GUARD DUTY MOUNTED PATROL UNIT KEEPS WATCH AT THE MALLS.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Sheriff's deputies and volunteers on horseback are patrolling shopping centers to deter crimes against holiday shoppers.

Lancaster's holiday patrol, in its 21st year, is expected to cost the city $64,200, slightly more than last year, officials said.

``The whole idea is to let them know we are out here,'' said Capt. Carl Deeley, commander of the Lancaster sheriff's station. ``Every year it has an overall impact on crimes in the city. It knocks them down.''

Through the day after Christmas, eight deputies and a sergeant are assigned to patrol Lancaster shopping centers. Horse riders from the Palmdale-based Antelope Valley Volunteer Mounted Unit are patrolling at larger centers, as are mounted reserve deputies.

Extra deputies and the mounted volunteers are also on patrol, at the Antelope Valley Mall and other Palmdale shopping centers, in a holiday force funded by the city of Palmdale.

``We look for just anything suspicious in the parking lots, children left in cars - anything out of the ordinary,'' said mounted volunteer Dennis Zaferis, who is on his fifth year of making December holiday patrols.

Holiday patrol deputies have caught suspected purse-snatchers and even a car-theft suspect who parked his stolen car in a spot reserved for the handicapped at the parking lot for the Lancaster Hometown Buffet and Toys 'R' Us.

Deputies were checking the car, which had been stolen in Las Vegas, when the driver returned and was arrested.

Holiday patrol deputies don't have to answer other calls, officials said. They patrol the centers, talking to merchants and shoppers and watching for suspicious people or suspicious vehicles. Their work has included looking for children separated from their parents and helping shoppers who don't remember where they parked their cars.

``It's a high-visibility saturation patrol - see and be seen.'' Deputy Mike Kuper said.

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(color) The A.V. Volunteer Mounted Unit patrols past Wal-Mart in Lancaster in its annual effort to deter crimes against holiday shoppers.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer