Angeles Times Holiday Campaign, is dedicated to providing a safe, entertaining after-school environment for youngsters from the surrounding neighborhood.

Thanks to people such as Lantz, the facility also tries to build understanding between the Police Department and the children, many of whom come from low-income minority families.

“I love these kids,” said Lantz, who usually shows up for work in her neatly pressed dark blue uniform, complete with badge and holstered pistol.

“A lot of these kids were fearful when they first saw me in uniform,” she said. “Then they started asking questions, and the more we talked, the more they saw that I’m a regular person.”

Dick Ashnault, who oversees the centers in 15 of the Police Department’s 18 divisions, said the Devonshire operation is about 13 years old.

Division commanders have freed officers such as Lantz to run the facilities full time.

The Devonshire center, which depends on outside contributions for its annual budget of about $165,000, is equipped with arcade games, a pool table, table games, puzzles and a large assortment of books and magazines.

About a dozen computers are used for games and even an occasional homework assignment. The center has a band and a drill team that march in local parades.

Diego Barrios, 18, said he first stopped by about 10 years ago.

“I peeked through the window, and I saw all the games,” he said. “That looked pretty good.”

Barrios said he walked in and signed up, and he’s been coming back ever since.

“The best thing about this place is the police officers,” he said. “They taught me to do the right thing, and that’s made a big difference in my life. If I have kids of my own some day, they’ll come here. I love this place.”

Through the end of the year, The Times is highlighting organizations that have benefited from its annual holiday fund-raising campaign.

Last year’s appeal helped 56 charities in Southern California.

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