Leash-Law Enforcement Goes On at Laurel Canyon Park

Four days after the Los Angeles Animal Regulation Commission ordered a halt to leash-law crackdowns at Laurel Canyon Park, animal control officers returned there Sunday and issued at least four citations.

After the raids, two East Valley Animal Shelter employees asserted that the five-member commission’s vote Wednesday was advisory and that enforcement of the city’s leash law would continue in the park.

The tiny park at the crest of the Santa Monica Mountains above Studio City has been the scene of hostile confrontations between dog owners who go there to run their dogs loose in violation of the city’s leash law and contingents of animal control officers sent to cite the violators.

About 75 angry dog owners jammed a commission meeting room Wednesday to protest what they described as the officers’ “storm trooper” tactics. They complained that as many as 10 officers at a time had rushed the park and sometimes verbally and physically assaulted leash-law violators.

Response to Complaints

In response to the complaints, the five-member commission ordered the city’s Animal Regulation Department to suspend the crackdown. One commissioner said the vote meant that only one or two officers would periodically patrol the park.

However, three animal control officers showed up Sunday at two times, 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

They were accompanied on the first trip by four Los Angeles Police Department officers in two patrol cars. Two Los Angeles park rangers also followed the expedition in a pickup truck, bringing the number of city employees to nine.

Only two police officers returned for the afternoon sweep. They stood at attention and watched over the park as citations were issued by two animal regulation officers while the third stood by.

Commissioner Rita Hoisch said Sunday that the commission had wanted city employees “to hold back until this thing is resolved a little bit.” Although initially concerned when told that three animal control officers patroled the park, she said it would “be no problem” if only two of the officers were issuing citations.

Origin of Controversy

The controversy over leash-law enforcement in the park began this year when an organization called ParkWatch protested plans for construction of a children’s play area in the park.

Members of ParkWatch, who are mostly dog owners, said the playground would spoil the natural beauty of the tiny, rural park.

On Saturday, the group held a press conference to add a new argument in its favor--that rattlesnakes and coyotes in the brush surrounding the park pose a danger to children.

The battle was apparently already over, however. City crews have begun construction on a large sand pit in a corner of the park.