LACP.org
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Operations-Valley Bureau
Status Report

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Operations-Valley Bureau ... a long way to go, but headed in the right direction
Police Commission told of concerted efforts to curb gang violence
September 17, 2002

Chief of Police Martin Pomeroy has asked the Commanding Officers of the four LAPD Bureaus to make presentations to the Board of Police Commissioners one at a time at concurrent weekly Commission meetings. As he prepares to leave office, Chief Pomeroy wants to offer the Board a current Status Report from each quadrant of the Department -- the South, Central, West and Valley Bureaus.

Deputy Chief Willie Pannell, Commanding Officer of Operations-South Bureau, was asked to come to Parker Center first, appearing on September 10th (click here to read about the 9/10/02 South Bureau Status Report).

Deputy Chief Ronald Bergmann, Commanding Officer of Operations-Valley Bureau, reported downtown next, on September 17th, and Assistant Chief David Gascon, who was sitting in for Chief Pomeroy, introduced him to the Police Commission.

Valley Bureau's assistant commanding officer Commander Michel Moore was on hand to help Chief Bergmann make the presentation.

Valley Bureau is home to five LAPD Divisions, Devonshire, Foothill, Van Nuys, North Hollywood and West Valley, and serves a population of roughly 1.25 million people, covering an area of over 220 square miles.
 

Deputy Chief
Ronald Bergmann

Chief Bergmann told the Commission that homicides in Valley Bureau continued to be a problem -- 87 have occurred this year to date as opposed to 70 the year before. He said 62% of them were gang related, and that many were hard to solve. There have been a rash of "backyard murders" lately, and it has been difficult to get witnesses to come forward.

Then, year to date and by Division, he gave the number of homicides that had occurred and how many were gang related:

Division - YTD
homicides
gang related
....West Valley
16
11
....Foothill
25
21
....North Hollywood
17
6
....Van Nuys
10
5
....Devonshire
19
11

Gang related crime is up less than 2% since last year, and the number of rapes dropped 13%. Auto theft is up 10% but the arrests for this category were up 35%.

Valley Bureau burglary rates, usually the highest of the four Bureaus, have fallen significantly, by 70%.

Gangs continue to be a big problem in the Bureau, so the Special Enforcement Units (SEU) work closely with the Bureau's two CLEAR units in targeted areas. There are four gang injunctions in Valley Bureau, and they are working on getting a fifth. Recently there have been 10 homicide arrests, 138 violent crime arrests and 125 guns have been taken off the streets.

The focus in Valley Bureau is to use LAPD forces in collaboration with a variety of groups to combat gangs. These multi-jurisdictional task forces include, among others, community based agencies, local prosecutors, the LAUSD (schools), Parole and Probation.

Chief Bergmann noted that a major article had appeared in the Daily News about this recently. It featured, among other things, the work of "Blinky" Rodriguez.

A sub committee has come up with a unique plan which will go into effect in Foothill Division around November 15th. This is considered a pilot project, and is called the "Community Advocacy Program (CAP) Inter-Agency Partnership."

CAP has three tiers, each with three modules. A flow chart, created for the August 1, 2002, San Fernando Valley Coalition on Gangs Community Meeting, was provided to the Commission, along with contact information and an agenda:

Community Advocacy Program (CAP)
Multi-Disciplinary Team Flow Chart
.
Tier 1 (all three)
Referrals

Sources include:
- Schools
- Parents
- Police
- Probation
- DCFS
- CBOs
- Faith Community
- Gang Hotline
=> Intake

Intake Criteria:
At-Risk and / or involved in Gang activity
- Minors and Families
- Reside in Foothill Division
- Multiple School Behavior Problems
- Chronic Truancy
- Child Welfare Issues
--------------------------------------------
Review Team
=> Assessment Team

Referral Review:
- Determine Level of Service
- Convene Referral Team
- Send notification Letter to Family
--------------------------------------------
Assessment Team :
Team Leader
Deputy Probation Officer
Senior Lead Officer/Juvenile Det.
LAUSD
CBO Representative

Assessment Team determines what Level of Service is Required below:
.
Tier 2 (only one)
Level I
Prevention

- Resides in Foothill Division
- At-Risk for gang activity
- Multiple School Behavior Problems
- Chronic Truancy
- Child Welfare Issues
Level II
Intervention

- Resides in Foothill Division
- Identified Gang Affiliation/Membership
- Multiple School Behavior Problems
- Chronic Truancy
- Child Welfare Issues
- Prior Prevention Measures Unsuccessful
Level III
Suppression

- Resides in Foothill Division
- Identified Gang Related Problem (Individual or Group)
- Gang Activity Escalating or Chronic
- Increased Violence Noted
- Prior Prevention Measures Unsuccessful
.
Tier 3 (all three)
MDT Convenes

- Review Referral with Family
- Develop Case Direction
- Direct Families to Appropriate Resources
- Maintain and Update List of Available Resources
--------------------------------------------
Team Members:
Assessment Team
CBOs
=> Community Services

- Develop Case Study
- Provide Services
- Provide Feedback to MDT
- Follow-up
- Provide Additional Referrals As-Needed
--------------------------------------------
Team Members:
CBOs
=> Follow Up

- Periodic Review of Progress
- Provide Additional Referrals As-Needed
- Monitor Progress and Compliance
- Program Statistical Analysis
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Team Members:
Assessment Team

There are an estimated 80 gangs in Valley Bureau with about 15,000 members. The street leaders tend to be those who are older and have spent time in prison.

