LOS ALAMITOS : City Outlaws Fees for Private Parties

In a crackdown on teen-age parties that attract gangs, the city has outlawed admission charges for private parties.

The ordinance passed this week is specifically aimed at the parties advertised through flyers and by word of mouth at Los Alamitos High School and neighboring high schools.

“We know that gangs have a tendency to barge into parties like that, cruise around and look for parties of that nature,” Police Chief James Guess said. “It leads to some pretty volatile situations.”

For example, he said, a 17-year-old party host was stabbed to death on Sept. 22 on San Mateo Avenue in a gang attack.

“That was just such a party, one that charged and which had been advertised at the high school through flyers,” he said.

Without admission fees, Guess said, “we’re hoping that they’ll realize they can’t afford to do it.”

Dave Dorrans, assistant principal in charge of student discipline at Los Alamitos High School, said he forwards any party flyers he comes across to the police department.

“We try to cooperate fully with the police,” Dorrans said. “I get a number of them over the school year and always call the police jurisdiction involved.”

Dorrans said the need for the ordinance has increased in the last few years.

“Alcohol tends to be the drug of choice here, and most of our serious problems stem from it,” Dorrans said. “We’ve had students injured in several traffic accidents involving drinking and driving. We have felt somewhat insulated in the past, but no longer.”

Courtesies, such as gifts from guests and sharing of meal expenses, are not considered admission, city officials said. Parties in which donations are accepted for political, charitable or religious causes also are exempt.

Violators of the ordinance could be fined up to $500 and sentenced to up to six months in jail.

Los Alamitos modeled its ordinance after one in the city of Los Angeles.

Guess said the police chiefs in the neighboring cities of Cypress and Seal Beach expressed a strong interest in the idea.

“Such parties are time-consuming and costly to police departments,” Cypress Police Chief Daryl Wicker said. “You don’t just send one unit out to disburse 300 or 400 kids who have been drinking.”

The new law has the added deterrent of allowing the Police Department to recover law enforcement costs in some instances under the “second response” policy, according to Guess.

If the Police Department receives advance notice that someone plans to charge admission to a party--for instance, by receiving one of the flyers circulated at schools--the department will notify the host that to do so would be illegal.

If the party goes on as planned and the police are called, the host will be held liable for the cost of the police response, Guess said.