Do you know where your children are? In this summertime heat, with school being out and an abundance of free time, do you know what your children are doing? Instances of juvenile crime are increasing on both fronts, as victims and as perpetrators. Everyone should strive to have a great summer and not be the recipient of a call from a loved one being the victim of a crime or worse, to pick up your child at the police station.
Know the friends your child associates with, know their parents, know what they are doing and where they are located. In the majority of instances our youth are not seeking trouble, but trouble often finds them. Do your part to talk to your children and prevent issues before they arise. Be Safe.
Basic Car Area 17A23
Senior Lead Officer Dan Del Valle, Cell 818-634-0362
E-mail: 27677@lapd.lacity.org
I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and trying to stay cool in this valley heat. I unfortunately received an injury to my shoulder that requires surgery and I will be on the mend. If you need assistance that cannot wait until my return, I ask that you call the Senior Lead Office (818) 363-1726 and we will try our best to find you some assistance. I will return as soon as I can and we will be on track with our projects. Thank you all for your support and patience.
08-08-08 is coming… Do these numbers mean anything to you? For most of us, seeing these numbers we might immediately associate them with the starting date of the Summer Olympics. For some, 08-08-08 is the anniversary- birthday date for the Al Qaeda- terrorists. There are fanatics that take numbers as types of symbolism and try to correlate them to special events, for example the date of 9-11 terrorist attack. I am not trying to promote fear that we are going to be attacked on this date, but I do want everyone to be aware that a terrorist attack can happen, and unfortunately someone will try again. It is extremely important that we do not forget and stay vigilant with keeping a watchful eye. On 08-08-08 the LAPD will be on a maximum deployment day just in case. All suspicious activity should be reported to the LAPD Major Crimes Division, Terrorist Threat Assessment Center at 1(877) A THREAT (284-7328). If you feel that the suspicious act has immediate possibility of lives in jeopardy call 9-1-1. Again, I do not want anyone to panic, but please don’t put your head in the sand and ignore the possible threats. Working together is how we will prevail!!!
Suspicious activity may include but is not limited to:
Individuals who do not fit the surrounding environment- dressed in bulky or inappropriate attire for the location or time of year
Individuals who show unusual interest in building security systems or access to restricted or sensitive areas
Individuals who loiter around buildings, parking lots, and other locations not generally open to the public
Individuals making diagrams, taking notes, photographs or video in areas not normally of interest to tourist
Multiple sightings of the same suspicious person(s), vehicle, or activity, separated by time, distance or direction
Person(s) tampering with company equipment and/or vehicle(s)
Abandoned vehicles or vehicles parked in a NO PARKING or restricted area for length of time
Suspicious objects and unattended items such as backpacks, briefcases, or any other type of container capable of concealing explosives
Past and Upcoming Events…
July 14th was the Devonshire PALS 29th Annual Golf Invitational. The event was a success and all that participated had a great time.
August 5th is the LAPD Devonshire Division ‘National Night Out’. Please come and join us at the Devonshire Station Memorial Park located across from the station. The event will take place from 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 pm. The event is a family/picnic setting with food and other refreshments so bring a blanket and enjoy yourself.
August 28th is our next Basic Car Neighborhood Watch Meeting. Neighborhood Watch meetings for Basic Car 17A23 are held on the 4th Thursday of each month at St. John Eudes Church located at 9901 Mason Avenue in Chatsworth at 7:00 PM. I hope to see a strong attendance, and our featured guest speaker will be Detective Sandy Lee. Detective Lee will give a presentation on sex crimes/predators and general safety tips. We will have an August meeting even though I am hurt. I would like to thank St. John Eudes Church for their support of donating and providing ‘Neighborhood Watch’ signs for the community and allowing us to have our meetings at the church. The signs will be distributed as needed to all our Neighborhood Watch groups along with window decals. Thank you St. John Eudes Church!!!
September 11th is the Devonshire Division District Meeting. The topic for the District Meeting is ‘Group Housing’. This is an issue that has become a problem of sorts around the city and will be an interesting meeting. The meeting will begin at 7:00PM and the location will be at the Shepard of the Hills Church at 19700 Rinaldi Street in Porter Ranch. Captain Sean Kane and Captain Steven Ruiz will host the event, and the guest speakers will be: Paula Boland- former Assemblywoman, Cameron Smyth- Assemblyman 38th District, and Greg Smith- Councilman 12th District. Thank you Shepard of the Hills Church for supporting our community and providing us with a facility that all are welcome!
