It’s a chilly October evening in Pacoima. On El Dorado Avenue a family has set up a table where they are carving pumpkins and hanging up the season’s garish, yet somehow endearing, Halloween decorations. Farther down the street a couple of kids are shooting a basketball on the narrow street. From these scenes alone, an observer would not assume this city maintains one of the worst reputations for poverty and gang violence in Los Angeles County. 

Indeed Pacoima is among the most underprivileged of areas in Los Angeles. The city’s schools, like those in many nearby towns, are still performing below the state’s target Academic Performance Index score. Dropout rates remain significantly higher than the state average. Aside from the well-known gang violence, the city also has a problem with prostitution. Further, it appears, just from casual observation, that Pacoima is overrun with liquor stores.

It’s a city with more than its share of problems.

The Los Angeles Police Department’s Foothill Division, whose jurisdiction covers 46.13 square miles and includes Pacoima, has its work cut out for them. There have been 13 homicides this year so far, up 8 percent compared to last year. Incidents of rape are also up 77 percent from last year around the same time.

The Foothill Division, despite budget cuts to the LAPD, is doing its best to cope.

“My goal when I come to work is to look after my guys in the field, and to make sure they’re taken care of and not abusing or taking advantage of any citizen,” said Sergeant Adrian Moody, who has been with the LAPD since he was 29-years-old. Sgt. Moody became a police officer because of a desire to make a difference—and general annoyance at being pulled over so often, for no apparent reason, he contends, in the Downtown Los Angeles area where he grew up. He wanted to be an agent of change and make a positive difference in the LAPD.

Prior to his promotion, Sgt. Moody worked in a gang unit. He said that many members join because of familial ties, coercion or a desire for protection. Moody explained that many members eventually realize their mistake and try to get out of violent cliques.

The majority of gangs operating around Pacoima are Hispanic, including Pacoima Project Boys and Pacas Knock Knock Boys. Pacoima Piru Blood is the major Black-American gang that operates around the area.

Despite a historical rift between Hispanics and Armenians in the San Fernando Valley, some of the Pacoima Project Boys have ties with Armenian gangs from the North Hollywood area.

Moody said some gang members he has come across are mere children or adolescents, some as young as nine. Further, in Pacoima, one of the most recent victims of gang violence was a child.

In May Alejandro Villa, a 14-year-old boy, was shot to death a couple of blocks away from his home when a gang related fight erupted.

Villa, a junior high school student at Charles McClay Middle School, was not believed to have been a member of a gang.
The police often walk a fine line in this city. On the one hand, the Foothill Division is extremely careful to avoid the use of unnecessary force. On the other hand, the notion that a traffic stop or domestic violence call is “routine” is a misconception according to authorities.

“There is nothing routine about a traffic stop,” explained Sgt. Moody. “I don’t know who is in the car. I don’t know if they’ve committed a crime. They may have a gun and have just harmed someone.”

In July Foothill police responded to a domestic violence call that turned deadly. Officers encountered an armed suspect who was threatening people, including children, inside a residence, forcing the officers to shoot and kill the suspect.
“You have a split second to react when you respond to a call,” explained Sgt. Moody. “You make the decision whether it’s to use deadly force or something that’s less lethal.”

He points out that he too is a father and that while he takes extreme caution never to harm anyone, he and his officers must neutralize serious threats against them. 

“I have two kids. I want to go home every night—or every morning when I get off the job,” he explains. “Police work is not a glamorous job by any means. Police take people to jail and go into someone’s home for a domestic dispute. The kids are there and they see you take their dad away. So we’re always the bad guys.”

But they try to be the good guys, he explained, and make the community safer. The area is home to many decent, hardworking families. Sgt. Moody said that it’s the good citizens who call law enforcement and that his division’s aim is to make the city better for them.

It’s been one hundred and thirty-one years since Gilbert and Sullivan wrote “The Pirates of Penzance” and it still seems that “a policeman’s lot is not a happy one.”