KTLA News: "Press conference announcing arson hotline" (1980)

[Room noise]. [Mr. Paul Disel]...Arsonists do move in... [Disel]...then... [Silence]. [Disel] I went to a school fire not long ago where  gasoline was poured through the book return slot at the library. Caused $100,000 fire. The women of the neighborhood came around me and said, "What can we do? We don't like this?" We will now have an arson line that they can report suspicious activities around schools. If people see suspicious people in alleys... if they are aware that there's  peculiar activities going on in businesses, the important thing of this whole Arson Awareness Program is that we do not want to know the tipsters names. [Silence]. [Disel] ...as the mayor  just told you. I lost my home on July 3rd. [Silence]. [Room noise]. [Mayor Bradley] Are you all set? [Room noise]. [Mayor Bradley] We in Los Angeles have been concerned about the  fact that arson is the fastest-growing crime in America. About a year ago an arson suppression  task force was appointed for the purpose of exploring ways of suppressing arson...the crime. Secondly, they came up with a comprehensive program to deal with it. Foremost among their  recommendations was a public awareness program and we're pleased that Paul Disel, and a corps  of volunteers working with the task force, has come up with a plan and a program- working with  "We Tip"- to take telephone calls anonymously from 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 midnight in the beginning and  hopefully on a 24-hour basis later on. People can call in, report any suspicious circumstances,  any information they may have about suspected arson or evidence of suspect or suspects who  may be involved in these incidents. There is an arrangement for a $500 reward for anyone  turning in evidence that leads to the prosecution of the suspect and his or her conviction. We believe that if people will cooperate... ...community in Los Angeles County as well as other parts  of the state. This is a statewide number... [Bradley] ...arson hotline. The number is the area code 800-four-seven-arson... [Unidentified Man]...things that we in government hear quite often is that we each are very protective of our own turf  and have a very difficult time cooperating with people. One of the significant differences about  the mayor's Arson Task Force, different from that type of criticism, is the fact that the Task Force covers the whole county, covers all agencies within the county. Uh...we have included people in the media,  people in the private sector such as Mr. Disel. Uh...it's a group of government and citizens working  together to solve a very serious problem. I think that uh...that we've developed several programs that  are not coming out today. We have a program that identifies... that helps an arson investigator  make a complete investigation at a fire or an arson incident. We've developed training programs  for prosecutors and judges. The Arson Task Force is really... representative of the ideal activity  that government should be involved in and that is solving community problems with the community  participating. And that's really kind of what we're here about today- to ask and inform the community... ...that 800... [Silence]. [Disel] ...in my own neighborhood, for example, would have been up there almost every day throwing  bottle rockets on my roof, throwing bottle rockets in my home, and throwing bottle rockets in the debris... [Unidentified Reporter] Could I ask you what... since you're trying to make people aware... what people should  be looking for in terms of the information that would be valuable to the fire investigators and  tracking down arsonists? [Disel] People should be aware of even the the least suspicious activity. We are going to embark upon a program of massive public information, as I said, but we are also going to  target this for individual neighborhoods. For example.... ...the anonymity of whoever calls in with  a tip. So it's something the public has to become aware that arson is not something that happens in  downtown Los Angeles or in underprivileged areas of this city. Arson is occurring everywhere. And  I'll cite you a further example... my 14 year old son Bradley is now very arson aware. He discovered a young man who was threatening and who indeed has been setting brush fires up in the Porter Ranch  area of Northridge and arson, he has reported this to arson, and the arson unit investigators are now  working on this case. That's exactly the kind of public cooperation we're after and we think that we will get it. [Room noise]. [Unidentified Man] If you see something that's abnormal, you should report it. That's what the phone numbers  for. You should identify... license plates, description of cars, description of people... uhm...unusual activity.  Is a car parked there longer than it should be? Has it been there for a couple of days? Is there a  strange car that drives through the neighborhood periodically? Uh...last year we had someone who identified uhm...a car in an area where we had a major brush fire. They saw the license number  and identified that it was a pickup. Provided that information for us and it allowed the arson  investigators to follow through and identify the person that was in that area. So I think anything  that can help an investigator identify strange people or strange activity will help us deal with  this problem and I think the the point is...that... [Silence].