Activists to Meet With LAPD Brass

Ever petitioning the city of Los Angeles for additional police, North Hills community leaders will meet Tuesday with top brass of the Los Angeles Police Department to again discuss their crime-plagued streets.

“Our problem is narcotics--street drug sales,” said Tony Swan, vice president of the North Hills Community Coordinating Council. “We have the problems of an inner city.”

The coordinating council, a group of North Hills residents trying to reduce crime and improve housing conditions in the area, will hear Assistant Chief Bernard Parks discuss whether enough LAPD officers patrol the area, Swan said.

Coordinating Council President Harry Coleman said he has asked Parks to review the community’s progress in fighting drugs and its long-term prospects for maintaining its current successes.

North Hills straddles the districts of Councilmen Hal Bernson, Joel Wachs and Richard Alarcon, making satisfactory representation difficult to achieve, Swan said.

“It’s a little, neglected part of the Valley,” Swan said. “We make sure everyone is made aware of what the problems are.”

Part of Swan’s concern is that a 10-man narcotics task force created to investigate drug sales in North Hills for six months will be up for renewal. Swan said he hopes to hear from Parks about what sort of enforcement efforts will take place in the future.

The task force is part of a larger group of more than 100 people, representing various police agencies and city services, trying to clean up North Hills, Coleman said.

“This is, quite frankly, the best task force we’ve ever had,” Coleman said. “Last year we had over 1,300 arrests in a 12-block area. There’s nothing else to compare it with.”

Tuesday’s monthly meeting will begin at 11:30 a.m. at United Methodist Church of Sepulveda, 15435 Rayen St. in North Hills. For more information, call (818) 894-0407.