WHAT:
News Conference

WHEN:
Friday, April 9, 2004
3:00 p.m.

WHERE:
North Hollywood Police Station
11640 Burbank Boulevard
North Hollywood

WHO:
Deputy Chief James Mc Murray; City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo; Councilman Dennis Zine, 3^rd District; Councilman Tom LaBonge, 4^th District; Councilman Tony Cardenas, 6^th District; Commander Valentino Panaccia, OVB; Captain Dan Finklestein, LASO Transit Services Bureau; Bureau Chief Rick Saenz, LA County Probation Department; General Manager Gerald Francis, Metro Transit Authority; Genenal Manager David Armijo, Valley Metro Transit Authority; Deputy Probation Officer Craig Levy; and Lieutenant Pat Lynch, Burbank Police Department

Los Angeles: The Los Angeles Police Department’s North Hollywood Community Tagger Task Force has coordinated with multi-agencies to target various tagging groups. The Task Force will help combat and deter tagging-related vandalism and the escalation of violent crimes associated with the Valley’s most active tagging groups. The Task Force highlights the multi-agency cooperation between the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department Transit Services Bureau, Los Angeles Unified School District Police Department (LAUSD PD), Burbank Police Department (BPD), and the Los Angeles County Probation Department.

The Task Force will issue search warrants and serve 52-probation compliance checks to identify taggers for probation violations.

Another component of this Task Force is to educate the community on goals and efforts to combat tagging related crimes.

Any questions regarding the Task Force operations should be directed to the Divisional CTTF Coordinators or Task Force coordinators Officer Fournier or Officer Subia, at 818-623-4071.

This news advisory was prepared by Public Information Officer Esther Mya Pe, Media Relations Section, at 213-485-3586.