Northeast is no Hollywood (Thank God)
Ξ November 12th, 2007 | → | ∇ 90041, 90042, 90065, Glassell Park, Highland Park |
Thursday night, the Highland Park Neighborhood Watch met, oddly, at the Glassell Park Community Center, to be introduced to most of the upper echelon of LAPD officers in Northeast Area. The majority of the meeting was a feel-good event with various officers espousing the expected positive messages about the community. A representative of the Bureau of Street Services (or was it Department of Transportation?) lectured the crowd as to the importance of not driving while on the phone, drinking coffee, shaving, etc. My patience was running short as I had reservations for an anniversary dinner downtown that night and I knew my better half was fuming at being abandoned for a city employee reminding us not to play chicken with trains (I couldn’t help but feel he was patronizing me just a bit). The wait became worthwhile however, once I had the chance to briefly speak with Captain Jose Perez Jr., the commanding officer of Northeast Area.
My main law & order concerns in the neighborhood circle around what I like to refer to as “peripheral gang activity”. I don’t see drug dealing, I haven’t witnessed an assault, and no one hassles me (probably because I’d write a scathing article about them). Still, I’m not oblivious to the Avenues graffiti and the “Social Club Uniform” of high white socks, baggy Dickies, white T-Shirts, and Dodgers hats that seems so popular on this side of York. I expressed these concerns to the captain who briefly assured me that they had officers enforcing graffiti laws (but that this was also a very difficult crime to apprehend suspects for) and that they were enforcing the current injunctions against several Northeast street gangs. Really, while patient and polite, the Captain hadn’t told me much I couldn’t have discerned for myself. Still, my goal wasn’t necessarily education on graffiti law enforcement, but just to air my concerns to someone in a position to do something about it.
What’s the point of this article then? Well, two things: First to encourage people to use the LAPD as a force for good in the neighborhood. 1-877-ASKLAPD is their non emergency helpline and is useful for any concern you might have that doesn’t warrant a 911 call. I’ve used it in the past to report anything from an unconscious man on the sidewalk on Figueroa to a couple fighting in the street. 311 is also a great resource I never used until moving to Highland Park. You can report graffiti, ask for an abandoned couch to be picked up, report stray dogs, or just get connected to any bureau of the city you’d like to bitch out. (DOT being one of my favorites).
The second point is this: It turns out that Northeast Area isn’t that dangerous after all. In homicides, Northeast runs roughly equal to the more expensive neighborhoods of the Hollywood area with one caveat. Hollywood homicides have increased by 88% from this time last year while Northeast is down 6%. Furthermore, there are 36% fewer rapes and 46% fewer Robberies. All this, and Northeast has 50,000 more residents. We may not be at the rates of West Los Angeles (where the Mexican food sucks) or West Valley (”We have a mall!”) but it turns out our part of town isn’t quite as rough as its image. So shelve those plans to arm yourselves to the teeth, and don’t be afraid to get involved.
on November 12th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
[...] JackManly wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThursday night, the Highland Park Neighborhood Watch met, oddly, at the Glassell Park Community Center, to be introduced to most of the upper echelon of LAPD officers in Northeast Area. The majority of the meeting was a feel-good event … [...]