A weekend of street takeovers and smash-and-grab burglaries has Compton residents demanding more of city officials and law enforcement.
The social-media-fueled flash mobs have troubled Compton and elsewhere for years now, sometimes even resulting in the death of attendees.
Despite arrests and car seizures, the takeovers continue.
After burglaries at the Birrieria Gonzalez restaurant, an Arco station and elsewhere this weekend, Compton Mayor Emma Sharif demanded change in a Tuesday City Council meeting.
“These street takeovers have plagued our city for far too long,” Sharif said.
As a preventative measure, the city plans to install Botts’ dots in an intersection used in last weekend’s takeover, Sharif said.
Capt. Terrence Bell of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said deputies are being shifted to weekend work to help crack down on the illegal gatherings.
“You’re going to see enforcement all over the weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night,” he said.
Such efforts are too late, however, for Cindi Enamorado, whose brother was struck by a car and killed during a February takeover.
“These people drove by there, spectating, recording him, posting him online and bumping music,” she told the council. “And they made a joke about my brother’s passing. My little brother was 27 years old.”