Vandals Spray-Paint Cars in Chatsworth

At least five vehicles were spray-painted with rude slogans and images overnight Thursday.

Vandals hit between 8 p.m. and 8:30 a.m., Rosemary Van Slyke told Chatsworth Patch. Her car, parked on Lurline Avenue, was scrawled with "Smoken Joke." Other vehicles were on Chatsworth and Bermuda streets.

Van Slyke said the vandalism to her car was discovered by her landlord, Jim Beck.

But when she called the Devonshire Division police station, officers were only willing to take a report over the phone. "They didn't seem overly concerned," she said. No officers came to the scene, she said. "I was a little annoyed," she said.

Although the five incidents of vandalism were in a cluster, she said the officer on the phone was skeptical that the spray-painting was related. She did not have the officer's name.

Earlier this week, LAPD Senior Lead Officer Danny del Valle held a community meeting with 45 neighbors on Hilliview Avenue, urging residents to be vigilant of suspicious activity. Del Valle heads the LAPD's Neighborhood Watch in Chatsworth.

Neighborhood Watch meets at 7 p.m., the fourth Thursday of every month, at , 9901 Mason Ave., where the LAPD briefs citizens on the latest crime rate and speakers provide an insight into police operations.