September 20, 2008 is Devonshire Station’s ‘Open House’ in the morning- afternoon. Come visit the station and take a tour of the facility. Check out the various equipment, and resources officers deploy in the field. The Devonshire Station is located at 10250 Etiwanda Avenue in Northridge.
Crime Trends and Prevention Tips…
The LAPD is asking citizens across the city to be aware of burglaries. During summer months when the weather is so hot, windows and doors are left open un-attended. Please remember to monitor your homes and secure it when you’re away or asleep. With gas prices on the rise $$$$, I predict we might see gas theft from vehicles on the rise as well. A prevention tip of buying a locking gas cap could be your prevention/solution to theft. I have been receiving calls of street racing and vandalism in the area of Topanga Canyon and Lassen Street. If you observe any of the described activity occurring in your area report it immediately!! DO NOT wait for the next day, wait for someone else to call, or have the attitude ‘what good will it do.’ If you do not call in a timely manner, than don’t expect us to catch anyone. I know, and you know we are understaffed at times, but that is not always the case. You can make a difference!!!
Basic Car Area 17A27
Senior Lead officer Dario Del Core, Cell 818-634-0577
E-mail: 27286@lapd.lacity.org
Officer Del Core is out temporarily with an injury this month. Please see next months’ newsletter for crime updates. If you are in need of assistance please call the Devonshire Senior Lead Office at (818) 634-0577. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding…
Basic Car Area 17A45
Senior Lead Officer Ken Cioffi, Cell 818-634-0480
E-mail: 26289@lapd.lacity.org
Crime Tip
Summer is here and the warm days and cooler nights will cause us to leave doors and windows open for the cool evening breezes to blow through our homes. Unfortunately, this is also the opportune time for the bad guys to take advantage of our carelessness.
We seem to get careless thinking if I leave my second story window open it will be safe. We have had residential burglaries where the suspect or suspects have entered through the second story window that has been left opened. It would be so easy for someone to pull up to someone’s residence and pose as a window washer remove a ladder from their truck and enter an open second story window. I think that there would be very little interest from your neighbors thinking your residence is being burglarized. Let’s not make it easy for criminals to get into our homes.
Burglars will always take advantage of an open door or window, so, when you go shopping or away on a short trip be sure to close everything up tight. You can open up the doors and windows when you return.
Neighborhood Watch Meeting
August Neighborhood Watch Meeting will be held on August 14, at 7:00 p.m. at the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 17037 Plummer Street, Northridge.
September’s Basic Car Meeting will be a district meeting on September 11th at 7:00 p.m. The meeting will be held at Shepherd of the Hills Church located at 19700 Rinaldi Street.
Devonshire Area open house is on September 20, 2008.
Basic Car Area 17A55
Senior Lead Officer Kathy Bennett Cell Phone: 818-634-0495
Email: 27437@lapd.lacity.org
SLO Supervisor, Sergeant Torres, 818-363-1726
SUMMERTIME…AND THE LIVIN’ IS EASY
Okay, anyone who’s filled up a gas tank recently knows this isn’t true – at least not right now. It seems everything is going up in price or there is a shortage or you’re paying more for less. It would be very easy to get overwhelmed or discouraged. But maybe looking at it a different way will help to “ease the pain” of day-to-day living.
It’s been widely reported that more and more people are opting for “staycations” otherwise known as staying at home during their vacation. While initially, this might seem like a hardship rather than going to Mount Rushmore, the Grand Canyon or Hawaii, let’s look at staycations in a positive light.
You save money by staying at home.
You can reconnect with your family members without the stress of hurrying to catch airplanes, guided tours, or restaurant reservations. Schedule some time where you turn off the television, cell phones, computers, video games and actually talk to your family. Find out what your kids have been up to. Play board games or go for a walk or hike in a nearby park. Reconnect!
You can tackle those tasks you’ve been putting off like clearing foliage away from your windows and doors, checking your outdoor lighting, and writing down the make, model and serial numbers of your electronics. Maybe it’s that closet or garage that needs cleaning out.
You can decide to enlist the help of neighbors to rid your street of unsightly graffiti.
You can take part in your Neighborhood Watch program by being aware of what’s going on in your area and attending Basic Car meetings.
Maybe you’ll act upon these suggestions and maybe you won’t. The point is that it’s very easy to see the negative side of life – especially when you’re bombarded by pessimism in the media and others on a daily basis. If you take positive action, no matter how small, the livin’ might not be easy, but you will probably feel better and it certainly can’t hurt.
Speaking of pessimism…let’s look at crime.
