COOPERATION BETWEEN ENFORCEMENT LOWERS CRIME

Community members throughout La Canada and the Crescenta Valley are
seeing less graffiti and a decrease in vehicle burglaries thanks to a
cooperative effort between law enforcement agencies in the area.

Vandalism due to graffiti began increasing several months ago when a
group of juveniles who used the tag of "211-C" (211 is the penal code
for robbery; "C" represents "criminals") targeted a variety of
surfaces throughout the area. Quickly the graffiti, or "tagging,"
crew's activities escalated from vandalism to burglaries and auto theft.

According to Detective Frank Diana of the Crescenta Valley Sheriff's
Station, the juveniles were from Montrose, La Crescenta, and northern
Glendale. In an effort to continue to support their own growing drug
use, the teens added the sale of narcotics to their list of crimes.

"They [teens] began to steal to support their drug habit," Diana
said. "They were [apparently] using drugs every day and they had no jobs."

Although the crew began as a small group of kids from the area, they
began making connections with real gang members in L.A.

"They were getting drugs from the [gang members] in Los Angeles and
bringing it up here to sell," Diana said.

He added that many times teens in this area say they are associated
with a gang and even dress like gang members, but for the most part,
they are just kids trying to act tough. In this case, however, the
juveniles had made contact with Los Angeles gangs and were beginning
to be affiliated with them.

"These [local] guys start out nickel and dime-ing it, then they hook
up with real gangsters," Diana said. "When crimes start to progress
they are going to be playing with the big boys. It is really life threatening."

Diana said that the law agencies worked for several months on
identifying and arresting the teens, but due to the parameters of
juvenile law, the offenders were often arrested and released to their
parents within a few hours. The teens were given court dates, however
in the period between the arrest and their day in court, they
continued to tag graffiti and burglarize. They also continued their drug habit.

The CV sheriff's station, Glendale and CHP did not let that stop them
from continuing with their pro-active stance against the teens. The
agencies continued to work together, sharing information and focusing
a tremendous amount of time and effort on getting the juveniles off the street.

"I was very impressed with the collaboration," said CV Sheriffs'
Captain David Silversparre.

"Patrol [units], detectives, narcotics, volunteers on patrol,
reserves and search and rescue all worked together with Glendale
police and CHP to address this serious problem before it became worse."

Silversparre added that there were hundreds of burglaries, thefts and
vandalized property crimes these teens were responsible for in La
Canada and throughout the Crescenta Valley, but without the
pro-active action of law enforcement the crimes could have easily
escalated to even greater numbers of more serious crimes.

"Crime is down [in the area] by 81% for the month of June," Silversparre added.

He attributes that downturn to the attention paid by law enforcement agencies.

"This was one of the biggest concentration of effort I have ever
seen," he said.

Diana added that these teens were caught and dealt with, but that
does not mean crime will stop.

"There is always someone else that will take their place," he said.

But the cooperative effort between the agencies sends a signal to
those who want to be the new 211-C.

"This is unacceptable behavior. We encourage [teens] to stay in
school and realize that if they [commit crimes], the consequence is
jail," he said. "We are very proactive in this city."

Three of the four main members of 211-C are now serving time in
juvenile detention center. The fourth member is awaiting sentencing.