Due Process in Huntington Beach

Huntington Beach police properly turned out in force last Fourth of July to prevent repetition of past Independence Day festivals that turned into melees or riots. But some of their arrests appeared to be of doubtful validity.

A Municipal Court judge, Caryl Lee, recently ruled that a Huntington Beach ordinance that allowed police to arrest people for drinking alcohol on their front porches or lawns was unconstitutional. It was a good decision.

Lee ruled that charges against four men arrested on the Fourth of July for having open containers of beer on private property should be dismissed. Her rationale was the city’s law was so vague that people could not be expected to understand it. As a result, an arrest for something not understandable violates due process of law, the judge said.

In past years, Independence Day revelers in Huntington Beach have thrown rocks and bottles at police trying to restore order. Two years ago, police used fire hoses to break up crowds. Last year, they requested that downtown businesses close early in an effort at crowd control.

This year, police sealed off a 100-square-block area of downtown to traffic. That helped prevent disorders, but police still needed to break up one group throwing firecrackers.

An integral part of the police response was zero tolerance on drinking in public. Many of the hundreds of people arrested this year were charged with possessing alcohol in public. That’s a crime and the arrests were justified, especially in light of the role alcohol played in fueling previous years’ disorders.

But some arrests were of people standing on their own porches or in their front yards. That is not right. There is a difference between rowdies surging down a street with cans and bottles and peaceful residents sipping a cold drink on the lawn on a hot day. Police make those kinds of distinctions all the time; even in the heightened atmosphere of the holiday, police can recognize the difference.

A deputy city attorney said the Huntington Beach City Council might redraw the law Lee found unconstitutional to spell out the ban on drinking alcohol on front porches and yards. That is not necessary. So long as people are assembled peacefully on their own property, having a drink should not be a crime. If they move onto a public street or become violent, then the police are right to enforce the law.

Huntington Beach has made good progress in recent years in curbing violence and making the holiday a fun time for residents and visitors. There is no evidence that the misguided arrests last July 4 helped quell any uprisings. A strong police presence and tough enforcement of laws on the books should be enough to provide a peaceful holiday.