59 Dirt-Bike Riders Cited by Police in Sweep of Foothills

Los Angeles police officers issued citations Saturday to 59 youths and adults for illegally operating dirt bikes in the foothills surrounding the San Fernando Valley.

With the help of a helicopter that acted as a spotter, two officers in jeeps and six on dirt bikes swooped down on bikers at Lopez Dam in Sylmar, near Bell Canyon, at the southern end of Reseda Boulevard and at several other locations.

Officer David Hiner, the only full-time member of a special detail assigned to crack down on people who illegally ride dirt bikes and other off-road vehicles, said it was the most productive day in the history of the detail. The officers plan to patrol again today.

Vehicle Code Violations

Most of the citations were issued for alleged misdemeanor violations of the state vehicle code, which are punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. Hiner said one 17-year-old Mission Hills youth who was ticketed near Porter Ranch later was apprehended for evading arrest at Lopez Dam after fleeing when he saw police.

Police said dirt biking presents a fire hazard, causes hillside erosion and prompts frequent complaints about noise from neighbors.

Although the hills and gullies near the Valley rim have long attracted dirt bikers, off-road riding in the City of Los Angeles is illegal, police said. Dirt biking is allowed in some parts of the Angeles National Forest, situated north and east of the city, however.

Police said off-road patrols were conducted on an intermittent basis from 1979 until late December, when Hiner was assigned to the program full time. Hiner, with weekend help from other officers, issued about 295 complaints in the one-month period before Saturday.

“People have got to get the message that they’re disturbing the peace and quiet of the neighborhoods” and damaging the environment, police Sgt. Bob Farkas said of the weekend crackdowns.

While one of the jeeps and three officers on dirt bikes patrolled the south and west ends of the Valley during the afternoon, the rest of the team descended on about 10 bikers in a hilly area of Sylmar just east of the Golden State Freeway and north of the end of Laurel Canyon Boulevard.

One of those ticketed was a 16-year-old boy, resplendent in a green, blue and white racing outfit. He rode a canary-yellow Suzuki and wore a glazed expression when Hiner told him he was being arrested for causing “malicious or unnecessary damage to land, wildlife, wildlife habitat or vegetative resources,” a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Hiner’s radio crackled with a message from one of the dirt-bike officers over the next hill. “I could use some help,” he said. “I’ve got too many to write.”

Hiner climbed into his jeep and bounced along the deeply grooved trail to a spot beneath a power line where his three co-workers were citing a group of dirt bikers.

One of the bikers, Ric Taylor, 34, was angry because, he said, he had seen no signs saying the area was off limits.

“If they had ‘no trespass’ signs on the property, I wouldn’t ride here,” he said. “This is the first time in my life that I’ve seen a place not posted where they didn’t want you riding.

“I’ll definitely plead not guilty to this.”

Farkas said, however, that the charge against Taylor and most of the others--causing damage to land or vegetation--does not require warning signs to be posted.

“People say, ‘Well, geez, I didn’t know I . . . shouldn’t be there,’ ” Farkas said.

“I don’t buy that. . . . If they had any common sense at all, they would know if they do not own the property, they have no business on it.”