Mounted Police, Armed Guards OKd for ‘Ghost Town’ : Quake: Stepped-up security at damaged apartment buildings in North Hills could begin this weekend.

Acknowledging that traditional crime-fighting methods have failed to protect a San Fernando Valley “ghost town”--a cluster of apartment buildings left uninhabitable by quake damage--city officials announced Friday that they will deploy police on horseback at the site and replace some unarmed private guards with those who carry guns.

The stepped-up security measures at the North Hills ghost town east of the San Diego Freeway could go into effect this weekend, just a week after neighbors complained that unarmed guards hired by the city are useless because they cannot stand up to potentially dangerous drug dealers, gang members and other interlopers.

“We had no idea they would move this quickly. We’re just tickled to death,” said Harry Coleman, chairman of the North Hills Task Force, a citizens group. “For the first time since the quake, I’m optimistic that teamwork is really working.”

Under the plan proposed by Los Angeles Councilman Richard Alarcon, 10 private guards will be assigned to patrol the ghost town, four more than before. Two guards will be armed and will patrol the area in a car.

Mounted police officers will begin patrolling the ghost town as soon as officials can relieve them of other duties, said Los Angeles Police Cmdr. Scott LaChasse.

“With mounted officers, you’ve got the visibility factor you need,” he said. “Not only are they more visible to the public, the officers themselves can see more” because they have a higher vantage point.

The private guards are being bolstered by guards with guns as “a protective thing for them,” LaChasse said.

Ever since the Northridge quake created at least 13 clusters of uninhabited apartment buildings in the Valley, Hollywood and Mid-City area, some neighbors have complained about problems they cause, ranging from squatters barbecuing inside abandoned units to prostitutes and drug dealers setting up shop in the parking lots.

But the extra security measures announced Friday are necessary only at the North Hills site, largely because of pre-existing crime problems there, police said. In an effort to reduce drive-by drug trafficking in the same area, police barricaded some streets east of the freeway between Roscoe Boulevard and Nordhoff Street several years ago.

The city is paying for the guards by tapping a $4-million federal disaster relief fund it received to board up, fence off and protect the ghost towns. The armed guards will cost about $18 an hour, only $3 more an hour than unarmed guards, said Pat Bonino, supervisor of disaster recovery for the city administrative office.