As burglars torment L.A. neighborhood, anxious residents consider buying guns, hiring security

For the record :
12:41 p.m. Aug. 8, 2024 : An earlier version of this article misspelled the last name of LAPD West Valley Division Capt. Brian Wendling as Windling.

A palpable tension hangs over Encino as news of the latest burglary spreads through the San Fernando Valley neighborhood after months of reported break-ins.

It's all people seem to talk about while walking their dogs or in group text chats with neighbors. Some residents want to form a neighborhood watch, while others are taking quotes from private security companies to patrol the streets outside their multimillion-dollar homes.

At least 10 burglaries were reported in Encino in the last month, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Residents say there have probably been more in this Valley neighborhood, which is home to roughly 60,000 people.

Some in Encino have hired armed guards to sit outside their homes. Others simply want to arm themselves.

"In all my years working and living in Encino, I have never participated in conversations where people said, 'Yeah, I'm going to go get a gun.' But now they are," said Robert Glushon, president of the Encino Property Owners Assn.

Crime statistics indicate that burglars are hitting Encino far harder than other parts of Los Angeles. Citywide, residential burglaries were up 4% from last year, the LAPD told news station KTLA-TV — compared with Encino's 40% increase from June to July for an area south of the 101 Freeway.

Capt. Brian Wendling, commanding officer of the LAPD West Valley Division, said the numbers on Encino are devoid of context and do not tell an accurate story of the situation on the ground. Overall, crime is down by about 19% for the West Valley so far this year compared with this time last year, he said. "I can't emphasize this enough that people tend to overreact to spikes and dips in crime all the time," said Capt. Brian Wendling, commanding officer of the LAPD's West Valley Division. "There was an increase in a very small area that was responded to very quickly by West Valley."

The LAPD provided more information about the West Valley burglaries during an online meeting on Thursday.

From July 7 to Aug. 3, there were 38 incidents of hot prowl burglaries across the city of Los Angeles. Five of those were in Encino, said Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton. The burglaries appear to be centered in area between the 101 Freeway, Ventura Boulevard and the area slightly to the south.

Deputy Chief Ruby Flores, Operations-Valley Bureau lead, assured the 500 meeting attendees that the department is aware that these types of burglaries feel personal.

"I know that, regardless of what the statistics are, whether they are increasing or even if they are lowering and they are reducing, it doesn't matter to the person that is having their home burglarized," Flores said.

On Monday, an east Encino resident reported hearing the sound of glass breaking in their home shortly after 12:30 a.m. By the time police arrived at the home on Firmament Avenue, the suspect or suspects were gone. Police logged the incident as a hot prowl, meaning a resident was home during the break-in.

Less than three miles to the west, a resident reported that they'd seen two people around 3 a.m. Tuesday in their home in the 16800 block of Mooncrest Drive, according to the LAPD. Responding officers did not find any suspects.

It's becoming a familiar pattern for residents of the neighborhood, where break-ins have shown no signs of letting up since last month's surge.

Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman is "deeply alarmed by the recent cluster of residential break-ins in Encino," a spokesperson said.

The LAPD has increased patrols in Encino, and volunteer reserves support officers in the field. And additional investigators are working with the department's West Valley Division to pursue leads on the burglaries.

"No one should have to live in fear in their own home, and our office is committed to doing everything we can to ensure the safety of all our residents," Raman's spokesperson said.

Wendling said that the media have been laser-focused on crimes in Encino and have overreported the situation, giving the impression that police are not working fast enough.

"We are taking it extremely seriously," he said. "We need the media's help to to cool the temperature, so to speak. We try to reduce the incidence of crime, and then secondarily we try to reduce the fear of crime. That's what really got blown out of proportion."

Despite the increase in police patrols, resident Sam Avishay can sense the anxiety among his neighbors, some of whom are talking about hiring a private security company and splitting the cost. He's wondering whether it would be worth it to purchase a firearm, as some of his neighbors are doing.

"Does that escalate the situation?" Avishay said. "All of this has made me rethink my long-held belief that I should not be a gun owner."

Resident Stephanie Rosenthal has reached the point of taking pictures of suspicious cars on her street and approaching strangers sitting in their cars.

"We just have to make ourselves present and not let anyone case out the neighborhood," she said. "You have to be willing to interrogate anyone ... if they're taking chances, so will we."

Members of the community should be vigilant, Wendling said, but they should not jump to conclusions if someone is driving slowly through a neighborhood. Most suspects arrested in the West Valley burglaries are not from the area and have traveled all across the county.

"It doesn't matter where you live," Wendling said. "It's not just endemic to Los Angeles. It's not just endemic to California. It's coast-to-coast."

Police made two recent arrests in connection to the Encino burglaries. Both suspects have long criminal histories, according to Hamilton, and have been involved in burglaries in Southern California and Southern Nevada. One suspect was linked to a burglary based on their clothing and was in possession of a stolen firearm taken from a home in Las Vegas.

Encino was just one of many places hit by these crews, according to police.

One longtime resident, who only provided his first name, Rob, because he was concerned for his family's safety, recently moved back in with his elderly mother to give her some sense of security.

"Everybody knows what's happening, and you just walk around having your eyes peeled, looking, but not really even knowing what to look for," he said.

"It's a little scary for me," he acknowledged, adding of his mother: "And it's really scary for her. You just have to be vigilant, because you don't know which house is going to be hit next."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times .