Police and schools work together. : Truancy Patrols Credited With Reducing Burglaries

The burglary rate in the Van Nuys area had risen higher than anywhere else in Los Angeles.

Police at the Van Nuys station turned to the Los Angeles Unified School District and a little-known program for help.

As early as 1973, the Los Angeles Police Department recognized that truant teen-agers were responsible for a significant number of daytime burglaries in residential neighborhoods. The department began a program in which officers were assigned to cruise neighborhoods of truants, and school counselors in police stations worked with them.

Last March, the Van Nuys police division, hoping to fight an increasing burglary rate, doubled from two to four the number of officers assigned to truant patrol. Within six months, burglaries decreased by 15.8%. Deputy Police Chief Dan Sullivan, who directs operations in the San Fernando Valley, credited the truant patrol.

Dual Benefits

The truancy crackdown in Van Nuys has continued this school year, and school district officials say it not only has cut down on burglaries but has helped keep students in school.

“Without the help of the police we would never be able to reach these youngsters,” said Irving Gable, a school counselor with Operation Stay in School.

Teen-age truants picked up by police are brought to Gable, who counsels them in a basement office of the Van Nuys police station and calls their parents and schools. During the last school year, about 3,000 truants ended up at his desk. In the first six weeks of this school year, he saw 753 truants--an average of 20 to 30 each day--making his office the busiest in the city.

Gable follows up on each youngster, and noted that there are few repeat offenders. This year, just 17 of the 753 youths counseled have been taken before him a second time.