Many residents of the Crenshaw-Leimert Park area have been able to sleep a little more soundly on Saturday nights lately, thanks to an increased presence of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the California Highway Patrol (CHP).
It was only a few months ago that cruising and street racing on Crenshaw Boulevard not only awakened many residents with the sounds of screeching tires, racing engines and loud music, but also clogged the streets for late-night commuters.
In the Bay Area of Northern California, the phenomenon of young people engaging in this activity is known as "side shows" and "yokin' ". Officials and residents in the Crenshaw-Leimert area have their own names for it: nuisance and illegal.
Resources to combat the problem were increased in July, according to Renee Bevel, a crime intelligence analyst with LAPD's South Bureau. The plan included officers from the CHP, LAPD senior lead officers, motorcycle officers, and regular patrol units.
Residents say they could just about set their clocks by when the nuisances would occur, usually late Saturday nights and into early Sunday mornings, often between 2 and 4 a.m. Signs of the previous night's activities would be visible by dawn: several fresh, black tire marks along the boulevard from where street racers would do "doughnuts" — spin their cars around in circles — or burn rubber from a stationary position, usually at an intersection.
Stuart H., a resident who lives about two blocks from Crenshaw Boulevard and 54th Street, said he remembers being awakened routinely between 1:30 and 3:30 a.m. on Sunday mornings to the sound of screeching tires.
"We could actually smell the rubber burning," said Stuart, whose last name was withheld for safety reasons. "From where I live, I could hear the voices of people on the street yelling and screaming on Crenshaw. It was crazy."
Additional resources were made available to the LAPD to free up officers to tackle the cruisers prior to meetings with concerned residents, according to Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese, who oversees the agency's South Bureau.
Stuart said that his "nights are very quiet" since the suppression detail went into effect.
"I think that just their presence has stopped the (activity)," he said. "We've been able to sleep through the night."
The LAPD's strategy for addressing the issue has been focused mainly on visibility, enforcement and education.
At a meeting with residents at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza in August, Albanese stressed that the police department has to be very careful in its response to the cruisers and street racers.
Albanese conceded that, prior to the suppression plan, police officers had been "part of the problem by not engaging in simple traffic stops."
While cruising is not illegal, there have been times when traffic has been impacted.
"We have to be mindful of the crime being committed," Albanese said. "The Constitution gives people the right to gather, to assemble."
Residents of the area say that the issue is not the gatherings, but everything that comes along with them: loud noise, the holding up of traffic, cruising at dangerous speed levels, driving the wrong way on the thoroughfare, and the doughnuts in the middle of the street.
The enforcement aspect of the LAPD's suppression plan has focused on those more-specific infractions. The effort has also led to more significant police action, too.
Deputy City Attorney Sharee L. Sanders, who is assigned to the Crenshaw area, said that 8,823 vehicle citations were issued between March and early August, while 96 cars have been impounded; six stolen vehicles have been recovered, and 47 arrests have been made for outstanding warrants. Law enforcement officials have also made 28 arrests for driving under the influence (DUI), taken six suspected felons into custody, recovered one gun, and found five juveniles in violation of the 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. More recently the numbers have shifted, with fewer citations and more arrests on serious offenses. The final two weekends of August saw 232 citations issued; three felony and 32 misdemeanor arrests made; 17 cases of DUI, and 20 cars impounded, according to Sanders.
The suppression plan along Crenshaw Boulevard is scheduled to continue until at least Oct. 5, which is when an overall assessment of its success will be made.
The plan is also part of the crime abatement strategy of the Urban League's Neighborhoods At Work initiative. The initiative is a five-year project to increase the quality of life in the 70-block perimeter that borders Vernon Avenue on the north; Arlington Avenue on the east; Slauson Avenue to the south; and Crenshaw Boulevard on the west, with a portion of Hillcrest Boulevard also in the territory. As part of the crime abatement strategy, the Urban League requested resources for this area from the LAPD, the City Attorney's office and the CHP.
The city attorney's office handles all of the misdemeanor vehicular charges that occur, such as unsafe driving, speeding, hanging out of doors, riding on top of cars and racing.
Sanders, who said she grew up in the area and remembers the phenomenon of cruising from her younger days, added that the foremost concern is for safety in the current program.
Thandisizwe Chimurenga is an Assistant Editor at the L.A. Watts Times.
Photo from indybay.org
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