By Mary O’KEEFE

On Tuesday afternoon the communities of the unincorporated area of Los Angeles County–La Crescenta and Montrose, La Cañada Flintridge and Kagel Canyon spent some virtual time with LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva and Crescenta Valley Sheriff Station Captain Todd Deeds.

The public was invited to have a conversation with the two and the afternoon covered several subjects that concerned residents, including burglaries and street racing. Villanueva said this type of outreach was a good way to hear the concerns of the community and will give the captain a “to do” list of suggestions and needed improvements.

La Cañada Flintridge Mayor Michael T. Davitt said this was a great dialogue to have between the city and LASD.

Questions were submitted by the communities in advance and also on the day of the event. A couple of the questions concerned “Flock” cameras that were installed in the fall 2020. Flock Safety cameras use automatic license plate recognition technology that can read the plates of passing vehicles, according to a LASD release.     The La Cañada Flintridge City Council unanimously approved the installation of the cameras.

“They have been a great asset to use here at the station as far as crime prevention and being able to solve crime. [They were] just a tremendous help,” said Deeds. “I believe the city is going to look at possibly expanding the program in the near future.”

A question asked of Deeds was what community concern kept him up at night.

“I pay very close attention to the crime statistics not only for my station area but also for the county and, as the sheriff mentioned earlier, violent crime throughout Los Angeles County has skyrocketed and that causes me great concern. Our area has not been impacted as much by the violent crime but it does keep me awake at night,” he said.

Another concern voiced was vehicle racing and noise along the Angeles Crest Highway especially during weekends.

“Our [LCF] City Council has allowed me to hire personnel on the weekends,” Deeds said. Those added patrols were able to focus on speeding drivers.

One community member then asked if the city could install more speed cameras or acoustic cameras.

“Speed cameras are not legal in California, nor are acoustic cameras,” Deeds replied. He added the best way to take care of speeders was to increase the number of patrols.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, speed cameras, also called photo radar or automated speed enforcement, operate similarly, recording a vehicle’s speed using radar or other instrumentation and taking a photograph of the vehicle when it exceeds a threshold limit. An acoustic camera has been described as an imaging device used to locate sound sources and to characterize them. It consists of a group of microphones, also called a microphone array, from which signals are simultaneously collected and processed to form a representation of the location of the sound sources.

There was a concern voiced about a reduction or change in the LASD Gang Unit.

“I can tell you we have no plans on reducing our operations Safe Streets or Major Crime Bureau, which actually does more of the burglary investigation or the series of burglary investigation; however we have Measure J,” Villanueva said.

On Nov. 3, Los Angeles County voters approved Measure J, which dedicated no less than 10% of the County’s locally generated unrestricted funding to address the disproportionate impact of racial injustice through community investments such as youth development, job training, small business development, supportive housing services and alternatives to incarceration, according to LA County.

How these funds will be disbursed through the County budget has yet to be determined.

There have been reports that LA County District Attorney George Gascón may be downsizing the Hard Core Gang Unit. CVW reached out to the LA County DA Office but as of press time had not received a response.

Across the nation many law enforcement agencies have reported increases in car jacking and car theft. LA County does not appear to follow that trend; there has been a 21% reduction in car jacking but there has been a significant increase in car theft.

“In terms of grand theft auto, that trend is also present here in Los Angeles County. We have had a 67.35% increase in the first three months of this year. That is a very big swing,” Villanueva said. “[We went] from 2,500 to over 4,200 [car thefts] in the span of just one year. That is a major swing.”

He advised people to be proactive in protecting themselves from car theft, including making certain their vehicles are locked, they have a car alarm, their vehicle is parked in a lighted area and is visible to the owner while parked.

There was also a discussion on how to protect homes from burglaries. Suggestions included not “advertising” any vacations that would indicate when a family would not be at home and keeping sight lines clear to the house by cutting any shrubs or trees that help isolate it. A person can let trusted neighbors know when they are going to be gone and should take advantage of the sheriff’s vacation patrols. It would also be good to have an updated home security system.

Deeds said that there is a growing number of Neighborhood Watch programs throughout the communities of La Cañada Flintridge, La Crescenta and Montrose and Kagel Canyon. These programs work with law enforcement.

Villanueva also mentioned that some LASD stations have a catalytic converter program in which deputies will etch a traceable number on a vehicle’s catalytic converter. This has been useful in catalytic converter theft investigations as, in some cases, detectives were able to return recovered items to their owners. CV Station does not have that program; however, Deeds said he would work on getting that program implemented at the station.