Redondo Beach to Begin Enforcing Its Curfew Law

Warning: If you’re under 18 and it’s after 10 p.m. and you’re in the city of Redondo Beach, you’d better have a good explanation. Otherwise the police may hang a $135 citation on you.

Starting this weekend, the Redondo Beach Police Department will begin stepped-up enforcement of the city’s curfew law, sending a task force of patrol, reserve and juvenile officers out on the streets to question and, if necessary, detain and issue tickets to unsupervised juveniles who are out after 10 p.m.

Redondo Beach Police Chief Mel Nichols said the program is necessary because of increased numbers of youths on the streets--including some who apparently moved to Redondo Beach after other communities began enforcing curfews.

“When Inglewood started aggressively enforcing its curfew (earlier this year), we started seeing some spillover,” Nichols said. In trial runs of the curfew enforcement program over the past three weekends, nearly two-thirds of the 34 youths who were ticketed were not Redondo Beach residents.

Although the Redondo Beach curfew ordinance dates to the mid-1980s, Nichols said, until now it has been enforced sparingly by police officers.

The curfew ordinance exempts youths who are on their way to or from work or organized school or social activities. Youths detained under the curfew law will be issued tickets and then released unless they are under 14 or are on probation, in which case they will be held until they can be turned over to a responsible adult.