Northridge : 3,000 Attend Crime Prevention Festival

A grass-roots anti-crime group, Mad About Rising Crime, sponsored a “Join the Winning Team” community festival Saturday in Northridge that drew about 3,000 people, organizers said.

Los Angeles Police Chief Willie Williams and state Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills) spoke at the event, which also included performances by local high school bands, drill teams and cheerleaders.

“It went better than we expected,” said Joe Sands, a spokesman for MARC. The group was formed by the parents of teenager Marc Squires, who was shot to death at a Chatsworth party in 1990.

The festival was the first event of its kind for the nonprofit group, which tries to raise awareness of crime-prevention issues and bring the community together, Sands said.

The gathering “hopefully engenders a community feeling in an area like Northridge that doesn’t have a center,” Sands said. “And it makes people more aware of crime issues.”

The festival, held in a Lucky supermarket parking lot at Devonshire Street and Reseda Boulevard, included exhibits and demonstrations by the Los Angeles Fire Department and the LAPD’s Metro Division SWAT team, off-road motorcycle team and bicycle officers.

Members of MARC also demonstrated the latest graffiti-removal techniques and disaster-preparedness strategies. There were also martial arts and kick-boxing demonstrations.

Near-perfect weather boosted the turnout, Sands said. “Our goal was to bring the community together. It was just a wonderful crowd,” he said.