The Los Angeles Police Protective League is pushing back against Mayor Eric Garcetti’s attempt to crack down on large gatherings at homes by cutting off utility services.
The union says officers should be focused on crime and not policing local house parties.
“Mayor Garcetti keeps tying himself into knots. He wants to reimagine policing so he should send his staff to turn off people’s electricity and cut off their water and let police officers deal with the rise in shootings and killings in Los Angeles,” the police union said in a posts on its Facebook page.
Garcetti unveiled the plan last Wednesday, saying enforcement would not be focused on small gatherings but on “people determined to break the rules, posing significant public dangers and a threat to all of us.”
The penalty would be doled out to properties that repeatedly hold large gatherings — something that will be verified by Los Angeles Police Department officers, according to the Garcetti. Notice will be provided to the property owner and a request will be submitted to the Department of Water Power to shut off utilities within the next two days, he said.
But the police union pushed back on the plan, saying it doesn’t believe that officers should be focused on such enforcement.
“Noise complaints and house parties? He should send in someone with a clipboard, not cops,” the union wrote on Facebook.
Garcetti’s announcement came after a large house party in Beverly Crest earlier in the week ended in a fatal shooting.
Los Angeles police officers were initially called out to the Mulholland Drive property on the evening of Aug. 3 after receiving disturbance calls. Despite a ban on gatherings in the county due to the COVID-19 pandemic, officers did not break up the large gathering because it was held at a private evidence and the music wasn’t too loud, officials said.
Hours later, officers returned the home after gunfire erupted. The shooting killed one woman and injured others, according to police.
In a separate action last week, L.A. City Councilman David Ryu introduced a motion that also sought to crack down on house parties by threatening water and power shutoffs, among other penalties.
