2 Area Police Divisions to Join Curfew Enforcement Program

The Los Angeles Police Commission will unveil plans today for a pilot program experimenting with stricter enforcement of youth curfews in five areas of the city, including two in the San Fernando Valley, Mayor Richard Riordan’s office announced Monday.

The program will go into effect at the end of next week in the Devonshire and Foothill police divisions in the Valley as well as the Hollywood, Hollenbeck and Southeast divisions.

The pilot program is outlined in a report to be submitted by a task force created last August to examine the city’s curfew laws and whether action needed to be taken to strengthen them.

The task force, headed by police commissioner Edith Perez, was created after the mayor asked the commission to examine curfew laws, following an incident in which a Lincoln Heights teenager was killed by police after the youth purportedly brandished a gun.

Each division will decide how to carry out the pilot program and measure its effectiveness.

“They know their communities best,” said Noellia Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for Riordan. “They can design it and enforce it themselves. This is a prevention and intervention tool to save our kids.”

Riordan plans to hold a news conference next week to reveal details of the program, Rodriguez said.

After four months, the program will be reevaluated and a decision made whether to expand it citywide.