The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Torrance, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 107, No. 28 - July 12, 2018
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.....................14
Community Briefs......... 3,11
Classifieds............................4
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Entertainment....................13
Food.......................................5
Legals.............................. 5,12
Obituaries.............................3
Real Estate.....................7-11
Sports....................................6
Weekend
Forecast
Tiny Tots Enjoy Summer Camp
El Segundo Recreation and Parks’ tiny tots (ages 3 to 5) are having a great time during their summer camp playing games and making crafts as well as new friends. Here are a few of them, perhaps doing
a little counter intelligence… Photo: El Segundo Rec and Parks
ESPD Hires New Crime Analyst
By Brian Simon
Part 1 crimes in town were up 6 percent
through May of this year compared to the
same time in 2017, according to the most
recent data provided by El Segundo Police
Department (ESPD) Lieutenant Jaime
Bermudez. Much of it was due to upticks in
the number of burglaries (98 from 84) and
theft (178 from 162). And this past May
alone, the department reported eight arson
offenses when there were none at all up to
that point and zero in 2017. On a positive
note, grand theft auto incidents dropped
from 37 to 27. Meanwhile, the total violent
crimes (homicide, rape, robbery, assault) fell
6 percent (18 to 17).
Taking the above statistics and figuring out
what it all means is one of the responsibilities
of a new department hire, Crime Analyst
Tasha Horn—who joined ESPD last month.
“When Chief [Bill] Whalen came on board
last year, he recognized the department’s
need for enhanced crime data gathering
capabilities to enhance public safety and
crime prevention,” Bermudez explained. “A
crime analyst is really a critical position in
a modern police agency. They are highly
trained individuals who develop statistical
data resources to assist in proactive and
targeted investigations.”
In the wake of state legislation passed in
recent years (e.g. AB 109 and Prop 47) that
led to more criminals out on the streets and
a general crime increase across the region,
ESPD continues to look at ways to counteract
those impacts as well as recruit personnel to
build its staffing up from the current 54 sworn
personnel to the allotted 62. Horn is one key
piece of the puzzle the department hopes can
help officers operate more efficiently even in
still leaner times.
“At ESPD, this position is a new addition
that is part-time, which is exciting as I am
able to build the station analyst template using
the methods and techniques we follow and
work that into the needs of the station and
the community,” Horn said. “All cities have
criminal activity on some level because crime
has no boundaries. The only difference we
see between other cities’ crime is mainly the
volume of incidents that are occurring. This
is why it is so important to share information
with each other.”
With the above strategy in mind, Horn’s
goals are to implement a station analyst
template that incorporates crime data that is
reviewed, correlated, analyzed and circulated
within the department as well as neighboring
agencies. “One of the main areas of
focus for this role is to analyze recent and
past crimes and see what is happening in
the crime trends along with hot spots with
where it is occurring and why,” she said.
“This is just one of many methods used in
crime analysis.”
A South Bay native who grew up in Torrance,
Horn graduated from South High
School in that community before moving
on to Harbor Junior College. She eventually
earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in
Criminal Justice from Chapman University.
That led her to the CSUF (California State
University, Fullerton) Crime and Intelligence
Analysis Certificate Program. Horn completed
a 400-hour internship at the Los Angeles
Sheriff’s Department station in Lomita in
order to receive her certification from the
program. From there, she landed a job with
the Culver City Police Department where
she briefly worked as a community service
See New Crime Analyst, page 14
El Segundo School Board to
Place Bond Measure Before Voters
By Duane Plank
The El Segundo School Board on
Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution
authorizing the placement of a $92 million
general obligation bond ask to be included
on the Nov. 6 election ballot. The bond
ask is the first in El Segundo Unified
School District (ESUSD) since 2008, and
the fourth in the community since 1997.
Three School Board seats will be also
be up for grabs on the same ballot, with
Dr. Jim Garza and Dr. Bill Watkins previously
stating they would not run for
reelection, and Board President Emilee
Layne announcing at the June 26 Board
meeting that “I am completely intending
to run again.”
The 2018 bond is by far the largest
school funding commitment put before
El Segundo voters. Unlike past measures,
the 2018 bond addresses perceived needs
at all District campuses and is not sitespecific.
Those needs were discerned by the
recent fine-tuning of the District’s 10-year
Long-Range Facility Master Plan (LRFMP)
developed in 2016, with the District and
stakeholders helping to craft a document
that reflects the most important facility
needs over the next decade while factoring
in always-escalating construction costs.
The 1997 bond measure passed by a
tick over 77 percent of the voters and
had a bond program size of $24 million.
See ESSB, page 12
Friday
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