Police are offering free home security inspections
By DIDIER DIELS Special to the Daily Press
SUNSET PARK — A rash of recent burglaries has alarmed residents and prompted police to step up patrols after nine homes in this upscale part of town have been struck in less than two months.
After distributing information by e-mail and canvassing city streets, high ranking police officials met with residents of Sunset Park Wednesday evening to discuss the Santa Monica Police Department’s efforts to quell burglaries, and what residents can do to protect their properties.
“We don’t know if it’s a real trend because we don’t have anything to link these burglaries,” said SMPD Lt. Frank Fabrega. “These burglaries appear to be occurring in the daytime hours, and residents come home to find they’ve been burglarized.”
More than three dozen residents gathered at Mount Olive Church at 14th Street and Ocean Park Boulevard to hear Fabrega and SMPD Lt. Alex Padilla discuss the SMPD’s Neighborhood Centered Policing program, which puts each of the city’s major neighborhoods under the personal watch of high-ranking police officers with the knowledge and power to affect change.
The officers meet regularly with community members and groups, and return to meet monthly with the police department’s command staff, which reassigns resources as needed.
With no residents having reported contact with a burglar, the SMPD has yet to form a description of any possible suspects. However, SMPD detectives said they were working with state parole and county probation officers to help identify leads.
Besides striking in the daytime, the burglars have taken mostly items small enough to fit into a bag, back-pack, or pocket. Police urged residents to immediately report any suspicious persons stopping or loitering in the area, believing suspects might be on foot.
The nine burglaries have affected an area of Sunset Park stretching from Pico Boulevard to Ocean Park Boulevard, and from 20th Street to 25th Streets. Three have occurred in December and six in January.
“If you’re away from home all day, what can you do?” said Zina Josephs, leader of Friends of Sunset Park, a neighborhood group. “We have moms at home with young children — the ones I’ve heard from are extremely worried.”
Josephs canvassed her area Tuesday night with flyers distributed by the SMPD, which were prompted by three residents reporting burglaries on Monday, Jan. 31.
One of the burglaries occurred at the 2400 block of 23rd Street and another at the 2100 block of Hill Street. The same day, a third resident reported a garage burglary at the 2200 block of 21st Street, which had occurred between Jan. 18 and Jan. 21, Fabrega said.
“I’ve been living in the same house for going on six years, and I can’t remember one before now,” said Sunset Park resident Bill Dawson. “Sure we’re concerned, but I think the police is taking adequate steps.”
Beyond the beefed up patrols — by car as well as on foot and bicycle — police will be working with Friends of Sunset Park to organize community watch efforts and get the word out that residents should lock doors and gates at all times, not store hidden keys outdoors, and try to keep outside lights on at night. Undercover officers also are patrolling the neighborhood.
Police also are performing free security inspections of people’s homes, which can be requested at (310) 458- 8474, Fabrega said. “These crimes can be prevented,” Fabrega said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 3, 2005. Read the original PDF.