Valley Bureau is the only Bureau that's partnered with Parole and Probation at its monthly meetings. Once identified as gang leaders, individuals are targeted by a monthly task force of Detectives.

They also take advantage of their Volunteer Surveillance Teams.

Understanding that suppression is only one part of the solution, programs are being created that are designed to reach kids in middle schools (6th, 7th, 8th grades). Bergmann said these programs, some of which use role-play, were first seen in Central Bureau, and have made a difference that he described as night and day.

For example, during the first session, children are given a questionnaire where they are queried on a number of topics about police. Responses, he says, are often "very, very negative."

Later, when asked to try again, the kids reveal a completely different outlook, expressing among other things a greater appreciation about how hard it is to be a cop.

The Bureau is now in the process of training teachers to become the co-ordinators of the program.

Suppression continues to be a prime tactic, and since the beginning of July a Zero Tolerance Task Force convenes weekly in surprise locations across the Bureau. Valley Traffic officers work a high crime area supported by the geographic Senior Lead Officers (SLOs), with the following results in the last 10 weeks:

4,500
citations issued
586
cars impounded
96
DUI arrests
11
gang members arrested
22
arrests on warrants

Chief Bergmann stated that there has been an overwhelmingly positive response from the general community.

Commission member Rose Ochi asked the Chief, "How does Valley Bureau involve the community?"

Bergmann said the C-PABs (Community Police Advisory Boards) work with the Captains to identify the areas where the most crime occurs. The Area Captains are mediating because nearly all the neighborhoods want to have this in their community. The Task Force goes out once a week in each Division. Originally they deployed on Wednesdays, but it didn't take long for the pattern to become recognizable. Now they move the dates around.

It was noted that Foothill Division, among others, has an active clergy council that's helpful in bringing accurate information to the Captains and other commanding officers. In fact, in the Multidisciplinary Team approach, the clergy is an important partner.

Commissioner Rick Caruso said that he was aware of recent problems in Pacoima, and asked if the Bureau was working with the City Council.

The Chief affirmed that they are working with members of Councilman Padilla's staff in Pacoima and said he wants the relationship to become even better as the evaluation process moves forward. The Bureau is working with the Mayor and Council offices Valley-wide already.

Chief Bergmann hopes that this can be a model for the other three Bureaus.

Commissioners Silvia Saucedo and Rick Caruso asked what it was that the other Bureaus were doing.

Assistant Chief David Gascon replied that the San Fernando Valley Coalition on Gangs is a more comprehensive approach than anything that's been done at LAPD in the past. He said often the energy behind a program like this dissipates over time but that in this case the interest rate has continued to grow.

Deputy Chief Bergmann agreed, saying the response has been overwhelming. When the Bureau sent out its original letter on October 1, 2001 announcing a first meeting, 150 people showed up. The second monthly meeting had an even greater turnout and the third one was attended by the Mayor and members of the City Council.

Despite the completion of the items on the agendas, people wanted to stay behind and continue talking. After the second meeting, it was decided a 40 person steering committee would be established to make things more managable. But every month more people want to come.

In Chief Bergmann's words, "It's been amazing."

Chief Gason commented that the participation by stakeholders in the new Neighborhood Councils has been incredible. As the community weaves its way into these kinds of programs he sees a need to integrate the C-PABs into the Neighborhood Council system.

Commissioner Ochi agreed. She sees this as, " ... a new paradigm for community policing in Los Angeles, and many of us agree we need to have C-PABs involved in any number of partnerships."

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EDITOR'S NOTE: For more information on the Operation-Valley Bureau San Fernando Valley Coalition on Gangs meetings and events please call:

Detective Woodrow Parks, Valley Bureau
Special Enforcement Unit (SEU)
818 / 756-7776

And here's another important upcoming Valley Bureau event:


September 26th (7 pm)


Van Nuys Division Consent Decree meeting
Van Nuys Sunkist Building
14130 Riverside Drive

On June 15, 2001, the City of Los Angeles and the United States Department of Justice officially entered a legally binding agreement known as the Consent Decree. As a part of that contract, the Los Angeles Police Department has agreed to further enhance its community outreach by holding community meetings to inform the public about the Consent Decree.

All Los Angeles residents are invited to attend community consent decree meetings.

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October is Domestic Violence Month. LA Community Policing will be featuring a series of articles and reports about domestic violence in coming weeks. We'll be listing a variety of events both here on the LACP.org website and on the LACP Calendar especially designed to point out the need for all Angelenos to pay attention to this very important issue, and about how it effects the quality of life in LA.

There are two such events already listed, both in October:

FREE EVENT Oct. 3rd (8 am - 4 pm) ...
The 5th Annual "Ending Violence Against Women Conference" - Cal State Northridge. A major free conference - people from all walks of life will come together to help create a world without violence against women, youth and children.

FREE EVENT Oct. 19th (10 am - 3 PM) ...
"Parenting, Youth and Families; raising a community" presented by United Communities to Stop Violence of which LA Community Policing is a partner (click to see the
Raising a Community flyer) - Bravo High School, adjacent to County USC Medical Center.

Please see the LACP Calendar for details.