NEIGHBORHOOD CLEANUP; RESIDENTS LIST CRIME, NUISANCE CONCERNS.

Byline: Bhavna Mistry Daily News Staff Writer

Hoping to get rid of a number of problems that plague Lancaster neighborhoods, sheriff's deputies, volunteers and a city official took to the streets Saturday.

Armed with questionnaires as they knocked on doors of about 150 homes along avenues J-2 and J-3 between 13th and 15th streets west, they asked residents about crime and nuisance problems.

``We're not just looking for criminal issues,'' said Deputy Jeff Adams. ``We're also looking for quality-of-life issues.''

Deputies said the neighborhood has been a longtime crime concern with shootings, narcotics and gang activity.

``We've had shootings here in the past,'' Adams said. ``They feel like prisoners. They want something done, but they don't know how to go about getting it. So we've come out to them.''

After gathering the answers, officials will devise several plans on how to take care of the crime problems and work with other city and county agencies to eliminate the neighborhood nuisances.

``Our whole mission is to clean up our city,'' said Lancaster Vice Mayor Henry Hearns, who walked through numerous apartment complexes, talking to residents and listening to their complaints as he passed out his business card. ``We want a kinder community where people can be free.

``I think they're glad that we're here. Some are frightened, but they are cooperating.''

Stephanie Hoskins, 22, who has lived in the area for four years, said she knows there is a lot of crime in her neighborhood, but she stays away from it.

``I hear gunshots at night every now and then,'' she said. ``I worry for my sister because she gets off work at 11 p.m.''

Hoskins listed gangs, drugs and loitering as her crime concerns and deteriorating buildings, traffic and junk cars as nuisances. She said she has found it very unsafe to walk on her street at night.

``I think this is cool,'' Hoskins said of the volunteers asking about how a higher police presence could help in her neighborhood. ``I hope it helps. They need to get more involved. But I think as long as there are these little kids, there will always be gangs.''

One volunteer said Hoskins' concerns echo those of most area residents.

``These are all pretty common problems,'' said Paul Burgess, a four-year volunteer patrol member who assisted with Saturday's effort. ``Every single person we spoke to said that they would not come out at night.''

Ernest Primous, 45, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1995, said something needs to be done in the area.

Since 1993, deputies in Lancaster have taken to community-based policing, a practice increasing in popularity nationwide in which deputies work with residents to gain crime-free neighborhoods.

The concept is a departure from traditional policing, which depends mainly on residents calling in reports on crime. When asked, residents usually know where the trouble spots are and who the troublemakers are in their neighborhood, deputies said.

``Operation High Desert Storm'' started in 1993 in the neighborhood around Cedar Avenue and Avenue H-8, where the city bought and razed abandoned fourplexes inhabited by drug dealers and prostitutes. A special sheriff's patrol also was assigned to the area.

Since then, deputies have concentrated their efforts on two other neighborhoods and three business areas.

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) Lancaster Vice Mayor Henry Hearns, left, holds Stephanie Hoskins' son Anthony as she talks to sheriff's volunteers Paul Burgess and Ron Stegeman.

(2) Sheriff's deputies and volunteers go door-to-door surveying residents in the 1300 block of Avenue J-2 in Lancaster.

Jeff Goldwater/Daily News