Ali Manzano
Staff Writer
It’s 6:25 p.m. on a Saturday and the Malibu police officers are doing their usual patrolling of Pacific Coast Highway.
Hiding in every crevice and at every tempting illegal U-turn, they’re just waiting to catch someone. What else do they to do in Malibu, besides go to La Salsa?
To an onlooker, especially one who just received a traffic ticket, Malibu officers can look a lot like this.
This reporter went on a ride-a-long with Deputy Sheriff Mahmood Akhtar to see what Malibu really looks like from the inside of a police car and from the perspective of a Malibu officer.
Crime
Malibu police mainly combat smaller crimes. After seven years in Malibu, Akhtar said the crime he sees the most is drunken driving.
Deputy Bill Chaffin, a Malibu resident who has served the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for 24 years, said Malibu has one of the lowest crime rates in Los Angeles County, adding that most of the crime is from non-residents.
“Most crime here in Malibu is transient crime, people who are just passing through and see an easy target,” Chaffin said. “It’s crime of opportunity basically.”
Deputy Sheriff Jeff Trevillyan, who has served for 17 years and has patrolled Malibu since 2002, said he deals with a lot of identity theft and construction equipment theft. After years of patrolling in West Hollywood, he said one of the challenges of being in law enforcement in Malibu is rooting out crime. Criminals in Malibu are generally smarter and more discreet.
“Guns and drugs aren’t on every street corner here (in Malibu). They’re behind the big doors and big gates,” Trevillyan said. “White-collar crimes are more inconspicuous.”
Tickets
On Saturday nights Malibu police aren’t breaking up gang riots or chasing the drug lords and pimps of America. Nonetheless, they have a cause they support.
Deputy Chris Hargrove, who patrols Calabasas, said driving is the most dangerous thing people do and he takes it very seriously. Cars usually have to be going more than 15 mph over the speed limit to be pulled over.
“I try to give tickets to people who really deserve them,” Hargrove said. “Usually, if a person can give me a good enough excuse, I’ll let them off.”
Of course, that varies from officer to officer. Akhtar said that depending on conditions and the driver’s aggressiveness he’ll pull some cars over at 10 mph over the speed limit.
Officers in Malibu are trying to prevent accidents, so instead of quotas they give tickets in the zones where most accidents occur. According to Akhtar, that region of Malibu is Pacific Coast Highway between Carbon Canyon Road and Topanga Canyon Road.
“When we write tickets people don’t see what we see — they’re not thinking about what we’re trying to prevent,” Akhtar said. “Giving tickets isn’t giving a bouquet of flowers, but driving a motor vehicle is a big responsibility a lot of things can happen. It can change your life.”
During the ride-a-long it was apparent that Malibu officers are passionate about safe driving conditions and believe in the prevention measures they are taking. The officers explained bad accidents they have seen and know the potential harm of an illegal U-turn or excessive speeds. When they give tickets they see them as prevention measures rather than consequences, officers said.
Discouraging Crime
Although traffic infractions are a large part of the work the police do here in Malibu, they have another purpose.
Malibu police are here to be a deterrent, officers said. Rather than catching people after they’ve committed a crime, deputies would rather prevent it from happening. Akhtar said that they are there mainly to be available and to be seen. And on this ride-a-long that’s what happened. The time was spent patrolling PCH from the North county line to Coastline boulevard, making their presence equally known to people in trouble and people looking for trouble.
On Malibu Residents
So, how does the community generally respond to the police presence and the traffic tickets? Malibu is a unique community, but officers said its residents are just like any other and a delight to work with.
“They (Malibu residents) are really gracious,” Trevillyan said. “We get thanked every day. It’s a pleasure to work here.”
Malibu teenagers seem to have a similar report as the residents.
“They drive nice cars and are loaded, but I haven’t seen many problems with attitude,” Akhtar said.
So how do Pepperdine students measure up? Akhtar and Hargrove both agree that Pepperdine students are nice, respectful and apologetic. Hargrove said officers have had few problems with Pepperdine students. Most of their interaction with Pepperdine students occurs at parties. However, unlike the usual college-movie party scene, officers seemed to have little concern about parties.
“We personally don’t care if they (Pepperdine students) are having a party,” Akhtar said. “It’s the neighbors who complain and that’s what we have to answer to. We just ask that they park decently and keep the music down.”
Akhtar added that students aren’t the only ones having parties. Often they have to visit parties of Malibu residents.
Malibu as the police see it
Akhtar said that he wanted to be a police officer to contribute to the community and to help citizens.
“Most of the police work we do is community service,” Akhtar said. It doesn’t always have to be chasing the bad guys and jumping the fences. Most of the time people just want to ask for directions. It isn’t no police work, but at least I helped a citizen.”
The attitude behind the flashing lights isn’t always the doughnut-eating, pompous, bad cop. Actually from the inside of a Malibu police car there aren’t many secrets. It simply looks like we’re all on the same side.
01-27-2005