COMMISSION QUESTIONS DATA LINKING CRIME TO BUSINESSES.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

Orville's Donut Shop was forced to shut its doors after planning officials produced police reports showing that 18 crimes and 14 arrests had been tallied at the Van Nuys store.

But a Los Angeles Police Commission study released Friday said crime data reports, like those used to target the doughnut shop as a nuisance business, often are misleading and are wrongly used as prima facie evidence of significant crime problems.

Officials say the findings could make it harder to rein in problem businesses citywide.

The study, which will be reviewed Tuesday by the Police Commission, recommends that the Los Angeles Police Department revise its policy to ensure that the Police Arrest and Crime Management Information System (PACMIS) reports are backed up by other documentation.

It also recommends that police officers be prohibited from testifying that the PACMIS report alone is proof that a business is a nuisance.

``The PACMIS report, used as stand-alone evidence, can give an erroneous and misleading impression of the crime problem at a particular location,'' said the report.

``PACMIS reports have been used by area vice or patrol units in administrative zoning revocation, nuisance abatement, or other hearings as prima facie evidence of a significant crime problem, without any accompanying documentation to verify or substantiate the relevance of PACMIS data,'' the report added.

Francine Oschin, an aide to Councilman Hal Bernson, said restrictions on the use of crime-data reports ``would have a tremendous impact on being able to handle nuisance businesses.''

But Lt. David Muro of the Administrative Vice Division downplayed the significance, saying his officers already are careful not to overemphasize the significance of the PACMIS reports at planning hearings.

``We use it as an indicator that there might be a problem,'' Muro said. ``They have never been submitted as definitive evidence of anything.''

He said if a PACMIS report indicates a problem with prostitution arrests, his officers will back it up with declarations from prostitutes and their tricks, surveillance videotape and other documentation.

In addition, Muro said his officers depend heavily on neighboring residents of problem businesses to testify about the crime problem from their personal experience.

``We bring down busloads of community members,'' Muro said.

The Police Commission report added that zoning administrators said that they never made a decision on a nuisance action solely on the information in a crime-data report.

Still, the study results represent a victory of sorts for Van Nuys attorney Harriet Bilford, who has charged that the crime-data reports were inaccurate and given unwarranted weight by city planners in deciding whether to close or restrict businesses.

``This is what I've been saying for years,'' Bilford said, calling the report ``a good start'' at reform.

The Police Commission review said that crime incidents in PACMIS reports are often counted twice because there are two entries with the same report number.

In addition, the report found that many incidents that occur on public sidewalks or on the streets are attributed in PACMIS reports to a nearby business.

Also, some incidents listed do not involve crimes at all, or involve crimes such as vehicle code violations that should not count against a business accused of being a nuisance.

Bilford has raised the concern in several city planning hearings at which the police used the crime-data reports detailing prostitution and drug arrests in arguing for restrictions against motels along Sepulveda Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley.

But the issue was perhaps most hotly debated in 1994, when Bilford objected to the city using crime-data reports to justify setting conditions on Orville's for alleged criminal activity, including prostitution, in the parking lot of the business.

The Police Commission investigation said police officials claimed at a city planning hearing that a PACMIS report documented ``numerous crimes reported and arrests made in this area.'' Officers claimed 18 crimes and 14 arrests at the location.

However, the Police Commission review found that five of the incidents were counted twice because they shared crime report numbers and three involved incidents in which the doughnut store was the victim.

One listing for a felony prostitution arrest was actually the arrest of someone in a traffic stop off the doughnut store property in which the motorist was detained because he had an outstanding warrant from a previous crime.

Bilford said restrictions imposed by the city contributed to the closure of the doughnut shop. The store owners later sued the city and settled the case with the city paying $32,000, Bilford said.