MALL ARRESTS SURGE UNDER NEW DEPUTY CITY TREASURY PAYS SHERIFF TO ASSIGN FULL-TIME OFFICER.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Antelope Valley Mall's new full-time sheriff's deputy made more than 80 arrests over the past two months - most of them for commercial burglary and shoplifting but some for drugs, weapons and other offenses, officials said.

The 81 arrests are nearly four times the number at the mall and surrounding businesses in a comparable period before a sheriff's deputy, Jeff Curran, was assigned there full time.

``The biggest positive feedback we've had has been (about) the response times,'' said Antelope Valley Mall Manager Greg Lenners. ``The merchants are more desirous to prosecute. That's been a big plus. Our security team has also taken a zero-tolerance approach, so that's made an impact as well.''

Mall security people are more likely to detain suspected shoplifters when they know a deputy will be there within minutes to take over, officials said.

``Knowing the call load that area cars have, there were times the (mall) loss-prevention team just couldn't hold someone in their office for an hour or more,'' said Deputy Dave Jennings of the Palmdale sheriff's station. ``Jeff Curran is also a very proactive deputy. He knows the quality-of-life issues in the area and the business issues. He's very good at proactive work.''

Curran, a 12-year veteran of the Sheriff's Department, was assigned in February to the mall position that had been vacant since 2000.

Curran made 51 of the total 81 arrests in March and April. Besides commercial burglary and petty theft, the arrests were for narcotics and weapons possession, assault, fraud, embezzlement, making terrorist threats and driving on suspended licenses.

In March and April 2002, 21 people were arrested at the mall, sheriff's officials said.

Curran spends his entire shift at the mall and the surrounding businesses, taking reports, making arrests, assisting the loss-prevention team and talking to business owners, managers and other mall staffers.

The position had been vacant since the cancer death in 2000 of Deputy Don Self, officials said. Self is best remembered for starting the mall's Integrity Club in which youngsters caught shoplifting were each allowed to write an essay that could get them a waiver from a one-year ban on returning to the mall.

After Self's death, other deputies established a scholarship fund in his name, supported by an annual golf tournament.

Curran is technically assigned to Palmdale's Partners Against Crime unit, which has routinely conducted saturation patrols in the mall parking lot and elsewhere around the city. The city treasury pays the Sheriff's Department for costs of the mall deputy position. City officials said the mall and surrounding businesses generate more police calls than any other shopping center in Palmdale.

Greg Botonis, [phone]

gregory.botonis(at)dailynews.com