9 Law Enforcement Agencies to Form Curfew Task Force

Nine law enforcement agencies will join forces Friday night for the first multi-agency curfew sweep in the South Bay.

Participating in the sweep will be the Lennox sheriff’s station, Hawthorne, El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, Gardena, Torrance, Redondo Beach and El Camino College police, and county parks police.

Most of the participating cities forbid minors to be out after 10 p.m. unless they are with an adult or returning from a school event. Those who break curfew face fines of up to $675.

Sgt. Lane Greenberg of the Lennox sheriff’s station said that each agency will patrol its community. Youths found after curfew will be taken to the gymnasium at Alondra Park in Lawndale where their parents will be called and citations issued. Counseling for parents and their children will be available.

“When kids are out there past curfew they put themselves in a position to become the victims of crime or criminals,” Greenberg said. “The roundup is really to protect them.

Indeed, many cities, like those in the South Bay, have started to enforce a 10 p.m. curfew for youth. In June, the Los Angeles City Council voted to beef up enforcement of its years-old curfew, especially in neighborhoods most affected by youth crime.

Though police have always had the power to enforce the city’s ban on youths being out without adult supervision, consistent enforcement of the curfew in Los Angeles began only recently. The initiative has spurred other cities to get tough with kids breaking the law.

Torrance police said that although they don’t have a curfew problem in the city, they thought the measure would be good prevention for the future.

“Crime doesn’t have jurisdictional boundaries,” said Torrance Sgt. Ed La Londe. “It has been a longtime standing concern that you don’t just protect your own because if an adjacent city has a problem it may eventually have an impact on your city.”