Hundreds of residents, business and property owners are expected to come together tonight, Feb. 17, for the inaugural “Night Out for Safer Neighborhoods” being held in the Wilshire Center area.

Capt. Matt Blake, commanding officer for the LAPD’s Olympic Division, met with community leaders Tuesday to discuss the details of the event. (photo by Edwin Folven)

The event is being organized by the Wilshire Center Business Improvement District (WCBID), the Los Angeles Police Department’s Olympic Division, and the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles (CRA/LA), in addition to several community organizations. It is intended as a way for residents to come together, meet one another and show a united front against crime. The area covered by the groups extends from Larchmont Village and Windsor Square to Koreatown and the Pico-Union area, and information about overall crime and prevention strategies will be covered at the gathering. Michael Russell, a board member for the Wilshire Center/Koretaown Neighborhood Council who helped to organize the event, said he hopes people will take a renewed interest in keeping the area safe.

“We want to bring the issues out into the community, and get the residents together from each area to discuss problems,” Russell said. “We plan to do this every other month in the future, and go to a different area each time. This is such a large area that there are a lot issues to discuss.”

The event tonight will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the shopping center parking lot at the corner of 8th and Irolo Streets. Russell said the group will also take a short walk around the neighborhood to provide a visible, united front against crime. Capt. Matt Blake, the commanding officer of the Olympic Division, said the gathering will be pertinent to people living throughout the area, including Windsor Square, Larchmont Village and Hancock Park. Police personnel will attend and discuss recent crime trends, and Blake said local residents can learn about problems in their neighborhoods.

“In the Windsor Square area and Larchmont Village, you have mostly property crimes, although there have been some home invasion robberies and burglaries recently,” Blake said. “We have been getting a lot of fingerprints and have been solving a lot of crimes, but this is the next step in keeping crime low.”

Blake added that violent crime is a major concern throughout the area patrolled by the Olympic Division, which is adjacent to the LAPD’s Wilshire Division. Blake added that when the Olympic Station opened in 2008, it had the highest robbery rate in the city and 24 murders occurred in the area that year. Last year, the division was ranked as one of the safest in the city, and the murder rate had been reduced to four.

“This is one of those areas we are trying to take back. We have gotten to the point where we have made major gains, but now we need the public’s help,” Blake added. “The more we come together, the more we can reduce crime.”

Other organizers of the event, including the Olympic Division’s Community Police Advisory Board (CPAB), will be trying to recruit new members at the event. For information, call (213)388-8352 or (213)321-6123.