BUSINESSES TO GET HELP WITH CRIME PREVENTION SANTA CLARITA SHERIFF'S SERGEANT HEADS NEW ALLIANCE.

Byline: PATRICIA FARRELL AIDEM

Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- Thieves have hit numerous industrial buildings in the region in recent weeks, shattering windows and then snatching computers -- likely for the information they hold, not for the hardware.

Glendale and Lancaster have had some bank robberies, causing concern in Santa Clarita, midway between the two.

To keep local businesses aware of such information and as a crime-prevention step, city government and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department have formed the Santa Clarita Business Alliance. City revenues pay for the Sheriff's Department to provide municipal police services.

In the city's new budget that took effect July 1, funding was provided for an additional sheriff's sergeant, who will oversee the new program.

"It's a multifaceted plan," said Sgt. A.J. Rotella, who will run the alliance. "It involves prevention, intervention and training."

To start, a database will be created with information on as many as 6,000 to 8,000 city businesses, Rotella said. Emergency contact information will be collected so sheriff's deputies know whom to call about problems such as a door an employee accidentally left unlocked or an emergency, such as a fire or a burglary.

Rotella also will collect e-mail addresses to send alerts, announcements and possibly a newsletter.

"We just got a crime alert from the FBI that bank robbers hit Lancaster and Glendale," he said Monday. "The idea would be, through this business alliance, we would be able to immediately share that information with all the banks in the city of Santa Clarita."

Rotella envisions training programs on preventing robbery at banks and fraud by "customers" at auto dealerships.

"It's all about sales and numbers, and sometimes an agent can get a little eager to make a sale and forget to check," he said. "Criminals are a lot more savvy, too, and a lot more skilled at creating documents. We'll help business prevent that.

"If there's a crime trend, we'll work with the targeted businesses to try to reduce those crimes."

An immediate concern, he said, is to alert businesses in industrial centers about a rash of burglaries in which thieves have smashed windows to gain entry. Typically, there were no security alarms or cameras in place.

Another immediate task for the alliance is to attack the growing number of false alarms. There were 8,000 in 2006, wasting a tremendous amount of law enforcement time. Other plans are to monitor spray-paint sales, to help cut graffiti vandalism, and to crack down on alcohol and cigarette sales to minors.

Forming the Santa Clarita Business Alliance was Rotella's proposal. He was working at another sheriff's station when he developed the idea and sent it along to Capt. Anthony LaBerge, named early this year to head the Santa Clarita station.

"I just thought it might be something Santa Clarita would be interested in, something Anthony would be interested in looking into as a new project," he said. "I never expected this to be a job created for myself."

For information about the alliance, contact Rotella at [e-mail] or [phone].

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