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Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said he wants to have some of his deputies in Hollywood, a neighborhood plagued by homeless encampments, despite the area being under the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles Police department.
“The Los Angeles County Sheriff has plans to make Hollywood feel safer despite it not being LASD’s patrol area,” the sheriff’s department tweeted Sunday. “Sheriff Alex Villanueva says he wants to have his deputies help clean up the streets in Hollywood.”
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The announcement came after Villanueva said, “Yes we’re going to Hollywood. We’re also shifting our homeless effort now, but we’re gonna focus on Hollywood,” at a 5K event Saturday.
Fox News has reached out to Villanueva, the sheriff’s department and the LAPD.
The move would be similar to his efforts to clean up the Venice Beach boardwalk in 2021 to address the homelessness crisis there following complaints from residents and a series of crimes in the popular tourist destination, including murder and arson.
“We’re gonna go invade the beach again Memorial Day all the way through Labor Day,” Villanueva said at the time. “Just so we’re sending that message that it is safe to vacation here for local residents, it is safe for tourists to make this a destination.”
He accused city leaders of hampering the LAPD and preventing officers from doing their job.
A member of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department’s HOST, Homeless Outreach Service Team, talks to homeless man on June 8, 2019, in the Venice Beach section of Los Angeles.
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Venice, which is in Los Angeles, had become overrun with homeless encampments at the beach during the COVID-19 pandemic. Residents previously told Fox News they stopped venturing to the beach because of increasing crime and other quality of life issues in the area.
At the time, some community groups and elected officials blasted Villanueva, including Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin, whose district includes Venice Beach.
“Sheriff Villanueva’s self-aggrandizing stunt is harming and disrupting efforts to house people,” he previously told Fox News in a statement.
People who work along heavily trafficked Hollywood Boulevard say aid from an additional law enforcement agency would be a gamechanger.
“I know everyone around here would help the sheriff’s department in a heartbeat,” tour guide Johnny Kraude told Fox News affiliate KTTV. “Because we’re tired of it.”
A man sleeps on the street near Hollywood Boulevard on June 06, 2019 in Los Angeles. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said he wants to bring deputies into Hollywood to clean up the streets.
(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
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Shady Ahmad told the news outlet he works at a store on the boulevard and feels unsafe on the job, especially on late shifts.
“I have a lot of crazy homeless people come into the store and mess it up or steal,” said Ahmad. “It just keeps happening.”
