Task Force Will Crack Down on Auto Cruisers

A police task force has been formed to provide beefed-up patrols in areas of the city popular with cruisers, authorities announced.

Beginning Saturday, 25 traffic officers planned to patrol Elysian Park, Chinatown and Boyle Heights, where teen-agers and others in souped-up cars drive up and down the same stretch of street, creating what police say has become more than just a nuisance.

The task force, using off-duty officers working on overtime, will continue its stepped-up patrols for at least several weeks, concentrating efforts on weekend nights and Wednesdays, Lt. Dan Hills said.

Two Traffic Deaths

Complaints from residents and the traffic deaths of two people earlier this month in accidents involving cruising drivers prompted the formation of the task force, Hills said.

A similar police crackdown on cruisers was initiated in January on the city’s Eastside.

Late last year, the city passed an emergency law designed to put the brakes on cruisers. Councilman Richard Alatorre had introduced the ordinance in response to complaints that cruising led to massive traffic jams, sleepless nights and litter in the streets. Under the law, motorists who drive past the same point more than three times in two hours would be cited and fined $100.

Difficult to Enforce

But police say the anti-cruising ordinance is difficult to enforce, and that, instead, officers will focus on safety and traffic violations.

“It’s not cruising per se that’s the problem, it’s the things that come with it--the keeping people up late at night, the littering and the alcohol and drugs,” Hills said.

California Highway Patrol officers, on loan for the task force, will conduct safety inspections of cruisers’ cars. Police will also close some city streets and pay special attention to traffic and criminal violations.