Problem Property Resolution
Teams (PPRT's)
Problem
Property Resolution Teams (PPRTs) are staffed by personnel
from five core participating agencies:
- The Office of the City Attorney Office
- Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD)
- Department of Building and Safety (LADBS),
- Housing Department (LAHD)
- Planning Department
PPRTs
receive referrals of problem properties and neighborhoods
from Council Offices, the police department, other city
agencies' personnel, area businesses, and residents. Once
referrals are received, the CNAP prosecutors assigned to
the PPRTs are responsible for:
- Narcotics
and Vice Building Abatements: abating narcotics,
vice, and other nuisance activity at occupied residential
and commercial locations;
- Abandoned
Building Abatements: abating vacant structures,
open to unauthorized entry, which are sites of drug,
gang, or other criminal activity or which are considered
fire hazards.
- Neighborhood
Block Projects: in conjunction with the Narcotics Enforcement Surveillance Team (NEST), implementing
neighborhood block projects in each of the LAPD's four
geographic bureaus, with efforts focused on crime reduction
and prevention, physical improvements and enhancements,
and community outreach.
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The Narcotics Eviction
Team (NET)
Experience has proven that expedited evictions of drug dealers
from rental properties used to facilitate the distribution
of narcotics, provide a long-term solution to eliminating
drug marketplaces. The Narcotics and Gang-Related Crime
Eviction Program (Los Angeles Municipal Code § 47.50) became
effective in 1997. The ordinance, drafted by Office of the City Attorney
Office personnel, requires owners of rental property to
evict tenants engaging in narcotics- or gang-related criminal
activity within 1000 feet of the rental property.
The Narcotics Eviction Team works with property owners and LAPD
officers citywide to expedite the eviction of tenants who
engage in narcotics activity or gang-related crimes. The
NET staff reviews all narcotics-related arrests submitted
by LAPD, notifying landlords of narcotics-related offenses
committed by their tenants, and pursuing criminal or civil
remedies against owners who fail to evict these tenants.
Eviction actions are filed by NET prosecutors when owners
refuse or are too fearful to evict for specified narcotics
related crimes. NET is also responsible for notifying the
Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) of
tenants arrested for narcotics offenses. HACLA has successfully
evicted and terminated benefits for those tenants.
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The Narcotics Enforcement
Surveillance Team (NEST)
The Narcotics Enforcement Surveillance Team (NEST), comprised of
personnel from the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los
Angeles Office of the City Attorney Office, and the Los Angeles District
Attorney's Office, was formed to coordinate law enforcement
and prosecution resources to effectively remove complained
of and conspicuous drug markets from residential neighborhoods.
NEST is funded with Anti-Drug Abuse funds administered through
the California Office of Criminal Justice Planning.
Neighborhood block projects (one in each of LAPD's four geographic
Bureaus) are selected on the basis of their concentration
of narcotics activities and other associated nuisance activity.
Each community's needs and resources are assessed through
surveys conducted by community resource specialists. A NEST
deputy city attorney is assigned to each block project and
coordinates the implementation of a multi-agency Community
Impact Team composed of enforcement, enhancement and outreach
teams to improve the area. These teams are comprised of
community members and representatives of government agencies.
Among the strategies that have proven effective in abolishing open-air
narcotics street markets is the new anti-drug loitering
law. California Health and Safety Code section 11532 (H&S
§11532), the Anti-Drug Loitering Law, was drafted by City
Attorney's Office personnel and became effective January
1, 1996. Since the law's enactment, NEST personnel have
been responsible for training more than 1,000 LAPD officers
on effective prosecution of H&S §11532. Utilizing H&S
§ 11532, deputy city attorneys effectively prosecute chronic
offenders who ordinarily escape prosecution as a result
of elaborate narcotics distribution schemes.
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Kid Watch LA
Kid Watch LA, which is patterned on the Five Schools Task Force
program initiated by the University of Southern California
Police in 1995, relies on citizen volunteers (area residents,
business owners, and people who work in the neighborhoods)
who commit to physically watch over children during the
hours they are going to and from school and report any crimes
or suspicious activity to the LAPD or School Police. The
two administrative coordinators assigned to KidWatch LA
recruit and coordinate the screening of volunteers from
the community. The Kid Watch LA coordinators also designate
the corridors most likely to be walked by school children
as safe zones, and assist in identifying nuisance locations
and criminal violations committed in the safe zones.
To become a Kid Watch volunteer or for additional information regarding
Kid Watch LA, contact the Mayor's Office Volunteer Bureau.
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Operation Healthy Neighborhoods
(OHN)
Operation
Healthy Neighborhoods is a $14 million effort spearheaded
by the Mayor's Office. It includes four major components:
- Clean and Safe Parks
- Community Response Teams that partner with communities to combat
graffiti, illegal dumping, and trash
- Youth Employment Opportunities and
- Strategic Crime Reduction.
As part of the program, representatives from the Mayor's Office
and the Office of the City Attorney Office solicit problem property
referrals from community members and other neighborhood
stakeholders.The Office of the City Attorney works with
LAPD to develop appropriate strategies to abate narcotics,
vacant buildings, and other nuisances. A deputy city attorney
is assigned to prosecute quality of life crimes and code
violations in targeted areas as prioritized by local community
groups and law enforcement agencies.
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Narcotics and Vice Building
Abatements
Deputy
City Attorneys assigned to Problem Property Resolution Teams
work with CNAP's LAPD narcotics and vice abatement officers,
senior lead officers, Narcotics Field Enforcement Section
officers, local vice and narcotics officers, and inspectors
from the Department of Building and Safety and the Housing
Department, to abate nuisances associated with narcotics,
alcohol, prostitution or other criminal activity at problem
residential and commercial properties.
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Abandoned Building Abatements
Deputy
City Attorneys assigned to the Abandoned Building Task Force
(ABTF) also work with the Department of Building and Safety
to address problem properties that are vacant and are blighting
neighborhoods. The ABTF is designed to specifically target
nuisance buildings that are typically havens for gang and
delinquent activities such as drug sales, drug use, loitering
and graffiti. Often these buildings also house runaway juveniles
who are involved in drug use and/or sales. City attorneys
and building inspectors cooperatively target abandoned buildings
for rehabilitation and/or demolition to restore order to
communities suffering from an array of social problems such
as drug sales and use, public drunkenness, graffiti and
violent criminal activity.
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