WESTLAKE : Community Center, Police Facility Opens

A police substation and community center opened last week at 1730 W. Olympic Blvd. in a space donated by City National Bank.

The center, on the ground floor of the bank’s Westlake-area branch, will serve as a one-stop facility where residents can file police reports and take their concerns about housing, sanitation and other matters to city and social services representatives.

Rampart Division police Officer Jason Lee will staff the center full time from noon to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, with assistance from community volunteers and other officers who will drop in occasionally.

Jose Gardea, a field deputy for City Councilman Mike Hernandez, will work there part-time, and city housing and building safety officials will stop in regularly to listen to residents’ concerns.

“We’ll be taking reports, and they’ll be here to answer questions people have about city matters,” said Lee. “I’m just a cop, so I can’t always help them there.”

The center will have its own telephone line, and Lee will be able to transmit service calls he receives by walkie-talkie to officers in the field.

The idea of donating space to the city for police and community use grew out of suggestions from bank security personnel, who knew several Police Department officers and shared with bank officials their concern about the area’s need for a substation, said bank spokeswoman Lisa Prukop.

About a year ago, bank officials decided to donate the 1,400-square-foot space to the city for police use. Although it housed the branch’s loan department, little of the space was actually being used, so the department was relocated to another part of the building, Prukop said.

The Beverly Hills-based bank has also donated three computers, three typewriters, office furniture, a fax machine and a copy machine. The city will supply telephone service.

Although Lee said the Rampart Division already has six other stop-in centers, this will be the only one that is staffed full time. The others are only open periodically, whenever officers are present.

The new center will be open to the public eight hours a day, five days a week, but will be open for police use around the clock.

Representatives of community organizations in the area also will have access to the center during working hours as a place to meet with residents and disburse information, Lee said.

Information: (213) 485-4080.