S-T+NEARBY NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH MEETING NOTES

S-T+NEARBY NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH MEETING NOTES

NOVEMBER 19, 2024 at Joselito's/Tujunga

33 attended 2024's final meeting! Next meet-up is 21 January 2025, 10:30am at Joselito's—barring surprises!

Senior Lead Officers (SLO) Gloria Caloca (Tujunga) and Will Godoy (Sunland) emceed the ceremonies, gave their areas' crime stats, and answered a ton of questions!

►► SUNLAND STATS FROM SLO GODOY ◄◄

2024's total crimes are DOWN by 60 from 378, compared to 438 in 2023!

The only rise in serious crime is in Grand Theft Auto (GTA), UP from 95 thefts in 2023 to 104 this year. Kias and Hondas are most vulnerable. These AREN'T carjackings; they're either copied key-fobs, or fobs/keys left inside cars at gas stations, convenience stores, donut shops—even a day care center! LAPD calls this "Foothill Taxi Service"!

There are fewer tents and RVs, but graffiti has picked up. TVOK gang tags are increasing, but gang detectives are on it.

Officer Godoy repeated his urgings to download and use MyLA311 to report graffiti, dead street lights, encampments and illegal dumping.

One resident reported a fantastic 10-min response time from MyLA311 for graffiti! (Don't plan on it!)

Traffic control officers are often stuck ticketing on Foothill Bl., our highest-speed street, so they can’t patrol feeder streets as frequently. Foothill Div. continues to ask for funding to beef up our traffic coverage.

►► TUJUNGA STATS FROM SLO CALOCA ◄◄

Tujunga is down by 57 crimes compared to 2023! Biggest increase is in home burglaries. ️

A cluster of break-ins ️‍ in SevenHills prompted a neighborhood meeting with SLO Caloca, and the formation of a local WhatsApp group where videos of suspicious people are posted. Residents were very receptive to LAPD hints, and this issue has apparently abated. Perpetrators seem to be South American "crime tourists." For example, Chileans need no visa ID to enter the USA and stay a while.

One resident reported a gaggle of male teens roaming her apartment complex. They did no harm, and disappeared when she asked, "Are you lost?"

Officer Caloca visited the tent in front of CVS and found it unoccupied. It looks to be on the sidewalk but sits on mall property, which requires an owner's request to remove.

One attendee alleged Trump supporters were selling merchandise, blocking a sidewalk, were too loud, and were in the street harassing passersby. When SLO Caloca responded, only sales were observed. Caloca will keep her eye on this.

Caloca was asked what states of mind officers meet in the homeless. Some have valid stories. Some are integidated. If readily compliant, they may get a break, as there's no point in clogging a glutted system with volumes of citations when most homeless have no money to pay.

►► PROPOSITION 36 WON WITH 70%! ◄◄

Californians overwhelmingly approved Proposition 36—a good omen for law-abiders! Prop 36 upgrades many crimes to felonies—meaning a greater chance of jail time for many crimes. This was only necessary because 2011's Prop 47 under-punished many felonies by renaming them misdemeanors!

On paper, Prop 36 takes effect mid-December, but Godoy warns that City Attorneys must pore over it. Experience tells us they'll parse its wording, look for loopholes, argue how to implement the sections—and which parts to ignore. Then officers await exact instructions through LAPD.

☼ Many perps use basic laws to advantage. During Covid-19, GTA shot up and lawsuits relaxed punishments. One West Covina GTA perp was apprehended three times in one day!

► BUT tracking and adding each separate misdemeanor to a crook's record can lengthen sentencing once s/he is collared for a more serious crime.

☼ A resident asked whether Prop 36 will encourage officers. Police already do all they can with each arrest. A simple shoplifting upgrades to "robbery" if the thief uses violence, fear or intimidation. (That makes it an "Estes robbery," after a robber who threatened a guard.)

A resident reported the empty Masonic lodge on Valmont was plagued by an encampment that spawned a fire, burnt-out cars and graffiti. Again, it's private property, so the owner or manager must take the first steps.

To report people photographing homes, call LAPD Dispatch at 877-ASK LAPD. Patrol will drop by to ask them what's up. Call early; they can be slow to pick up.

LAPD can no longer stop a vehicle solely for an expired registration. An officer MUST SEE a crime or an obvious safety violation to justify a traffic stop.

►► FOOTHILL DIV. NEW "HOMELESS SLO," ERIC HERRERA, who previously served Tujunga as a temporary SLO. This reassignment frees other officers from many homeless-related calls. LAPD’s Mental Evaluation Unit (MEU) assists Herrera when there’s a mental issue. MEU responds to relevant radio calls, but one systemic weakness is MEU's understaffing and heavy call load.

To complicate things, several issues can show up in a given subject: Personal stresses. Drug use. Mental issues. Active criminality. Violence.

Some residents are less particular about how a city should function. They won't report drug use, nudity, petty crimes like shoplifting, or aggressive panhandling.

►► RICARDO FLORES, SR. FIELD DEPUTY for Councilwoman Monica Rodríguez in CD7's entire foothills area, has worked here two years. Reach him at 818-352-3287 and [email protected]

Ricardo says "speed cameras" are coming back as a California pilot program in certain intersections. Some say this invades privacy.

CD7 and others held a meeting with LADOT seeking ways to slow down Foothill Bl. speeders by timing our traffic lights differently. Speeders are a problem all up and down Foothill Bl.

Blind curves are why some Foothill intersections won't get left-turn cutouts.

The new Starbucks' location on Foothill attracted many concerns that it needs a traffic control light—particularly because there's no painted crosswalk there.

(Apologies for my frequent ALL CAPS. _{(Honest, I'm not yelling!)} But some web pages strip out italics, underlines, and bold fonts so I MUST use all caps to emphasize key words.)

THANKS to all who help keep S-T law-abiding, clean and EXEMPLARY!