Police To Boost Foot Patrols In Eastside Community Outreach Effort

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Residents in the Boyle Heights area can expect to see more LAPD officers on foot patrol in the coming days as part of an effort to boost community relations, officials said Monday.

LAPD Capt. Martin Baeza and Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar were on hand at Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights to announce the Hollenbeck Community Partners Program, which police say will double the amount of foot patrols to build trust and help with community policing.

The program will add four additional footbeat areas to another existing four, in addition to a bike detail of six officers.

Police say the following eight areas will be patrolled by "hand selected officers":

Cesar Chavez Blvd between State and Evergreen Avenue;
North Broadway between Avenue 21 and Lincoln Park Blvd;
Huntington Drive between Eastern Avenue and Pueblo Street;
Whittier Blvd between Indiana Avenue and Lorena Street;
Soto Blvd between Olympic Blvd and Whittier Blvd;
Olympic Blvd between Soto and Camulos Street;
Eastern Avenue between Huntington Drive and Klamath Street; and
1st Street between Boyle Avenue and Soto Street.

According to Baeza, the move will incur no added costs and will have a minimal impact on patrol.

"It is a grassroots effort," said Baeza. "And I think in our community, which is an immigrant community, I think it's very important that the community have a trust with the police."

Jose Lopez, who walks his three kids to school everyday along Soto Street, said he does worry about the safety of his family.

"The drug stuff and crime....they robbed the store many times close to where I live," said Lopez.

By the end of the year, the Hollenbeck Division plans to reassess the program to look at the impact to crime reduction and the satisfaction, CBS2/KCAL9's Jasmine Viel reported.