Park Rangers, LAPD, LAFD Focus on Bluffs

By ERIKA MARTIN | Reporter

While no fires have raged out of control on the bluffs along the Pacific Coast Highway since November, persisting encampments and the periodic appearance of smoke wafting from the area have kept many residents on alert.

Signs were erected last October to assert the off-limits nature of the high-fire-hazard area, which law enforcement officials say have helped them mitigate the danger of trespassing.

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) and most notably the Department of Recreation and Parks’ Park Rangers have been working together to execute a three-pronged approach toward enforcement in the area.

The Palisadian-Post checked in with each department for an update on their efforts.

PARK RANGERS SPEARHEAD EFFORTS

The bluffs’ cleanup and trespassing enforcement have been spearheaded by Senior Park Ranger Albert Torres, who began focusing on the area a little over a year ago. Torres said his team has since made eight arrests and removed about 25 encampments in the Palisades bluffs.

When smoke appeared on the Via Bluffs on Feb. 3, Torres’ squad removed two encampments—one vacant and another with tents, cooking material and a small campfire.

For the past year, the team has been conducting reconnaissance in the area to identify and remove encampments, Torres told the Post.

Torres has been with the Park Rangers for 34 years and said he’s worked with homeless encampment issues for the Department of Recreation and Parks since Mayor Tom Bradley’s tenure.

“I have a lot of experience doing this,” he said. “I’ve been involved most recently in addressing the encampment issues because it’s illegal, it’s a hazard and it affects the environment as well.”

His team has been monitoring the Palisades coastline from Temescal Canyon to Potrero Canyon, and sometimes beyond. Torres said the rugged nature of the area makes the Parks Department the best-equipped unit to address the bluffs.

“This is right up our alley because the entire area has now been surrounded and identified as a very high severity hazard zone,” he said.

Torres said the rangers use GPS coordinates to map locations beforehand and more precisely identify encampment areas. While Torres said his unit’s main goal is to achieve compliance with trespassers, they cite anyone they encounter in the area and have made arrests “relative to chronic violation and refusal to comply.”

To cut down on repeat violators, Torres said the rangers have worked with neighborhood prosecutor Veronica de la Cruz-Robles to have the court order offenders not to return to the area they were arrested in as part of their sentencing.

“We’re just looking for them to move on and not violate anymore,” Torres said.

Torres said collaborating with other law enforcement agencies has not been a challenge because they share the same goal. “We’re there to help the people too because the violation is just an indicator of something else that’s wrong,” he said. “I’m always looking to treat each individual I encounter with the upmost respect.”

Overall, Torres said he believes the situation on the bluffs has improved compared to a year ago, with plants beginning to regrow and the terrain regaining many of its natural characteristics.

“The environment of that area is exquisite,” he said. “The rains that we’ve had have affected the chaparral to the extent that it’s really become a pristine environment. But more work is needed and we’re always looking to do the next thing.”

LAPD EFFORTS ONGOING

LAPD Senior Lead Officer Michael Moore said the agency is more concerned about the potential for fires than some of the more visible homeless individuals in the area. This lack of visibility may be why some of the department’s activities go unnoticed.

“Unless you’re at the right place at the right time, you won’t see it,” Moore said.

In many instances the most an officer can do is write a citation, Moore said, and it’s not likely that someone can be taken into custody. An individual can be arrested if a citation turns into a warrant due to a failure to appear in court, but this isn’t an effective means to mitigate homelessness, Moore said.

“Still, it has to warrant giving up a patrol car in the Palisades for about six hours,” he said. “And most of the time, these people are arrested and are out the next day.”

However, arrests can sometimes be the best option when dealing with repeat offenders, Moore said, as stricter punishment may be levied when it’s not an isolated event.

“We want [judges] to see that this is an individual who continuously fails to abide by the citations/warrants,” Moore said. “That gives the city attorneys a better chance for a conviction and to ask for stay-away orders.”

According to Moore, overall, residents need to be patient as achieving a long-term solution is a slow process.

“If you want a quick fix for homeless people, it could result in people camping in front of people’s houses,” he said. “I don’t think that’s what the community wants.”

LAFD STAYS FOCUSED ON FIRE HAZARDS

LAFD Assistant Chief Patrick Butler said the department’s primary mission is “the control, extinguishment and containment of any fire hazard. We don’t have the authority to kick [homeless individuals and their encampments] out, but we have the authority to abate any open flame devices or anything that we see.”

Butler said he was not sure of the exact number of fires the department had extinguished in the bluffs, but he said such instances were infrequent.

However, he noted, “While it may not be that frequent, it doesn’t take too many to cause a [major] fire. We encourage the community [to] call 911 if you smell or see smoke or fire. We’re there to protect the community.”

According to Butler, the agency’s “big initiative was to make sure that we have those areas properly marked” to better enforce trespassing. He said the signs have indeed resulted in fewer encampments being found in those areas.

Butler said when it comes to trespassing, if individuals in the encampments are not cooking nor using an open flame, “that is not necessarily a fire department issue. That’s a law enforcement issue.” However, he assured residents they will be protected from any threats to their safety.

“No community resident should feel that they’re any less protected because [there is] an encampment because we’re going to address it,” Butler said. “It may not be the FD’s role to address, it may be the PD or a park ranger, or it may even be private.”