CRIME UPDATE
I often talk about graffiti and how hard it is to catch the taggers in the act. I’ve heard some of you complain that you don’t even bother to call when you see tagging going on because “it takes too long for the cops to get here.” I suspect sometimes that’s the case…however, not always. Last week our officers got a call of a “vandalism suspect now.” Before the officers could get there, the person reporting told the dispatcher the suspect had gotten on a bus and was southbound on Reseda Boulevard. The officers caught up with the bus and the witness was able to positively identify the suspect and he was subsequently arrested.
As I was writing this article, I heard another radio call broadcast of “vandalism suspects there now. This time the officers were able to take three suspects into custody. So the moral of this story is: If you see tagging in progress you should call the police. You never know when a police car will be right around the corner – as it was in this instance.
I’m happy to report our Grand Theft Auto (GTA) and Burglary From Motor Vehicle (BFMV) crime is still down from last year, but on the increase from the last couple of months. Of course we’d had such a dramatic reduction for the past few months we knew it wasn’t going to last forever. For our Basic Car the hot spots for BFMVs are the intersections of Devonshire Street and Reseda Boulevard, and Tampa Avenue and Nordhoff Street. Also, active is the Reseda corridor between Lemarsh Street and Superior Street. As far as GTA crimes, those are scattered with no clusters.
The trend in residential burglaries has also slowed in the Basic Car with no real “hot spots.”
We’re seeing several street robberies Corbin Avenue east to Tampa Avenue between Plummer Street and Nordhoff Street. In most instances the victim’s have been juveniles ages 12 – 14. The property being stolen is IPods, cell phones, and wallets. The suspects use bodily force and intimidation.
If you haven’t signed up for E-policing at www.lapdonline.org please do so. I can send you timely crime updates as necessary via e-mail. Also on www.lapdonline.org you can access current crime maps for your neighborhood.
SOMETHING EXTRA
Please join us for National Night Out on Tuesday, August 5, 2008 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Grab your baskets and blankets and enjoy a “Picnic in the Park”. Hot dogs, soft drinks, and chips will be available. There will be booths, displays and the Senior Lead Officers will be your hosts. The LAPD Mobile Command Unit will be on the grounds with Crime Prevention Tips and other important information.
OUR NEXT BASIC CAR MEETING
Date & Time: August 26, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.
Location: Calahan Elementary School
Address: 18722 Knapp Street Hope to see you there!
Basic Car Area 17A83
Senior Lead Officer Sue Herold Cell Phone: 818-634-0579
Email: 24732@lapd.lacity.org
Events Past and Future
I did miss you all while on vacation in the balmy (ok hurricane balmy) town of Puerto Vallarta. I understand that the Shepherd of the Hills Fourth of July Celebration was a “blast”…pun intended. I hope your holiday was enjoyable and all friends and family are better now than ever!
National Night Out is August 5th at the park across the street from Devonshire Station. Bring all of your picnic garb and your basket full of goodies and join us to show the “bad guys” that we are unified and great in numbers! Make sure to secure your homes and leave a light or two inside to confuse the burglars! We’ll see y’all at the park!
Our next meeting will be on Aug 13th, 2008. Neighborhood Watch meetings for Basic Car 17A83 are on the 2nd Wednesday of each month at our location of LAPD’s Valley Communications Dispatch Center on the northwest corner of Roscoe Boulevard at Lena Avenue (west of Fallbrook Avenue across the street from the Fire Station.) The 911 Center is next to the building previously occupied by DeVry University and our meetings begin promptly at 7:00 p.m. unless otherwise announced. Those members choosing to stay past the Neighborhood Watch portion might be interested in the West Hills Community discussion that takes place immediately thereafter.
Crime trends and “Hot” Locations in 17A83 Last Month
July was a rather interesting month for 17A83. Our Robbery statistics grew to a rather unsettling number. There really is neither a specific pattern nor specific suspect description. Suffice to say that the old adage “walk proud” is my best advice. Criminals generally do not want to be recognized and often select targets they believe are easy victims. Walk with your head held high and notice all others around you! It gives the appearance that you are confident and have a purpose….as all of you most certainly are!
…and speaking of “hot”, let’s all remember that a hot vehicle is no place for living things. Children, elderly folks, pets and just anybody left in a vehicle is subject to heat stroke and the results can be catastrophic. Please remember that what may have been thought of as a 5 minute trip into the store could turn into long lines, bumping into a friend or some type of medical emergency where you may not be able to return to your waiting passenger. Let’s keep it simple, everyone gets out of the vehicle and joins in the activity so as not to experience unwitting misfortune which may include an arrest!
Please tell all your friends and neighbors or show them this newsletter!
Please e-mail me with your concerns or requests for Block Club meetings at 24732@lapd.lacity.org
devonshire community police station 
