Laguna Police Plan ATV Night Patrols After Beach Rape

In the wake of a brutal rape on Crescent Bay Beach, the Police Department said Wednesday it will soon begin a nighttime sand patrol using an all-terrain vehicle.

Police commonly use the four-wheeled vehicle to guard the beaches during summer days. But in response to recent late-night violence, an officer will soon use it to patrol beaches from 10 p.m. until 1 a.m. as well.

“It will probably be happening before the weekend,” Police Sgt. Lance Ishmael said Wednesday evening. “It’s in direct response to the problems we’ve been having on the beaches.”

The move is in part a reaction to the rape of a young woman at gunpoint about 1 a.m. Tuesday, after her boyfriend was bound and robbed. Police say the couple had been sitting near the shore at the pristine cove in north Laguna Beach when they were approached by three males. One was wielding a baseball bat and another had a shotgun, police said.

The man was bound and robbed while one of the suspects held the shotgun to his head, police said. Then the assailant with the shotgun took the woman to another area of the beach and repeatedly raped her, police said.

Police believe the attackers were gang members because of their attire.

The violence jarred this coastal community, which has long prided itself on being free of some of the problems that plague other cities. The attack came little more than three weeks after what police believe was a gang-related shooting at Heisler Park, next to Main Beach, on July 5.

“The single reaction is fear and that we have to become defensive,” said Richard Gandin, a resident of the Crescent Bay community. “I can’t imagine a year ago having felt that way, but I think what occurred is a direct effect of the existence of curfews in Newport and Huntington Beach. There doesn’t seem to be any choice.”

Some residents are increasingly worried that their city is feeling the effects of the decisions by nearby cities to close their beaches at 10 p.m. Much of the coastline in Laguna Beach is open all night, but some beaches, including county-owned beaches such as Aliso Beach is South Laguna, close at 10 p.m.

Worried residents said they will push for a curfew on all beaches.

In response to the Heisler Park shooting, the North Laguna Community Assn. voted two weeks ago to circulate a petition asking the City Council to install a 10 p.m. curfew, said Cheryl Kinsman, the group’s president.

“We need to start thinking about this problem,” Kinsman said. “The gangs need someplace to go and Laguna Beach doesn’t have a curfew. We’re very upset and we’re trying to do something about it.”

Police Chief Neil J. Purcell Jr. said he plans to have a report on how other cities handle curfews prepared for the city manager in September. The police have already stepped up their enforcement of citywide curfew laws for minors, he said.

After Tuesday’s violence, Purcell said the city may have to adopt a multifaceted approach to ward off such problems, including installing more lighting at beaches and parks, adding more foot and bicycle police patrols and even encouraging citizen foot patrols.

“I think the Police Department and the community should form partnerships to try to deal with it,” he said.

In the meantime, police say they are making plans to begin running the all-terrain vehicle on city beaches that do not have a curfew. An officer on the vehicle will begin a patrol on the sand at about Brooks Street, drive up onto Heisler Park, and then continue north on the beach to the city border.

So far, city police say they have no solid leads in Tuesday’s attack, although they have had many calls from residents.

“The public is responding to the information the media put out,” Ishmael said. “We’re following every bit of information we get.”