WALKING THE BEAT DEPUTY GOES OLD-SCHOOL.

Byline: Susan Abram Staff Writer

NEWHALL - Sheriff's Deputy Joe Trejo's foot beat is an enduring stretch of downtown Newhall, where the sidewalk is etched with the names of Western stars and the few, decades-old small businesses cling to a bygone era.

It's along this path that Trejo has made a name for himself by knowing the names of everyone else: men who get their hair cut at Lerma's Barber and Styling shop, mothers who pause inside Tresierra's Market, or the children at the Community Center.

When Trejo began walking downtown Newhall 10 years ago, he had no idea how his presence would be met. In a neighborhood where big-city problems such as gangs and graffiti began to appear, Trejo's job was to help authorities communicate with the Latino community.

He learned one lesson quick enough: get out of the patrol car.

``When I first started, I wouldn't get any calls,'' he said. ``So I just walked and introduced myself. I created my own job.''

When he was brought in in 1994, Trejo had been an 11-year veteran with the Sheriff's Department. He had seen tougher areas, he said, but Newhall needed some attention. The City Council set aside $150,000 to open a substation inside the city's community center to keep crime away from Santa Clarita's oldest community. A decade later, merchants and residents have come to rely on him.

People here call Trejo ``the mayor'' or their son. Some of them wish they could clone him.

Santa Clarita Sheriff's Capt. Patti Minutello called Trejo's beat unique. He's one of the few in the department that still does foot patrol and the only one that mans a substation.

``I think his presence makes the community feel like somebody cares,'' Minutello said. ``They have their own town sheriff, and I think, in that regard, they feel more comfortable reporting crime.''

On a recent weekday while walking the beat, Trejo gets an earful from business people, the exchange a mixture of good-natured ribbing along with neighborhood concerns. Too much traffic along San Fernando, they tell him. Cars drive too fast, they say.

At Newhall Hardware, manager Diane Vanderburg tells Trejo about some new graffiti that has appeared on a stuccoed wall nearby.

``We need more Joes here,'' she said as she rearranged hammers. ``He can't do everything.''

``Joe pops in here all the time,'' said Jess Lerma, owner of Lerma's Barber and Styling Shop. ``It's kind of a throwback to the old days. You don't see that any more.''

Gary Yazgulian, who has run the Commando Army Surplus store for 13 years, said he felt bad that so many relied on one deputy. ``He's like my son,'' Yazgulian said. ``He protects us. Whatever we ask, he tries his best.''

Sometimes, upon request by a parent or teacher, Trejo will even go to schools and scare a kid straight.

``It's all about dialogue,'' Trejo said. ``If I don't see the crime, they'll see it, and they'll let me know.''

Like many parts of Santa Clarita, Newhall's neighborhoods are beginning to swell with development and traffic. Trejo said that, as a result, he's had to do less walking and more driving.

``I learned that, while I was walking, I would get a call and then have to run seven blocks back to the patrol car,'' he said.

On a recent weekday while driving down 8th Street, he spots a woman selling corn from a vending cart within a residential neighborhood.

It's a common sight in the San Fernando Valley, he said, and it's been popping up in Newhall.

``I'm going to be a mind reader,'' he told the woman firmly.

``You are a recent arrival. You have no identification. You are from the San Fernando Valley, and someone dropped you off here. You don't know their number.''

The woman smiles at first, but knows the gig is up.

``You don't have a permit to sell that,'' he tells her before he lets her off. ``It's a first offense, but I'll be watching.''

As he maneuvers out of the neighborhood, he smiled at the thought of how green he was when he first encountered the vendors. It's a reminder of how much he has learned just by walking around.

``I fell for that the first few times, but now I know,'' Trejo said. ``Walking the beat has been the best part of police work, which is watching out for the neighborhood.''

Susan Abram, [phone]

susan.abram(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Danny Mascari, left, owner of Soundsations in Newhall, jokes with Santa Clarita Sheriff Joe Trejo at Newhall Hardware.

(2 -- color) Trejo meets with Alica Serrato at his small office in the Community Center. Trejo is one of the few sheriffs to patrol on foot.

(3) Deputy Joe Trejo strolls along San Fernando Road in Old Newhall. He is one of the few foot patrolmen in the Sheriff's Department. He calls walking the beat the best part of police work.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer