Loophole in Public Nudity Law? Simi’s Got It Covered

The state’s indecent exposure law has helped keep public nakedness down in American’s safest large city, but officials here think more needs to be done.

The naked truth is that this suburb of 113,000, where police have made 11 arrests following nearly 40 complaints about public nudity in the past two years, hasn’t been able to do much to curb the problem.

In order to prosecute someone under the state statute, the Ventura County district attorney’s office has to prove that there is an element of sexual gratification for a person found naked in public, officials said. But doing so is difficult, and most such cases aren’t prosecuted.

Because police received 20 complaints regarding a Simi Valley man walking through the city’s west end naked last spring, the City Council is poised tonight to adopt a public nudity ordinance that could put violators in jail for up to six months.

Several neighbors of a 30-year-old man complained when he was walking naked through his community.

Officials have since acknowledged that the man may have been mentally unstable, but he was sentenced June 5 in Ventura County Superior Court after pleading guilty to two counts of indecent exposure in March and April. He was released after spending two months in jail for time served and was sentenced to 36 months probation and required to undergo 90 days of psychiatric treatment, said Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Lela Henke-Dobroth.

But pleading guilty to indecent exposure is rare, so city officials want a stricter ordinance making it easier to prosecute public nudity.

The proposed ordinance, with language and penalties that have angered some who embrace a nudist lifestyle, would permit police to arrest anyone found naked in public, regardless of whether the act involved sexual gratification, said Simi Valley Police Chief Randy Adams.

“Only in the most aggravated situations do we want to take action,” Adams said. “We don’t expect there to be more frequent violations, but we need [a law] on the books so we have a tool to be able to proceed if we need to.”

After the district attorney’s office told police such an ordinance would help them prosecute nudity cases, police proposed it to city officials. Marjorie Baxter, senior assistant city attorney, drafted the ordinance.

Under the ordinance, a person could receive up to six months imprisonment and up to a $1,000 fine.

Erwin Chemerinsky, a professor of law and political science at USC, said the Supreme Court in March ruled that public nudity laws are constitutional. But Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson said there are issues to be considered. An unfortunate consequence could be to jail people whose public nudity results from mental instability, she said.

“It will make it easier for them to prosecute cases, but then they have a judgment call to make,” Levenson said. “Do you want to prosecute, invest your resources and put people in jail? Or do you want to get psychological help for them?

“It would be best if they maybe wanted to slow down and study the issue before they pass additional legislation. They may want to think of its repercussions.”

But Simi Valley is moving forward. City Atty. David Hirsch assures critics that not all incidents would be treated equally.

“We’ll evaluate the circumstances and try to do what’s appropriate,” Hirsch said.

Mayor Bill Davis said the issue is simple: Being nude in public is not appropriate, .

“We’re not doing this to injure the public,” Davis said. “We’re doing this to protect the public. If the major portion of the people don’t want to see this ordinance, then they need to come forward, but I bet 98% of the people say we need that.

“I just believe that the world and civilized people were not meant to walk down the street without clothes on.”

Such sentiments, and the severity of the penalties, has angered nudists. R. Allen Baylis, an Orange County attorney and member of the Naturist Society and the American Assn. for Nude Recreation, spoke out against the ordinance when the council last met on Dec. 4.

Baylis said the proposed ordinance unfairly stereotypes him and other nudists, including some who are Simi Valley residents. A particular irritant, he said, is the preamble of the ordinance, which refers to public nudity as “inimical to public safety and order, decency and morality.”

“We find that extremely offensive,” Baylis said. “It paints us in a bad light. People who go to nude beaches and go to nudist camps are not indecent, immoral people.”

Baylis said a person should not be jailed for public nudity, and if there is a penalty, it should be no greater than $150.

“We understand people are offended, rightly or wrongly; that’s the society we are in now,” Baylis said. “But for a simple social faux pas, do you make a crime out of that? We don’t think that’s appropriate.”

Nudists have also expressed concern that the ordinance would infringe upon their rights to sunbathe nude in their backyards or skinny dip in their pools. City officials say as long as the nudity occurs in private, it doesn’t violate the ordinance.

“This means you can’t go nude in the park, or walk down the middle of Los Angeles Avenue nude. In your spa in your backyard if you want to go into it naked, that’s your business. Nobody is going to do anything about it,” Davis said. “If you were to go in your frontyard and lie down in your sidewalk naked, that’s a public place. The issues [nudists] brought up are nonissues.”

Public nudity laws are on the books in other cities. Last week, the Thousand Oaks City Council outlawed public nudity partly in response to Simi Valley’s problems, and a host of other cities, including Redondo Beach and Burbank, have adopted public nudity ordinances. Simi officials spoke with other cities for input when crafting its ordinance.

Terry Stevenson, Burbank’s senior assistant city attorney, drafted that city’s public nudity ordinance in 1987 after officials were unable to effectively prosecute people for public urination. Upon adopting its ordinance, the city was able to prosecute violators with ease, he said.

“If all you’ve got is the state law dealing with indecent exposure and you don’t show sexual intent, you cannot get a conviction,” Stevenson said. “If he’s just walking around naked, then it’s a tough case to prosecute under state law. But if you have a law, then that’s pretty easy to prosecute.”