Operation continues with community outreach and helicopter patrols
The Santa Monica Police Department announced Friday it is withdrawing the extra patrols assigned to a troubled east-side neighborhood.
The increased patrols were instituted almost two months ago as a crack down on gang-related shootings concentrated in the Pico neighborhood. The operation was later expanded to increased bicycle patrols and fly-overs from a Hawthorne Police Department helicopter.
Since the extra deployment of officers, crime has dipped substantially in the neighborhood and except for one early incident, there have been no further shootings.
“There has been a significant change in activity in the Pico neighborhood,” said SMPD spokesman Lt. PJ Guido. “It’s only one measurement, but we’re a step closer to making the people in the community feel safe.”
The focus will now shift toward organizing residents into neighborhood watch programs and working with people who live in the community. Police officers will work with residents on ways to prevent further violence, which they said is being perpetrated by a few criminals.
“There is only a small percentage of people responsible for most of the violence in that community,” Guido said. “And though it may be caused by less than one-half of 1 percent of the people there, it’s still a percentage that gives people the perception of not feeling safe.”
Officers with the community relations unit will continue to organize meetings with residents and work with them on taking back their neighborhood through graf-fiti control and helping them clean up their neighborhood.
Officers will help residents put up fencing where needed, and make sure gates are locked. They want to encourage residents to report graffiti problems quickly and any unclean alleys and sidewalks.
“Community-orientated policing is something we are really focusing on,” Guido said. “Anything that would help build up the community will be a part of this new kind of policing. This is not just a police issue, it’s a community issue.”
Even though the department has returned to normal staffing levels in the neighborhood, there will still be 24-hour patrols and bike cops riding throughout the neighborhood. The department’s undercover unit will continue its work, and the Hawthorne helicopter will continue to make periodic fly-overs and assist SMPD officers on the ground.
Oscar de la Torre, director of the Pico Youth and Family Center, encouraged the police department to continue with community policing. He previously criticized the department for beefing up patrols in response to the shootings.
“I think community policing is what has needed to happen all along,” said de la Torre, a Pico community activist. “It’s a concept that never materialized in the Pico neighborhood, and it needs to be emphasized.”
However, de la Torre said he was suspicious of the department’s plan. He said police stationed in the Virginia Avenue Park substation rarely walk down the street and talk with residents.
“You rarely see them take that type of approach,” he said. “But I hope that becomes a priority with the police department. I hope we can all develop mutual relationships built on trust and mutual respect.”
Peter Tigler, president of the Pico Neighborhood Association, said he liked having the extra patrols in the neighborhood and said the group will continue to pressure Santa Monica for more funding for police officers stationed in the neighborhood.
The organization especially wants to expand the days and hours of bike patrols, which Tigler said were making a significant difference in the area.
“The taskforce was one thing, but we want something on a more permanent basis,” he said. “If they feel their deployment is better used elsewhere, that’s their prerogative. But that doesn’t change our prerogatives.”
Tigler stressed the police department was moving in the right direction with community policing and helping the neighborhood organize itself.
“I think the community relations will help. A more involved community is a safer community,” he said. “We all know it’s not totally a police problem or a police fix. We all must get involved and come together as a community to really put a stop to this.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 27, 2002. Read the original PDF.