Police Crack Down on Brazen Drug Sellers of Venice

Threats on the lives of two police officers and anti-drug activists in Oakwood have alarmed police and resulted in increased enforcement in the five-square-mile Venice community.

Capt. John Wilbanks, commanding officer of the Pacific Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, said the extra enforcement follows a summer of increased boldness among drug dealers in the low-income community bounded by Rose and Windward avenues, Lincoln Boulevard and Main Street.

Neighborhood Watch members have been threatened with guns and warned by drug dealers to “mind their own business,” Wilbanks said. Narcotics, mostly rock cocaine, are sold openly on streets and in alleys, in apartments, hallways and private homes, he said.

Lt. Ross Moen said a 40-year-old Santa Monica woman was killed and a 24-year-old Oakwood woman seriously injured in a recent early-morning shooting as they walked out of a dwelling in the 500 block of Sunset Ave. Police say the shooting was drug-related.

Arrests for drug-related offenses skyrocketed in Oakwood during the first 10 months of the year, police commanders said. During that period, 1,374 cases involving drug charges were filed by the district attorney, almost double the 682 filed during the same period in 1985, police said. In addition to Oakwood, these figures include arrests from the Cadillac-La Cienega area in West Los Angeles.

Arrest Rate Increases

To cope with the increased problem, the Police Department has established a special task force that began operations nearly two weeks ago. Between the task force and surprise visits made by narcotics officers, 65 arrests for drug-related crimes were made in the first 10 days of the crackdown, police said. Twenty of those arrests were made last weekend, they said.

Law enforcement officials and area residents said they believe the threats to the two officers were made in retaliation for the increased drug arrests this year in Oakwood.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Neidorf said that one officer alone made 40 felony narcotics arrests in one month. “He was putting a dent in their (the drug dealers’) action,” Neidorf said.

Authorities said that one officer was threatened early in November, and was warned that the next time he came to Oakwood he had better be wearing a bulletproof vest. The man making the threat was arrested and charged with threatening a public official, Wilbanks said.

Later in November, rumors reached the police that a “contract was out, involving a large amount of money,” to kill another officer, Wilbanks said.

One of the officers has since been reassigned, and Wilbanks said that for their own protection the names of the officers will not be made public.

“It is time to regain control of the streets,” Wilbanks said. “Oakwood was a problem 17 or 18 years ago, but two guys (police officers) could go in there on foot and not worry about getting killed. Even though it was known as a place to sell narcotics, we didn’t have to worry about getting killed on the spot.

“Now the narcotics traffic has reached epidemic proportions. The officers’ danger factor has increased.”

Wilbanks said that the department has permanently assigned additional officers to patrol Oakwood.

Police Alert to Ex-Felons

The task force, narcotics officers and other special enforcement units are backing up the efforts of the regular beat officers, he said. The Police Department’s gang crime suppression unit, the prison gang unit and parole and probation departments notify local authorities when prisoners are released and return to live in Oakwood. They tell police when arrest warrants are pending on Oakwood ex-felons known to be involved in drugs.

Wilbanks said the new plan differs from previous operations, in which officers saturated the area for a short time and made a large number of arrests. Wilbanks compared these efforts to “beating out a brush fire” because criminals “just lay low and come right back when the pressure is off.”

The new enforcement program “will be a sustained, long-term effort” of at least a year, he said.

Many of those arrested for drug sales are people with records of arrests, convictions and prison time for crimes ranging from assault to murder, police said. The customers, however, come from every conceivable background, police said. One woman, arrested as she purchased drugs, told police she had just flown to Los Angeles from New York, where she lives.

‘They Deserve Better’

The people who are really suffering, Wilbanks said, are law-abiding residents who are trying to live a normal life in Oakwood. “There are a lot of very concerned, law-abiding, good citizens living in Oakwood. They deserve better than what they have to live with,” Wilbanks said.

Oakwood contains many small homes and a few large, rent-subsidized apartment buildings. Although there are a few so-called “crime families” in Oakwood, police said, the majority of residents are honest people trying to raise their children on meager incomes.

One of the most vocal Oakwood residents is Pearl White, who marched in Oakwood last June to protest the growing drug trade on the streets. Lately, despite ill health, she has often been a solitary figure, marching back and forth in front of a building in the 600 block of Brooks Avenue where police have made a number of drug arrests.

“We can’t be so afraid of these people. We want (residents) to know they have a community they can be proud of,” White said.

Regina Hyman, a parent of several children, said she was part of a small group of Oakwood residents who continued marching throughout the summer.

Marchers Frightened

She said that some of the people who marched against drugs last June were frightened away by threats from those who want to see the drug trade continue.

Drug buyers come on foot and in cars, Hyman said. The dealers cruise around in cars. Some sell from apartments or in hallways, and some keep moving, depending on where the latest police action is. Generally, they are brazen, Hyman said, selling wherever they like.

Hyman said she has seen dealers, after they have made a sale, reach inside the car and grab both the drugs and the money. “I have seen guys hang onto the cars, trying to get the drugs back. I’ve seen outsiders beaten up after a sale,” she said.

Hyman said that young boys on bicycles ride around the neighborhood, warning the drug dealers when police are coming and sometimes selling drugs themselves.

Police verified Hyman’s accounts of drug activities in Oakwood.

‘Like Living in a Jail’

Senior citizens, too, said they are concerned about drug trafficking in their community. “It’s like living in a jail,” said one elderly woman, pointing to a corner where many drug arrests have been made. The sounds of drug activities continue day and night, she said.

“Since the police have been here, constantly around the clock, it’s better,” she said. “Persons are up all night, but they are not ganged up on the street. It’s quieter, but it’s definitely still going on.”

The drug traffickers “have no respect whatever,” she said. “The only person they respect is the police officer.”

Wilbanks responded, “They don’t respect police, they fear them.”