Setting an Example

Several months ago, in response to complaints from some merchants and residents, the city of Orange began cracking down on day laborers congregating along one of the city’s major streets. Last week, in response to similar complaints, Laguna Beach city officials turned their attention to the problem. The differences in approach and attitude are significant and worth noting.

City officials in Orange pursued a policy of selective harassment. Police cracked down on infractions that weren’t being enforced anywhere else in the city or against any other people on the street, rousting day laborers who congregated on street corners waiting for job offers--most of whom were guilty of nothing more than trying to find work. Police detained them for such little-enforced “crimes” as tossing a cigarette onto the ground and jaywalking, and, in one of the more outrageous stretches of the law, two men were picked up for not wearing seat belts while sitting in a parked car at a doughnut shop.

Scores of Latinos in Orange were detained and, because of the ill-advised city policy, turned over to federal immigration officials if they did not have proper identification. Many ultimately were deported.

Laguna Beach saw the number of day laborers congregating for jobs on a street corner in north Laguna increase because of the sweeps made by the city of Orange. Laguna could have taken the same hard-nosed, unfeeling and counterproductive approach that was taken by Orange. Indeed, some residents specifically asked for the same kind of police activity.

But, to their credit, Laguna Beach Police Chief Neil J. Purcell and the City Council would have no part of it.

Purcell is sympathetic to residents’ concerns. But, while conceding that he could arrest the day laborers for dropping a cigarette butt onto the ground, the chief rejected that approach, explaining that “it has never been our practice to zero in on a certain segment of our community.” Purcell’s record on that is excellent and well worth following by other police chiefs who may be pressured to pursue such selective enforcement.

The Laguna Beach council is showing equally responsible restraint and good sense in pursuing the suggestion from Dan Kenney, Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) and the North Laguna Community Assn. to have the state open its parking lot at Crystal Cove State Park at 6 a.m. so that day workers can congregate there for jobs. The location has parking and restroom facilities and would answer the problem for the residents, merchants and workers.

Unlike Orange, Laguna Beach is setting a responsible example for others on how to resolve a community problem in a way that respects the needs and rights of everyone involved.