Opportunist ghouls looting stricken Palisades residents as they try to rebuild

Heartless thieves have snatched critical building materials and copper wire from recovering Palisades residents in recent weeks, according to an LAPD email sent last week to Palisades residents.

A senior lead officer in The Palisades advised residents of a surge in crime targeting building sites, urging them to take measures to suppress such thefts, in an email obtained by The California Post.

At least 8 such crimes have happened this month, targeting construction tools, materials, and copper wiring from the vacant or in-construction lots, the officer, Brian Espin, said.

Many Palisades residents have encountered theft while rebuilding their homes as a result of last year’s fires.

He said criminals are taking advantage of the darkness in the evenings within the Palisades due to the lack of lighting.

“As you all know the alphabet streets and most of the Palisades are sitting in the dark (literally),” he wrote. “There is minimal to no lights in the evenings giving these criminals the cover of darkness to roam around unseen.”

Espin said police are “deploying as much resources as we have available to the area to try and catch these criminals and deter them from committing more crime,” but asked residents for help.

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“We are asking for your help by trying to harden the target,” he added, calling for them to install solar lights and cameras as well as asking their construction crews to hide tools or materials.

But residents say its police that should be doing more.

Scott, a Palisades resident, told The California Post that he had a recent theft in April where he suspects a flatbed truck pulled up to his vacant lot to steal dozens of sheets of plywood right after a lumber truck dropped them off.

“They go in and take the plywood and the next morning the crew shows up and it’s gone,” he said. “It’s very typical.”

He said the robbers must have had special equipment in order to cut the chain of his fence and retrieve the critical materials.

Scott said he’s been forced to hire private security because the LAPD won’t do their job. He’s filed a police report about the theft but nothing has been done since, he said.

I’m being “forced to pay what should be provided with my tax dollars,” he said.

He believes lead Palisades officer Espin is asking for too much in urging residents to mount security cameras near their job sites.

“It is not normal. In a normal society, you don’t have to have security cameras on your locked fence. It’s a government failure,” he said.

Scott is supporting Spencer Pratt in the mayoral election, who he says will bring a “common sense approach to the problems LA has.”

Another Palisades resident, 65-year-old Nina Madok, said she’s been robbed before and isn’t surprised by the recent crime. She says it’s grown so frequent that she’s urged her fellow residents to pile crime information into a spreadsheet.

“Unfortunately, it’s to be expected in a city where our law enforcement is not empowered to deter a crime,” she said. “I don’t think our law enforcement feels like they can do anything about it, even though we have laws like Prop 36 that have been passed.”

A local Palisades builder, Reza Akef, said some of the crime could be because builders aren’t paying their subcontractors enough.

He thinks some of the workers are taking it upon themselves to get more compensation, potentially in the form of the stolen materials.

“My boss didn’t give me a bonus,” Akef believes the thieves are thinking. “Let me get my own bonus.”