VAN NUYS : Police See Deadly Message in T-Shirt

To the unknowing eye, the T-shirts reading “187 Hudda” may seem harmless. But the shirts are considered anything but to police and school officials who have banned students from wearing them.

While the literal translation of the shirt is the police code for homicide (“187”) followed by gang slang for police (“hudda”), many Valley police, school officials and gang experts see it another way: “Murder a Cop.”

“We don’t like them. Absolutely not,” said Sgt. Ed Brayton of the Van Nuys police station.

But Ruben Laguna, owner of the Los Angeles clothing store that created the shirt, disagrees. “It’s probably being misinterpreted,” said Laguna, who insists that the shirt’s logo simply states the police code for homicide. “I’ll tell you one thing--if I wanted to say ‘Go out and kill cops’--I would do that. Because that’s my right.”

At least two schools, Taft High School in Woodland Hills and Cleveland High School in Reseda, have made students remove the shirts or turn them inside out.

“We have a rule that says ‘appropriate school attire.’ That’s not ‘appropriate school attire,’ ” said Everett Macy, dean of students at Cleveland High.

A number of trendy stores in the Valley--Odd Spot 23 in Tarzana and Behind the Groove in San Fernando--have turned down offers to sell the shirts. That does not stop youths from going into Hollywood to buy them, even though some have no idea of the statement that their fashion is making.

Such was the case with one Encino woman caught wearing the shirt. Asked if she knew what “187 Hudda” meant, she laughed nervously and said, “I have no idea.”

When told how police interpreted the shirt, the woman’s smile faded.

“I don’t want to wear it any more. I’m all shocked,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified.

Meanwhile, Laguna is expecting to come out with a new shirt that promises to stir up more controversy. It’s called “Rodney’s Revenge” and has an African-American beating up a riot police officer.