CRACKDOWNS ON HOMELESS CUT CRIME ACLU OBTAINS INJUNCTION.

Byline: Mariel Garza Staff Writer

The recent police crackdowns on homeless people in Skid Row has had a significant effect on reducing crime in the area, police officials said Tuesday.

And despite complaints and lawsuits from homeless advocates and civil rights groups, and a temporary injunction by a judge, the Los Angeles Police Department will continue aggressive enforcement in the encampments downtown.

``Street crime - robbery and aggravated assaults - is significantly affected by homeless activity in Skid Row,'' LAPD Deputy Chief Gary Brennan told the Police Commission after commissioners requested a report on the sweeps. ``And, as a result of the enforcement activity over the last year and a half, we reduced crimes throughout central area.''

Brennan cited a year-to-date decrease in robbery of 19 percent, and said aggravated assault declined 14 percent in just the last month. Overall, the LAPD's Central area has noted a 12 percent decrease in all crime, which the Central Area's Capt. Charlie Beck attributed to the enforcements in Skid Row.

In 2002, police arrested 665 people for violating an ordinance against sleeping on the street. In addition, police conducted a two-day parole and probation sweep in November, arresting 192 people. Since then, police have continued aggressive enforcement in that area.

The sweeps, which include officers enforcing the city's laws against sleeping on the street as well as looking for people on probation, prompted the American Civil Liberties Union to sue last month. Last week, a judge issued a temporary injunction banning the LAPD from indiscriminate parolee sweeps until the hearing next week.

Beck said Tuesday the legal actions would affect, but not stop, the LAPD's homeless enforcement in Skid Row.

``We don't agree with it, but we're complying with it,'' Beck said of the injunction. ``That will have some impact on what we do, but it won't stop us from trying to make the city a better place to live.''

The crackdown in Skid Row will continue to get the city in trouble, said Carol Sobel, a civil rights lawyer who represents the National Lawyers Guild, co-plaintiff in the Skid Row lawsuit. ``This is why the LAPD has a consent decree,'' Sobel said. ``Years of telling them, you can't do this, but they just do what they want.''

Police Commission President Rick Caruso said he supports the department's enforcement tactics when it comes to Skid Row. And he didn't understand the outcry from civil rights and homeless advocates.

``I think it's in everybody's interests,'' Caruso said. It serves the businesses, the poor and homeless families in the area and the city at large, he said.

It's not the people seeking shelter who are the problem, but those who choose to live on the street and are more likely to commit crimes, Caruso said.

Deputy Mayor Matt Middlebrook said Mayor James Hahn also supported the steps the police have taken to enforce laws.

``Obviously, it has to be done constitutionally, but we support the department enforcing the laws in every community,'' Middlebrook said.

Denise Burton, director of two homeless shelters in the city, one downtown and another in South Los Angeles, said the sweeps did have a noticeable effect on the crime in the area.

``I'm glad it did happen because it did clear Skid Row up a bit,'' Burton said.

But that may have been in part because it redistributed some of the homeless in the city, she said.

``I notice after they did the (last) sting, the clients were migrating south because they were afraid,'' Burton said. ``We have a second location on Vernon (Avenue) and Avalon (Boulevard) and we had huge increase there shortly after.''