A Pico Rivera community watch program celebrates its volunteers
The small community of Villa Nova mobile home park in Pico Rivera will gather today to formally celebrate the unarmed volunteers who serve its community patrol program.
The volunteers protect their neighbors by serving as witnesses to any potential crime in their neighborhood. The 12-person group hosts community leaders and members to foster further engagement and connectivity.
Since the community watch began, total calls for service have halved, from 59 in 2021 to 32 in 2022, said Jose L. Hernandez, operations lieutenant for the Pico Rivera Sheriff's Station.
Hernandez added that he encourages crime prevention by contacting the local Sheriff's Station. While technically unaffiliated, Pico Rivera Station Capt. Jody L. Hutak will attend to acknowledge the group's efforts.
“These folks have never had any formal training,” Hernandez said. “They're mostly just being a witness watch, essentially … the greatest deterrent is calling law enforcement and being a good witness.”
The watch's founder, Alfredo Rosa, a military veteran, said the program is valuable, because it encourages neighbors to look out for one another.
“I lived there, and my wife lives there, too, so it's common sense that you've got to protect where you live,” said Rosa. “I can take care of myself — I have alarms, bars on my window, cameras … I'm OK. But the lady that lives by herself down the block over there? She doesn't have the same.”
Most calls from the neighborhood are to police, in response to strangers roaming the area, Rosa said.
Noticing that his neighbors were in distress led him to start the community watch program in 2021. The operation is simple — the volunteers rotate on a patrol schedule, driving through the 153-unit neighborhood to look out for suspicious activity and danger. Should a neighbor or patrol member be wary of someone, but unclear of the threat level, they can call Rosa so that he can assess if there is a need for police intervention.
“They live within their own little world, but I preach to everybody, `you should know who is in front of you, who is behind you and to your right and your left,'” said Rosa. “Everybody should know that person.”
More often than not, the “stranger” that people call on is actually a resident who lives on a different street, or someone visiting a friend or family member, he said. In those cases, Rosa calls back the volunteer and reassures them that there is no threat.
But, if a person is not meant to be on the property, then Rosa calls the police.
This approach, the former home security system salesman said, appeases the neighbor but also means that the visitor isn't unnecessarily confronted by police and officers can focus resources elsewhere.
The patrol is coordinated out of Rosa's home office, where he has mapped the neighborhood, named streets and numbered homes to share with local police.
Other than the patrol, Rosa commissions a handyman to install extra lighting or other security equipment a resident purchases, should they request installation assistance.
Protecting the community is Rosa's highest priority and has been throughout his career. This, he attests, is because he knows the pain of being helpless. Born and raised in Washington Heights near the
Bronx borough in New York City, at only 12 years old, Rosa ran away from an abusive household. To survive, he dropped out of school and followed what other boys were doing to join a local gang.
Yet, before he fell deeper into crime, Rosa was recruited by a Neighborhood Youth Court, a program run by community members to divert young people away from the justice system.
“It spurred me to know that I could be accepted in society,” Rosa said. “Basically, that's where they were trying to say, `hey, you know, square yourself away. You could do better things for yourself.' ”
As the Vietnam War escaladed, Rosa enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, serving from 1967 to 1971, which he said taught him the value of civil engagement.
Ultimately, he said he became chairperson of the Parent Policy Committee of the Head Start program.
Rosa said he represented all L.A. schools that had a Head Start program.
Today, Rosa said he has come full circle. With a grown daughter and grandchildren, he now has his elderly community to look out for, and looks forward to celebrating the work the community has put in to look out for one another.
While he leaves the police work to the professionals, he said the extra support the community patrol offers is an extra deterrent for anyone looking to target Villa Nova.
“I take this serious because it means something to somebody,” Rosa said. “Whether you save somebody or not, a criminal doesn't know when to come into this community because there is always somebody patrolling on different days and different times. Its the perception of protection.”