ADVERTISER FIGHTS LAWMAKERS TO KEEP TRAILER SIGNS TARGETING LAPD.

Byline: James Nash Staff Writer

Bruce Boyer, an acid-tongued, cowboy hat-wearing alarm company manager, has battled the city for years over police response times to residential burglar alarms.

Now he's bracing for a showdown with state lawmakers over his right to park large sign trailers that advise homeowners to give up on the police and sign up with his private security company.

Boyer's battle with city and state officials is a subplot of the ongoing debate over how Los Angeles police should respond to burglar alarms. The debate was revived recently, with reports that the LAPD's 4-month-old policy of cutting off response after two false alarms in a year is producing mixed results so far.

Los Angeles Police Department officials do not have data on police response times to alarms since the new policy went into effect.

Spurred by Councilman Dennis Zine, the state Assembly approved a bill in March that would allow cities to ban trailer advertisements such as the roughly 25 that Boyer has parked along San Fernando Valley thoroughfares. The bill now is in the Senate Transportation Committee.

Boyer says the bill is aimed straight at his livelihood and vows to fight it. But Zine and the legislation's chief sponsor, Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, say the city and state need to do something about the proliferation of unsightly and potentially dangerous sign trailers.

``Around my office and around my home, it's hard to go a block or two without seeing trailers,'' Levine said. ``They're heavy enough to hurt someone seriously, but not so heavy that they don't blow over in the wind.''

Boyer says Levine is exaggerating the threat posed by the wheel-mounted trailers that advertise his business, Lone Star Security. He says the trailers rarely blow over and he challenges anyone to cite an incident in which they've hurt someone or caused an accident.

Last year, Zine threatened a city lawsuit against Boyer for sign trailers that read: ``LAPD will no longer respond to your alarm! Lone Star Security will.'' Zine said the signs defamed the LAPD and misrepresented the city's policy on responding to burglar alarms.

Although the city did not sue, Boyer says his adversaries at City Hall are grasping for new weapons to attack him. Boyer said the city has seized more than 100 of the trailers - which cost about $600 each to make - for allegedly overstaying the three-day limit during which vehicles are allowed to remain in the same location.

Levine's bill would not outlaw trailers. Rather, it would allow cities and counties to pass their own laws restricting when and where nonmotorized trailers may park.

Boyer called the bill a transparent attempt to punish him for continuing to criticize the LAPD's response to burglar alarms. His newest trailer quotes Police Chief William Bratton as saying the LAPD takes an hour or two to respond to burglar alarms.

``Only in Los Angeles would they threaten to prosecute a person for telling the truth about a public policy,'' Boyer said. ``If I hadn't made political statements, it would be no big deal.''

James Nash, [phone]

james.nash(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Bruce Boyer of Lone Star Security stands by one of his company's signs in Canoga Park.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer