Officers Serve to Protect Gang Prevention Program

With every enchilada and margarita Officer Richard Stocks serves Tuesday, his shoulders will relax a little bit more.

For nine hours, he and 65 other volunteers from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Foothill and Van Nuys divisions will take over for the regular servers at two San Fernando Valley restaurants for the purpose of raising $5,000 for the LAPD-sponsored gang-prevention program Jeopardy.

With the cancellation last summer of the program’s major money-making event--an outdoor Latino music festival that had generated as much as $100,000--program founder Stocks and other officers will be clearing tables to earn tips.

A combination of government grants, corporate sponsorships and charity events normally powers Jeopardy programs at the Foothill and Van Nuys divisions, which operate on a $450,000 budget.

The program offers athletic training, field trips, counseling and parenting classes for as many as 150 families.

With less funds to work with this year, the Foothill division’s Jeopardy program only enrolled 70 families--down from the usual 120--to maintain the same level of activities.

“Nothing for the kids has been lost with the lack of funding,” Stocks said. “We just haven’t been able to serve as many people.”

Officials from Hispanic Broadcasting Corp., the sponsor of the summer concert that benefited the Jeopardy Program, said they canceled the event so it could be revamped with more family-oriented entertainment.

The corporation, which owns the three Los Angeles-area radio stations that recruit talent for the show, is working on its 2002 promotions calendar and hopes to include an event benefiting Jeopardy, said Luis Hernandez, the business’ Los Angeles marketing and promotions director.

Stocks isn’t waiting for another concert to supplement Jeopardy’s funding. Plans are in the works for a summer motorcycle fund-raiser in the spirit of the Love Ride, an annual trek between Glendale and Castaic Lake that raises about $1 million for various charities.

The vast array of other community-based programs for at-risk children make it difficult for each one to garner funds.

“Everybody’s running after the same dollar,” said Jules Baker, president of the Jeopardy foundation. “Most of the people who can afford to give don’t live in gang-affected neighborhoods, so they don’t understand the scope of the problem.”

Jeopardy’s tutoring, sports and enrichment programs provide a haven for children who are likely to join gangs, Stocks said. In Jeopardy, children can get help with homework or even go skydiving or get boxing lessons.

“They’re taking kids who have never been to the beach on deep-sea fishing trips,” said William “Blinky” Rodriguez, a longtime northeast Valley community activist. “Jeopardy exposes kids to things people in more affluent communities take for granted.”

On Tuesday, Stock and his Foothill crew will work at Acapulco’s at 8431 Sunland Blvd. in Sun Valley from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., while about 25 other officers from the Van Nuys Division will work at Lulu’s Restaurant, at 16900 Roscoe Blvd. in Van Nuys.