Street Cruising Is Banned

Fed up with the congestion and the cruising on the local seaside boulevard known as The Esplanade, the Redondo Beach City Council last week passed an ordinance outlawing cruising on city streets, despite police arguments that such a law could not be enforced and probably would not hold up in court.

The ordinance, which became effective immediately, allows police to set up traffic control points and cite anyone who passes the same point, traveling in the same direction, more than twice in four hours.

Redondo Beach police tried to discourage the council from passing the ordinance, arguing in a memo that the department could not enforce it without deploying officers on every street feeding into The Esplanade--about 18 people, at a cost of about $486 an hour. Moreover, police said, setting up checkpoints would interfere with the mobility of people who live in the area.

“The overall success of cruising ordinances, even in commercial areas, (is) at best, questionable,” wrote Capt. Roger Bass, operations division commander for the department.

Moreover, said Lt. Ken Kauffman of the department’s traffic division, a recent police crackdown on the area has eased the cruising problem. Among other things, police have begun confiscating the stereo speakers of cars whose “boom box” sound systems are audible beyond the legal limit of 50 feet.

However council members argued that, even though the Police Department lacks the manpower to enforce the law, they wanted it on the books as a last resort should cruising in the city ever get out of hand.

“I just want to get this on the books so they’ll have something to fall back on,” Councilman Terry Ward said.