City Studies Need for Truancy Ordinance

A truancy ordinance similar to one used by the city of Los Angeles is being considered by Westlake Village.

Following a Public Safety Committee meeting in Westlake Village Monday, city officials said the idea of ticketing students found off campus with no valid reason during school hours is interesting, but the need for it should be studied more closely.

“In our area, we don’t know whether we have a problem,” said Councilman Jim Henderson. “We want to consult with the Juvenile Intervention [Program] team and with adjacent cities within our area to see if we really have a need for something like this.

“If it’s an areawide problem, we might look to it favorably,” he said.

The Los Angeles ordinance, enacted in October, was credited this week as having a positive effect on school attendance as well as reducing daytime crime.

“Our region has probably less of a problem than most others,” said Lost Hills sheriff’s station Capt. Bill McSweeney, citing the San Fernando Valley and the inner city as areas of greater concern. “But it is a problem here.”

The issue was raised in a letter sent recently to cities by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Westlake Village is believed to be the first of the five cities patrolled by the Lost Hills station to respond to the inquiry, McSweeney said.

The station, he said, would be interested in the authority an ordinance would give deputies to “stop and study and detain the individual.”

He said a truancy law might have an educational as well as a law enforcement benefit. “Some areas have seen a substantial decrease in daytime burglary rates, which are almost always linked to truancy.”