ANTI-GANG EFFORT GETS WELCOME IN PACOIMA.

Byline: Yvette Cabrera Daily News Staff Writer

Community activists and law enforcement officers on Thursday praised an anti-gang program that is being expanded into Pacoima for providing alternatives and aggressively prosecuting offenders in the Los Angeles neighborhoods where it debuted.

CLEAR, the Community Law Enforcement and Recovery program, is credited with causing a significant drop in crime - about 40 percent - in the targeted Highland Park and Cypress Park areas northeast of downtown Los Angeles.

The program was established in 1995 in response to the murder of Stephanie Kuhen, 3, who was killed by gang members after her parents got lost in Cypress Park.

``I think the impact is . . . the lowering of the crime rates and the redirecting of youth into something more positive,'' said Maryanne Hayashi, executive director of the Central City Action Committee youth program.

Under the CLEAR program, probation officers accompanied by police will be able to enter a probationer's home without a search warrant, said Walter J. Kelly, acting chief probation officer of the Los Angeles County Probation Department.

In the targeted areas, Probation Department deputies took 38 probation violators to court in one month, up from their average of four per month before CLEAR was implemented, Kelly said.

``(CLEAR) will have the effect of allowing the children of Pacoima to play in park David Gonzales rather than serve time in camp David Gonzales,'' said Kelly, referring to the Probation Department's detention camp in Malibu Canyon.

The CLEAR program, being funded in Pacoima and the Wilshire area through $1.2 million in state money, will be housed in an undisclosed location obtained rent-free by Councilman Richard Alarcon.

``I really think (the program) was a product of hard work . . . and collaboration with the community,'' said Alarcon, whose 7th District includes Pacoima.

Steve Martinez, a gang outreach counselor with Communities In Schools in San Fernando, said input was not sought from his organization, which helped broker a peace treaty among northeast San Fernando Valley gangs.

``Our input is not in there, and there should always be a safety valve,'' Martinez said. ``Community input - that is one of the safety valves. If law enforcement does something wrong, they have to answer to us, the voters.''

Through CLEAR, Hayashi's youth program wiped out graffiti in Highland Park and Cypress Park and is launching the 100 Mural Project, which will hire and pay 50 youths to paint murals throughout the city.

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Map: CLEAR program