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Most
Wanted Criminal Suspects
How best to get the word out ... ?
LAPD posts a lot of information about suspects in local, regional,
nation and even international crimes on its website. The link below
will take you directly to the cover page for that section:
http://lapdonline.org/get_involved/most_wanted/most_wanted_main.htm
Unfortunately the module on crimes by Divisions, the one that might
be most useful to residents, seems to not be working as of this
writing. We hope that's because it's being updated, and look forward
to it being repaired soon.
Many of the LAPD Press Releases deal with a description of a crime,
a suspect or a reward ... but tracking all this information can
become a full time occupation:
http://lapdonline.org/press_releases/press_releases.htm
Police are often heard extolling the virtues of having the community
be its extra eyes and ears. So obviously anything that assists a
resident in understanding who and what they are looking for
is important.
For community policing to be effective, we'll want to examine new
ways to streamline the process, offering accurate, timely information
locally. We'll want to take advantage of the thousands of Angelenos
that stand ready to assist LA in its fight to make ours the safest
big city in the country.
Personal contact between officer and community menbers will always
be important, but there are many other ways this sharing of information
can happen efficiently, and certainly the computer can help.
Email makes it quick and easy to send information to a group that
desires to receive it, either for their own personal safety or so
they can actively participate. Community members are already familiar
with the use of e-groups (to see the full article: E-group
Alarm Discussion).
There's no reason a set of Divisional private groups could not be
established in Los Angeles. People can self-designate their desire
to participate (or remove themselves at will). Using the blind carbon
copy (BCC) method of distribution is simple enough, and this means
that lists can be maintained in confidentiality.
Chief Bratton understands this and spoke of it when he and the Mayor
sat down with some of us at the Community Policing Roundtable in
November (to see the full article: Community
Policing Roundtable).
At one point late in the meeting, the ensuing dialogue occurred,
when an active Los Feliz resident brought up the issue. She related
it to Senior Lead Officers needing better tools, Neighborhood Councils
needing better information, and the use of the internet:
| The
next community member the Mayor selected to speak was
from the Los Feliz Improvement Association. |
Suggestions:
She spoke about the need to build relationships between the
SLO's and the City Departments. Senior Lead Officers' frequently
identify problem areas (a need for better lighting, illegal
dumping, etc.) and then they get stuck … not getting a good
response from City Departments. The other City Departments
need to understand that when they do respond they have a huge
success rate on fighting crime.
Secondly, she'd like to begin to build relationships with
the Neighborhood Councils. Community Policing can grow and
prosper if we immediately begin to build relationship with
the Neighborhood Councils. The Senior Lead Officer program
can play this role.
Finally she'd like the LAPD to begin to work with technology
a little more, by taking advantage of e-mail. "An e-mail crime
alert system between LAPD Divisions and Neighborhood Watches
would be a very quick way to get everybody with crime trends
in the neighborhood."
Chief Bratton: "Let me follow up on a couple of
issues on these points. We had a meeting in the last couple
of days about the use of e-mail as a way of getting alerts
out. You're very familiar with the new system on the highways
when we have a missing child … about using that. And we are
looking at the potential of literally having an e-mail "burst
list" that if we have an issue we can get it out very quickly
and take advantage of technology. So we had a significant
discussion about that.
We're also hoping when we get the new COMPSTAT system, FASTRAC,
up and running early next year that my vision would be to
literally put it on the website. That what my command officers
are looking at when they do COMPSTAT there's really no reason
why you in the neighborhood, those of you equipped with computers
couldn't bring it up on your screen "… here's where the crimes
are occurring, here's where the arrests are occurring, here's
information on those …"
Because you are our eyes, and yes, you are our partners, and
you are our Neighborhood Watches, and need to know what we're
looking for. Similarly, if there's a crime pattern developing
in your neighborhood, we'd give you a burst on the e-mail
list that we have this happening. So we're going to try to
take advantage of that technology, certainly.
I'm also actually very interested in your neighborhood … my
wife and I will be moving in there sometime after the first
of the year, so, we'll be looking forward to seeing you over
there. You can give me some good hints on where to shop and
where to eat."
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As
it happens, just a few days later a rapist struck in Los Feliz,
the Chief's new neighborhood.
The LA Times reported the story, and that's how many in the community
discovered the suspect had been active in the Northeast and Hollenbeck
areas since 1995!
According to LAPD the assault on this young girl meant he'd struck
for the 18th time.
Local activists, including the very woman the Chief had spoken to
at the Roundtable, are struggling to understand why this wanted
criminal had never been caught, and what can be done about it.
It's been disheartening. They've discovered incomplete information,
uninformed officials, and programs that are either ineffective or
seem to exist only on paper (the "Safe Passage" and "Safe
House" programs, for example).
They've come to believe that the suspect, a serial rapist, may well
end up continuing his local crime spree ... unless they take matters
into their own hands.
So, these community members have been on the web themselves. They
set up a community meeting with the LAUSD, LAPD and parents, and
they've used the internet as just one of the very effective tools
at their disposal to find out information (or the lack thereof)
and get the word out.
Here's just one of the emails that was sent recently:
Hyperion
Bridge Rapist
... a monster in our midst
An article entitled "Sexual
Predator Is Stalking Los Feliz-Area Schoolgirls"
appeared in the LA Times on December 16th, 2002, and reported
on a rape that occurred near Marshall High School.
The piece hit some Northeast LA area residents hard, not
simply because it vividly described a horrible crime,
but because, unknown to many locals, the predator had
been in their midst, attacking young girls for years.
This time, a 17-year-old senior was attacked, dragged
under a bridge and raped.
The suspect? The Times identified him as a "potbellied,
flat-faced man wearing a beanie" who the paper reported
had accosted or raped at least 17 schoolgirls over a 7
year period, and according to the paper, had been active
in the communities of Los Feliz, Silverlake, Atwater Village,
Highland Park, Cypress Park, Lincoln Heights and Montecito
Heights.
Yet many residents, including local activists who regularly
interacted with LAPD, had no idea this man was on the
loose, much less that several accurate descriptions, including
artist's renderings, have been available for years.
He's an overweight male Hispanic, 5'6" - 5'8", 200 - 280
pounds, in his mid 30s, and is described as having large
fleshy hands, a "potato-shaped" nose, often unshaven,
with a potbelly, and strong odor. In a typical attack
the suspect appears to be jogging as he approaches his
victims from behind. Then he grabs the victims, often
dragging them into some bushes or under a bridge, and
sexually assaults them.
Further investigation revealed he's been active all this
time in the vicinity of Marshall and Franklin High Schools
and Nightingale Junior High, often attacking schoolgirls
walking to and from school.
Since 1995 his assaults have occurred in two Police Divisions,
Northeast and Hollenbeck, and in portions of at least
four City Council Districts, those currently held by Ed
Reyes (CD1), Tom LaBonge (CD4), Eric Garcetti (CD13) and
Nick Pacheco (CD14).
He struck at least three times last year.
Concerned parents and the LAPD are hosting a community
meeting about this:
Thursday, January 30, 2003 at 6:30 pm
John Marshall High School
3939 Tracy Street in the Sniffen Auditorium
(for parking enter off Griffith Park Blvd. or Tracy Street)
SPECIAL NOTE: If your browser allows, copy and paste the
URL below from LAPDonline.org into it to see the suspect's
picture. You can read his description and see a list of
the 18 crimes LAPD attributes to him, including the dates
and locales of his known assaults.
URL from LAPD describing suspect:
http://lapdonline.org/get_involved/most_wanted/northeast_most_wanted/mw_010407809.htm
It's confusing that there are five people shown on the
page, but the Hyperion Bridge Rapist is the last person
pictured at the bottom.
For further information please contact:
Detective Greg Stone, Robbery-Homicide Division, Rape
Special Section at (213) 763-5061
After hours call the Detective Headquarters Division at
(877) 529-3855
Let's get the word out and catch this guy … enough is
enough. |
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Unfortunately
there are far too many Most Wanted Criminal Suspects out there for
the police alone to handle.
Los Angeles will have to work smart, using every tool we
can find, and engaging every law abiding stakeholder, sworn
and resident, if we expect to make a difference.
Because I believe the streets should belong to us.
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EDITOR'S
NOTE: Following the meeting described above the Park2Park community
website which serves Echo Park and Griffith Park areas ran a synopsis.
Please
click here to go to the story:
Park2ParkLA
- Hyperion Attacker article
Please click here to go to the Park2Park LA homepage:
Park2ParkLA.com
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