PROBLEMS REMAIN AFTER CRACKDOWN STUDY: SKID ROW SOLUTIONS SHORT TERM.

Byline: RICK ORLOV

Staff Writer

A year after the LAPD flooded Skid Row with dozens of officers to crack down on crime, a study has found that crime in the area plunged 40 percent but the city has failed to develop any long-term solutions.

The UCLA study also found higher crime in communities adjacent to the nearly one-square-mile Skid Row area, as well as an increase in the number of transients in other parts of the city.

It also found that monthly arrests averaged more than 750, with more than half minor drug offenses. Of the 1,000 citations issued month, the majority were for such infractions as loitering and jaywalking.

"There are a high number of citations being issued, but people can't afford to pay the fines and are sent to jail," said Gary Blasi, a law professor who conducted the months-long study with his students.

"And even though it gets them out of Skid Row for the short term, they will come back and, because of their criminal record, they aren't eligible for housing or welfare.

"We don't see the other support programs that are needed to deal with the problem of homelessness. Other cities are developing coordinated policies to get people off the streets that we don't see here."

Launched a year ago this week, the Safer Cities Initiative was designed to tackle Los Angeles' estimated 40,000 homeless, many of them downtown, with 50 extra officers on Skid Row and additional services.

While officials and business leaders who work in and around the area have hailed it as a renaissance, those who live on the streets say it has led to the criminalization of the homeless.

Peter Bebring, the American Civil Liberties Union attorney who has been working on homeless issues, said the organization was disappointed with the city's efforts.

"When the Safer Cities Initiative started a year ago, we were promised that in addition to law enforcement we would be seeing more beds and more programs to treat the homeless," Bebring said.

"Well, there have been no more social programs added and what we are left with is the police function."

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Monday that he is willing to listen to suggestions, but does not want to lose the momentum of the past year.

"On the anniversary of the Safer Cities Initiative, crime is down in Skid Row in double-digit numbers," Villaraigosa said. "Homeless people and those who live and work in that area are safer.

"But I'm not here blindly defending the program. The facts are incontrovertible on what we've done to reduce crime. But if we need to provide other services, I'm willing to look at it."

Blasi and his students reviewed 15,000 pages of public records and analyzed statistics from the Los Angeles Police Department, the City Attorney's Office and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Blasi said they also conducted more than 200 interviews with those involved.

They recently presented the findings to Villaraigosa and LAPD Chief William Bratton.

"To the degree there has been a decline in other crimes (across the city), this is not surprising given the remarkable increase in the density of officers on patrol in Skid Row compared to any other area of the city," the study said.

It notes that if the same intensity were applied to other regions of the city, it would amount to 1,700 more officers in Van Nuys, 470 more in Rampart and 700 more in the 77th Street Division.

Blasi said the median amount of drugs possessed by those arrested also is less than an ounce and that of the 1,000 people who receive citations each month and who are unable to pay the fines, most face jail time.

"Many of those people face the consequent loss of housing, if they have it, and important possessions if they do not," the report said.

The arrest record also precludes many of those from eligibility for other treatment programs, the report said, which compounds the problem of homelessness.

"What we think is needed is more attention to the social service programs," Blasi said. "Chief Bratton has said law enforcement alone is not the answer."

An aide for City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo agreed that more is needed beyond law enforcement.

"We believe that the Skid Row Safer Cities Initiative has been positive for Skid Row, but we will be even more successful with additional funding for increased housing and supportive services," spokesman Nick Velasquez said.

The UCLA study also reviewed the number of shelter beds available on any given night, as well as the city's long-term strategy of dealing with the problems.

"Contrary to some reports, the median number of actually available shelter beds in Skid Row has been four beds at a time -- when the population LAPD counted living on the sidewalks averaged 1,000," the report said.

The ACLU, which won a lawsuit against the city for its failure to provide enough beds for the homeless, has long been concerned about long-term solutions.

"While Los Angeles taxpayers aren't paying directly when we send these people off to state prison, there is a price we are paying," Bebring said.

"We aren't dealing with the problem and these people come back from jail worse off than when they went in."

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com

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A UCLA study shows that crime has dropped 40 percent on Skid Row, one of the areas of Los Angeles with a large concentration of homeless individuals, although the city has failed to introduce any long-term solutions.

Hector Mata/AFP/Getty Images