Checking for small, yellow tickets, two police officers walked through the subway train as it pushed out of Hollywood. Everyone obliged. Then the officers stopped beside a bone-thin man wearing a black skullcap. He extended empty hands. No ticket.
When the train stopped, the Los Angeles Police Department officers escorted the man onto a subway platform. He didn't have identification. The officers grew suspicious. He nervously gave his name. He admitted being in a gang--and had a tattoo on his chest to prove it--but said that he'd never been convicted of a crime.
FOR THE RECORD
Los Angeles Times Thursday January 3, 2002 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 A2 Desk 2 inches; 36 words Type of Material: Correction
New theater--A California section story Tuesday on the Los Angeles Police Department's subway Fare Evasion Task Force misidentified the newly constructed theater at the Hollywood & Highland shopping and entertainment complex. It is the Kodak Theatre.
Jackpot, thought Officer Joel Miller, part of an LAPD sweep to keep criminals from using the Metro Rail subway to do their dirty work. "He's lying."
Miller used psychology, telling the man that he could be arrested and that if his fingerprints showed he was lying--about his name or record--big-time trouble could be coming.
The man 'fessed up, gave another name and his gang alias--Thug. He admitted that he is an ex-con. Miller gave Thug a lecture on telling the truth--and a $250 ticket. "Thanks, officer," the man replied.
Later, Miller explained what he saw as the effectiveness of the encounter. "That guy goes back, tells his fellow gang members we're out here--a point gets driven home," said Miller, an ex-Marine with a slight Mississippi drawl. "Don't try to use the subway for any kind of wrongdoing."
Worried that criminals are using the subway to target Hollywood--an area spending hundreds of millions to boost tourism--the LAPD last spring launched a series of aggressive sweeps through the area's underground.
Dubbed the Fare Evasion Task Force, the sweeps saturate Red Line subway stations with officers on the lookout for scofflaws, often using the failure to have a ticket as a pretext for running identification and criminal background checks.
"It's simple," said Deputy Chief Dave Kalish, who compares the sweeps with successful similar efforts in several East Coast cities. "We're using the fare laws to crack down on criminality, much as in New York. Criminals aren't paying their fares, that's just common sense. This is a good way to find them."
Although the American Civil Liberties Union thinks otherwise--questioning whether police are overstepping their bounds--in Hollywood you'd be hard-pressed to find skeptics. Most business owners and residents say only good can come of the police taking proactive measures to stop crime.
