The Valley's new top cop

After Los Angeles police Capt. Kirk J. Albanese assumed command of Foothill Division six years ago, a Latino family called 911 to report a burglary. Dana Bartholomew in the Daily News.

The next day, 12 gang members in white T-shirts banged on their door warning them never to speak to police again. That same week, the gang terrorized a security guard at the San Fernando Valley's only housing project.

So the new area captain pounced. Albanese dispatched four cops into San Fernando Gardens in Pacoima - 24/7. And ordered them out of their black-and-whites.

"I said, `You park your car at the community center and you get in it when you go home.' They walked a foot beat 24 hours a day," said Albanese, 54, now a deputy chief and commander of the South Bureau.

"We planted a flag and crime was gone."