NO MORE COPS FOR THE VALLEY LAPD ALREADY STRETCHED TO THE MAX, BRATTON SAYS.

Byline: SUE DOYLE Staff Writer

Responding to calls for more police officers to contain San Fernando Valley's spike in gang violence, LAPD Chief William Bratton said Thursday that he ``can't manufacture cops'' and the Valley would have to make do with those it has.

With extra cops already deployed to the Valley to confront an increase in robberies, including a rash of holdups at local restaurants, the Los Angeles Police Department can spare no more, Bratton said.

``I only have so many officers to go around,'' Bratton said. ``I can't manufacture cops.''

Just a few hours later, two teenage boys were each shot in the leg in Pacoima when a male driver fired a number of rounds from a car in the 11700 block of Glenoaks Boulevard, police said. The gang-related attack followed a triple shooting Tuesday that left a 12-year-old boy critically injured.

City Councilman Dennis Zine, who represents the West Valley, said the Valley needs more officers to quell the gang violence, and assigning them should be as high a priority for the city as cleaning up Skid Row and patrolling other parts of town.

``If they can put 50 officers on Skid Row for drug dealing and other crimes, then they can address these serious crimes with other officers in a community where people are in fear,'' he said.

Enjoying an 8 percent drop overall in crime from last year, Los Angeles still has pockets of resistance that are bucking the downward trend, including some Valley neighborhoods scarred by gang violence.

Some local neighborhoods have seen a 50 percent increase this year in gang crime, the largest contributor to Valley killings. So far this year, 37 of the Valley's 72 homicides have been gang-related. Last year at this time, 28 of 65 homicides were gang-related.

With a growing Valley demographic group 14 to 20 years old, gangs have found fertile ground to beef up their ranks, said Deputy Chief Michel Moore, the Valley's top cop. And for those young recruits, violence is the ticket to gang stardom.

``It really is a rite of passage,'' Moore said. ``It shows you how warped their minds are -- that they would put in this `work,' such as shooting people in the street, committing crimes against people for no other reason than they want to belong to a gang.''

There's also concern that gang members being released from prison could try to reorganize, leading to more violence, Moore said.

But even as gang violence increases in the Valley -- which represents one-third of L.A.'s population -- it accounts for only about one-fifth of the city's gang crime, Moore said.

``I think there are safe places in the Valley -- many more safe places than dangerous ones,'' Moore said.

Throughout L.A. last year, there were 486 homicides, of which 249 were gang-related. Downtown and South Los Angeles -- making up about 25 percent of the city's population -- account for nearly 75 percent of all gang crime, officials said.

So far this year, more than half of L.A's killings again have been gang- related. Citywide, there have been 408 homicides -- 227 of them gang- related.

And the surge of Valley violence at the hands of young and old gang members has alarmed Zine, who has asked for a meeting with gang leaders and gang-intervention groups.

``We need to say, `OK, this is the problem; you're creating death and violence in the community. We need to come to a solution,''' Zine said.

With more police slowly coming in -- the LAPD aims to add 1,000 more officers to the 9,000 it has now, but the move is expected to take at least five years -- officials are also looking to local youth-oriented organizations to step in and help drive down crime.

Last month, Moore, Zine and other local officials met with youth groups, nonprofit agencies and faith-based organizations in Canoga Park to start building a community-based coalition to address violence and provide alternatives to joining gangs.

A four-day concert and anti-gang event kicked off Thursday at Pierce College. And activities designed to help youths find options, other than joining gangs, will resume Nov. 18 with a community cleanup in five of the city's most blighted areas. The efforts are backed by 107 churches and other civic organizations.

``We feel this will give kids vision for the neighborhoods instead of contributing to the destruction of their community,'' said Jeff Fischer, pastor of Hope Chapel in Winnetka and organizer of anti-gang events. ``They will be able to feel what it's like to contribute life instead of death to that community.''

Several hundred teenagers from all over Los Angeles showed up for the concert Thursday night. While many came for the music, others were keenly aware of the need to push the message of nonviolence and cooperation.

``We're heading toward dark times. Gangs have enhanced. Teen suicide has increased,'' said Roman Bonilla, 18, of Winnetka. ``What we're doing is starting up a peace movement. If we don't, who will?''

sue.doyle(at)dailynews.com

[phone]