A new method of security can now be seen trotting along Encino following a recent uptick of break-ins in the San Fernando Valley community.
The Los Angeles Police Department is beefing up security in the community with helicopter flyovers, undercover agents and the presence of its Mounted Platoon throughout neighborhoods. Officers on horseback will be patrolling the area in effort to sway potential thieves from entering homes.
“Anybody with criminal activity or with a criminal mindset to know that, again, just because they don’t see us, there’s a high likelihood that we’ll see them just based on the different strategies that we’re taking with all the undercovers and everything else out here,” said Sgt. Enrique Rogers of the LAPD Mounted Platoon.
The patrols will continue through the weekend to give residents some peace of mind, the department said.
The move for added security comes after at least six home break-ins were reported in Encino since July 10. The first in the series of burglaries resulted in the murder of a couple in their home.
“American Idol” executive Robin Kaye and her husband, Thomas Deluca, both 70, were shot to death in their Encino home on July 10. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said they were killed after a 22-year-old man broke into their home and opened fire on them with their own gun.
The couple’s murder, followed by several more break-ins, has left the community on edge.
“If we can make someone feel safe at home, safe where they work, safe out and about in the streets, that’s a well-intended goal and that’s what we want to do,” Rogers said.