During the North Area Command's quarterly neighborhood watch meeting Wednesday night in Montrose, Captain Carl Povilaitis and Lieutenant Ian Grimes of the Glendale Police Department talked to the community about ongoing crime trends and suspected criminals within the La Crescenta area.
Grimes was happy to report that Anthony Chauron Sage, who had a warrant for possession of stolen property, was taken into custody at 5 a.m. on April 27. Warrants for Damonte Walker, 18, and Karla Elizabeth Duran, 27, remain active (see photo gallery for their mugshots).
As usual, the biggest threat to Montrose citizens are home break-ins and automobile break-ins. Grimes reminds citizens to lock their car doors, and to not leave expensive items on display inside the car (read Patch's coverage of how to avoid automobile break-ins ).
Povilaitis, who took over field services three weeks ago, shared his concerns over the probability of changes to the jail system; in light of the economic distress, more and more "non-violent" criminals will be released sooner, and their parole provisions will be different. Grimes cited Lindsay Lohan as an example: "she walks in the gate, she walks out the gate." Grime and Povilaitis fear this kind of treatment could become endemic as prisons and jails become less able to affording beds for inmates (and consequently more lenient).
Grimes went on: "It's pretty hard to go to jail." Grimes explained that probations are easy to come by, but hard jail time? That's not as easy. Therefore, criminals receive slaps on the wrist, and are free to wander the streets. "All these folks will just be in our hair longer. They'll be a threat to all of us longer," Grimes said. In order to keep crime down in relatively-safe Montrose, Grimes and Povilaitis urged the community to keep their eyes open and work with the police department to identify criminal activity.
"Be more vigilant," Povilaitis said.
"Be skeptical," said Grimes. "You know your neighborhood better than we do."
At any given time, the Glendale Police Department has two to four police officers on active patrol in the North Area of Glendale (La Crescenta and Montrose), in addition to any detectives and traffic cops who might be in the area.
