City Council Rejects Curfew Program

Despite enthusiasm from community leaders, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to reject a pilot program to target five city neighborhoods for heightened enforcement of a teenage curfew, insisting instead that the years-old law be implemented equally citywide.

The vote is a slap to Mayor Richard Riordan and his Police Commission, which unveiled the pilot program two weeks ago, but may have little practical significance because the citywide curfew is already on the books and LAPD can enforce it as it likes. It represents the first time in months that the council has used its power to overturn any decision by one of the city’s 40 citizen commissions.

Riordan and the commission had endorsed semimonthly sweeps in areas hard hit by gangs and drugs and a community-police partnership modeled on a curfew enforcement program already underway in the Hollenbeck Division. Tuesday’s action undid the commission’s vote launching the targeted pilot, but at the same time encouraged police leadership throughout the city to follow Hollenbeck’s example in cracking down on violators of the curfew, which prohibits people under 18 from loitering on public streets past 10 p.m.

“We have lost sight of enforcement of fundamental policing techniques,” Councilman Richard Alarcon said. “One of the most fundamental issues are the curfew laws that are on the books. We need to enforce this citywide.”

Lt. Tony Alba, an LAPD spokesman, said that the department would submit a plan for citywide enforcement as soon as possible but added that the ability to carry through will depend on whether the council provides the money.

Tuesday’s debate marked the mixed-message end of a controversy that was more about politicians’ power struggles than police policies.

Councilman Richard Alatorre told colleagues he supported the Police Commission’s pilot program--but voted for the council action that gutted it. Councilwoman Rita Walters made an impassioned speech opposing the curfew, then joined in the unanimous vote supporting its citywide enforcement.

Meanwhile, the mayor’s office mourned what it viewed as the loss of a community-based program to help keep youngsters safe.

“Here we’re just about to put that final bow on the package and it just gets ripped out. It’s sad,” Riordan spokeswoman Noelia Rodriguez said. “Here we have a situation where the community has been working hard with the police department and now the message is you’re not needed.”

Police Commissioner Edith R. Perez put a more positive spin on the situation, noting that Riordan had originally wanted to step up curfew enforcement citywide, but LAPD officials said they lacked the resources and therefore focused on the five divisions.

But no more money has been allocated to the curfew program, so Perez said she remains unsure how it will be implemented citywide, and also worried that the council’s involvement in the matter would delay the debut of curfew sweeps until at least July, rather than the scheduled start June 1.

“The unfortunate thing is that the longer it takes to implement the citywide enforcement, the more kids will be in jeopardy,” Perez said.