Violence Prompts Crackdown on Cruising

Ribbons of bright headlights shimmer along the wide boulevards. Hip-hop and rap music blare from car stereos. Young drivers shout pickup lines at each other.

It’s cruising night on Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Mission Hills, which means you drive up and down a stretch of pavement bordered by mini-malls and fast food restaurants. You watch girls, impress boys and, above all, show off your wheels.

Once a relatively safe rite of passage for teenagers, cruising the Valley’s boulevards can sometimes be a deadly sport. Violence rocked the most popular cruising spots last weekend when 10 people were shot in four separate incidents, leaving one 17-year-old boy dead.

In response, Los Angeles police are stepping up their efforts to crack down on young drivers cruising Sepulveda and Laurel Canyon boulevards, roughly between Chatsworth and Rinaldi streets. Friday night, about 20 officers from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Foothill Division patrolled the area and set up barricades at many intersections to block traffic until 3:30 a.m. Saturday.

“We cannot allow this violence to continue,” said Capt. Ron Seban. “We’re going to let the cruisers know that we don’t want them here.”

That sentiment has been echoed in communities across Southern California and beyond as police try to bring cruising under control in response to residents’ complaints, mostly about noise and crowds, not violence, authorities said.

Three years ago, Santa Ana put an end to cruising along South Bristol Street by establishing an elaborate computerized checkpoint system and street barricades to deter drivers.

Officers stopped each car and entered the driver’s name and license number into a computer, said Sgt. Raul Luna, a spokesman for the Santa Ana Police Department. Although some cruisers have returned, many stay away, fearful of being cited.

Whittier Boulevard, a longtime Southern California cruising spot, is frequently plagued with noise problems and violence, officials said. Last weekend, sheriff’s deputies launched a crackdown on cruisers along the Pico Rivera stretch of the boulevard by assigning more officers to the area and setting up barricades, said Jeff Hobbs, a spokesman for the city.

In the San Fernando Valley, police acknowledge that stopping the cruisers is no guarantee of ending the violence.

“We can push them away from the boulevards, but that won’t keep them from shooting each other,” Seban said.

Roy Chavez, 17, and a friend were cruising June 19 when both were shot at 1:30 a.m. at Laurel Canyon Boulevard and MacNeil Street. Chavez, a San Fernando resident, died from his wounds. Fifteen minutes later, three men were wounded in a separate shooting at the same location.

The next day, four young men were wounded at 2:30 a.m. in a car-to-car shootout at Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Chatsworth Drive. Despite being shot in the neck, the driver managed to speed away. Just hours earlier in the same neighborhood, a 25-year-old man was shot in the leg during an argument with a motorist in a pickup.

Police believe all the shootings were gang-related.

Victims of cruising violence in the northeast Valley are usually treated at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills. Emergency room and trauma center manager Mark Wallerstein said “things seem like they’ve been heating up again, because I’ve seen more shootings this year. We’ve been dealing with shootings for years, but I hope this isn’t a trend.”

A few cruisers agree that their night of fun can sometimes turn dangerous, but they say it’s not fair to assume that everyone is a violent hoodlum.

“There is some fear out here because you can’t be cruising and gangbanging,” said Luis Ramirez, 19, of Van Nuys on Friday night. “It’s not right for everyone else. We’re not all gangsters.”

Most drivers head to the Mission Hills destination from other parts of the Valley and beyond. Even in Los Angeles, a city known for its nightclubs, restaurants and entertainment venues, many young people say cruising is still their favorite summer pastime on weekends.

“We just come out for the girls,” Ramirez said. “We stay out until the girls go home, or we go home with them. It’s just about having fun.”

The most popular time is on Sunday afternoons, when cruisers move their weekend activity from Laurel Canyon Boulevard to Sepulveda Boulevard.

Although Los Angeles police say putting up barricades and adding more officers on the street is the best answer, cruisers scoff at what they call a quick-fix solution.

“Once the barricades come down, we’ll keep coming back,” 19-year-old Steve Low of Van Nuys said Friday night. “They can’t keep us away forever.”

The City Council will decide Tuesday if barricades along Laurel Canyon Boulevard will become a long-term means of combating cruising there.

Councilman-elect Alex Padilla drafted a motion calling for expansion of the LAPD’s cruising enforcement program. It was introduced Friday by Councilman John Ferraro because Padilla cannot do so until he is sworn in as the 7th District’s councilman next month.

The motion calls for adding Friday evenings to the enforcement program and extending Saturday barricade hours until 4 a.m. Sunday. The Sunday night barricades would remain from 6 p.m. to midnight.

Cruisers appear to have an ally in local merchants, who do not appreciate access being cut off from their businesses.

“When cars filled with hungry people can’t come by because of the police, it hurts us,” said Mario Cuenca, manager of Coco’s restaurant on Sepulveda Boulevard. “Other people get scared because they see the cruisers.”

He estimates he loses 10% of his business to police measures and cruising traffic.

On Friday night, Hasan Kamrul stared at the empty streets from the Arco gas station on Laurel Canyon Boulevard where he works. He estimates that he lost $1,000 from the barricades keeping customers away.

“It’s better for us when the cruisers drive down the streets, because they need gas,” Kamrul said. “We aren’t doing any business, and it makes me really mad.”