San Fernando Valley residents are expressing deep concern about the rise in violent crime after fifteen homicides rocked the area from late May to early June. These deaths brought the murder rate up 6 percent from last year, prompting the Los Angeles Police Department and the mayor’s office to ramp up efforts to prevent further violence.

Six people died the weekend of June 14-15 in the Valley through violent ends.

Two died in a traffic collision caused by a drunk driver and the driver was booked for murder. In North Hollywood, an adult male got into a fight with a man his mother was socializing with and stabbed the man to death. A Hispanic male in his 20s with multiple stab wounds was found dumped in the Foothill area in a garbage bag. And on the 15th, a man was found shot to death in a vehicle behind a Walgreens in North Hills, possibly as a result of a dispute involving narcotics.

“These events in proximity (of time) weren’t related in any other matter,” said Deputy Chief of the LAPD Michael Moore.

They were a “random cluster” of violence, according to Moore. Only the North Hollywood incident was suspected of being gang-related.

“A lot of the crimes certainly are gang-related,” said the Deputy Mayor of Homeland Security & Public Safety Arif Alikhan, in regards to overall crime in the Valley.

“But we’re also seeing increase in non-gang related crimes. Oftentimes we have domestic violence crimes, domestic violence murders, robberies that go bad, drug deals that go bad, that may not be involved with gangs at all. This year that seems to be the trend.”

Police devoted intensive amounts of investigative resources over the weekend of the 14th, with many officers and detectives working 30- 48-hour shifts in order to identify and apprehend the suspects, to large success.

Both Alikhan and Moore said the LAPD has put added policing and investigational resources into the areas hardest hit with crime activity, and are working with schools on prevention and intervention.

One such program, the Communities in Schools program, consists of 10 members, many of whom are former gang members. They work with hard core gang members and victims of gang violence to stop the endless cycle of retaliation.

In addition, the Violent Crime Task Force is a hand-picked, elite 50-member group who are moved from region to region, depending on where the trouble areas are. These officers track and police emerging violent crime patterns.

“(The LAPD) closely monitor not only murders but any type of violent or property crime,” Alikhan said. “They track that very closely, they map it, they try to figure out why it’s emerging, and make sure to put the resources on the locations. As Chief Bratton says, he tries to put the cops on the dots.”

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s office also has the Gang Reduction and Youth Development Zones, or GRYD, in place in the most high-risk areas of the city. In the Valley, that means Pacoima Foothill and Panorama City.

“We have concentrated suppression resources by having more LAPD officers, prosecutors, probation officers and parole agents who work together (in the GRYD areas) to go after the very violent … gang members," Alikhan said.

There is also a layer of social services that concentrates on crime prevention and intervention, and re-entry services.

In some ways, the hot weather may be to blame.

“The summer heat brings more people outside later at night, which leads to a greater propensity for violence,” Moore said.

Violent crime in the Valley is down for the sixth straight year.

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