South Gate Police Department

South Gate police have stirred up a mini-controversy by printing street maps that designate the general location of registered sexual offenders who live within a mile of any of the city's 13 elementary schools. Police hope the maps will encourage parents to consult the Megan's Law computer database and identify registered sex offenders in their neighborhoods. Police also said that they want to give parents the chance to change their children's route to school if they now pass an offender's home.

A South Gate police officer convicted on charges of sexually assaulting a driver he pulled over in a traffic stop was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison. Robin Craven, 35, pleaded no contest in January to charges stemming from a stop he made on Easter morning last year. Before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Wesley delivered the sentence, Craven apologized to the 23-year-old victim, who was in court, "for the pain and suffering I have caused you."

A South Gate police officer pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of sexually assaulting a female motorist he allegedly pulled over on Easter morning, authorities said. Robin Craven, 34, also pleaded not guilty to charges alleging that he removed a traffic citation from the police station that was written against a female friend by other officers, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Nicholas Koumjian.

The city's Police Department has installed an automated phone system that will allow dispatchers to respond faster to 911 emergency calls, authorities said. Previously, general information police calls were routed to dispatchers, which took time and tied up lines. Callers will now get a recorded phone message in English and Spanish directing them to the appropriate departments. The general information police phone number is (213) 563-5400.

The South Gate Police Department has released new statistics indicating a drop in violent crimes and property crimes across the city. During 1996, South Gate's homicide rate fell 33%, more than twice the figure for homicide reduction statewide over roughly the same period. Reported rapes in the city similarly dropped 26%, while robberies declined 16%. Deputy Chief George Troxcil attributed the decreases to the 94-officer department's focus on outreach programs and street gang intervention.

Three South Gate police officers who were once part of a high-profile narcotics task force have charged their police chief with failing to investigate improprieties in the unit, and say they may demand a federal or state inquiry. The three officers, who say they resigned from the Southeast Cities Against Narcotics unit after blowing the whistle on investigators who withheld and used property seized from suspects, allege that Chief Ronald George protected the investigators.

South Gate police will be marching into the Information Age, thanks to a federal grant for $25,000 that they will use to buy 10 laptop computers and software. "We've been going toward a paperless department for about 10 years now," said Lt. Douglas Christ. Officers spend at least five hours of their workweek just filling out forms, Christ said. "The officers find they are more of a paper clip than they are gunslingers," he joked.

The city is trying to make police service more accessible to residents by taking it to where they congregate most frequently: schools. "It's community-oriented, problem-solving policing," said South Gate Police Capt. George Troxcil at Stanford Avenue Elementary School, where the city last week opened its second school-based Neighborhood Police Information Center. "Whatever residents think their needs are, we are going to bring it to them."

Carjacking prevention hint No. 8: If a suspicious person approaches your car, drive away quickly and carefully--even if you must go through a red light. In a move exemplifying cooperation between the private and public sectors, police last week opened a police information center in the busy parking lot of the Target store at 5700 Firestone Ave. to make crime prevention tips more readily available to the public.