SURVEILLANCE VOLUNTEERS AID POLICE

Binoculars and note pad in hand, Sophie hides herself to spy on drug dealers
in a gang-ridden San Fernando Valley apartment complex.

Across the street, Len peers through an office window, using a video camera
to record any drug deals that take place through the night ending just
before dawn.

The duo's mission: to help Los Angeles police and prosecutors gather enough
evidence to win an injunction against a dangerous San Fernando Valley gang
suspected of using the complex as a base to deal drugs.

"This is my area. This is my community. We don't let it go to the
criminals," said Sophie, who asked not to be identified for fear of
retaliation.

She and Len belong to a 55-member Volunteer Surveillance Team -- civilians,
ages 18 to 80, who have spent more than 29,000 hours as the Los Angeles
Police Department's eyes and ears in the Devonshire Division.

Since the Devonshire team was established in 1992, the volunteers have saved
the city about $1.1 million in officer salaries, according to the police.

Their help has been instrumental in capturing rapists, graffiti taggers,
burglars and juvenile delinquents, police say.

Last year, the team assisted police by providing information that led to 900
arrests, said Officer Don Graham, who supervises the unit with Officer Brian
Lafferty.

In many of those cases, uniformed officers in patrol cars would not have
been able to make those arrests, officers said.

"It's not very effective to have an observation post in a black and white
vehicle and to get 26 officers on a detail. You'd better be bringing in the
bacon," Graham said.

They do whatever is required. They spend hours atop buildings with
binoculars. They stand inside smelly Dumpsters. They target truants at local
high schools -- peering through newspapers with cut-out eyeholes.

"I will be sitting in the car looking at the newspaper, but my eyes may be
over the edge, looking elsewhere," said another member, Eve.

No team members have ever been injured while working, Devonshire Capt.
Joseph Curreri said.

"I don't feel like I'm in any more danger than if I'm out shopping," Eve
said. "I'm safer when I'm out here with the police than if I'm out
shopping."

Len, 69, said he too works safely.

"We work on rooftops quite a bit. It gives us a better view of what's
happening and keeps us out of harm's way."

His tools of the trade include a backpack filled with snacks, pepper spray,
warm clothing, a poncho and rope.

"You never know where we're going to work," Eve said. "We could be on
rooftops, empty apartments, closed restaurants, people's houses and even
inside a pet shop."

These days, the team has been stationed at a drug-infested apartment
complex. There, they witness cab drivers drop off customers who buy dope,
police say.

The information the team gathers will be passed on to other officers for
possible arrests. But ultimately the aim is to gain a gang injunction to
curtail what police estimate is $3,000 to $5,000 daily drug sales of mainly
marijuana and rock cocaine.

With the LAPD's anti-gang unit being reorganized, the gangs are becoming
more active, Graham said.

"The gangs take credit for getting rid of CRASH," Graham said.

He said their activity is threatening residents within the complex.

"They have them so intimidated that they have the people living there not
lock their doors --o they can run into their apartments at will (to hide
from police)," Graham said.

For Sophie, who is self-employed in domestic services, the undercover work
gives her a sense of doing her part to protect her community.

"I love it -- wondering what lurks at each corner," Sophie said, after
crawling on her stomach to conceal herself while entering an apartment for
surveillance. "It's just the excitement and every detail is different."

She recalled one recent day when vandals were shooting out windows of
businesses and cars.

"All of a sudden, I saw (the suspect) pulling on a business door and
throwing a pebble. He was in and out in less than a minute and had a bag
full of electronic equipment. I radioed ahead to the officers and they
caught him. We were high-fiving it."

"What are the chances you'd see a burglary in progress like that? It was
just wild!" she said.

For Len, a retired naval officer who was at sea during the Korean War, the
volunteer work stimulates his mind and keeps him young, he said.

Also, he said, reading mystery police novels has been his lifelong passion.

"There's a certain amount of adrenalin rush," he said after spotting a drug
deal recently. "It's sort of the Hemingway philosophy: 'If you don't
challenge yourself, you end up sitting in a wheelchair.' "

The team is recruiting new members. Anyone interested in joining should be a
resident within the Devonshire Division's boundaries. Contact Lafferty at
(818) 756-8291.

Applicants will undergo a background investigation and receive training in
surveillance, safety and radio procedures.