Laguna Beach police will partner with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol to crack down on motorists and bikers who speed and exhibit noisy exhausts on Pacific Coast Highway this weekend.
In addition to motor officers patrolling Laguna, deputy sheriffs will be looking for violators in Dana Point and CHP officers will monitor unincorporated areas along Pacific Coast Highway. This is the first of several vehicle enforcement operations planned for this year, authorities said.
“Speed and loud exhaust can impact the safety and quality of life for our residents, and we will actively enforce these laws to mitigate their concerns,” Laguna Beach Police Capt. Jeff Calvert said in a prepared statement. “This month we issued over 300 citations for these violations to ensure Laguna Beach remains a safe and peaceful place to live and visit.”
The joint operation lands after Laguna Beach residents complained during the Laguna Beach City Council’s meeting Tuesday after experiencing a particularly noisy weekend on April 25 and 26.
“The blinking signs and the occasional police attention is not working,” Laguna Beach resident Brian Oppegaard said. “Our laws are be flagrantly violated, our citizens assaulted.”
Oppegaard suggested that Laguna Beach police assign an officer full-time to writing tickets to motorists who speed and exhibit noisy exhausts.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, Councilmember Toni Iseman highlighted an unannounced visit Sunday morning by a Lamborghini car club at the Gelson’s shopping center as a pain point for both residents and essential businesses.
“I have never received so many emails with such passion than the public comments made about the noise and the traffic and the car rally that happened,” Iseman said. “This is after years of receiving your emails and without a doubt, I would say, this is as angry as people have gotten.”
Calvert acknowledged that officers responded to the South Laguna shopping after receiving reports about the car rally.
“The car club left voluntarily after they were contacted by the officers,” Calvert said.
Mayor Bob Whalen thanked Calvert for planning the joint operation with the Sheriff’s Department CHP within a couple of days.
“Hopefully, these guys have a much less successful outing this weekend,” Whalen said.
How the irony in this remains unidentified is beyond me. The LBPD are themselves the worst offenders; I challenge you to find a single officer who doesn’t speed heavily more often than not. I’ve watched them blaze past young kids since I was one myself. And no, I’m not some old-timer who’s turned pessimistic and curmudgeonly. I’m a 30 year old who once watched them come within inches of myself and hundreds of friends at a roadside memorial for a friend who’d passed on PCH, rocketing past with no regard for human life. I’ve seen it still happening and with such frequency that I half-joked to a friend about making a mini-doc on their recklessness. I guess when you’ve got no danger to address you’re left with nothing else to entertain you but creating some yourself. I clocked one going at 65 miles an hour on Glenneyre into Forest downtown just a week ago (he also blew the stoplight and almost took out an elderly dog walker in broad daylight). This isnt isolated, it’s longstanding and systemic. Great example guys.
This is a vicious virus that can kill anyone at any age! What do these protestors not understand about social distancing to try to prevent transmission? I firmly believe that beaches should remain closed! A little bit of “hardship” to recent more deaths makes complete sense to me!
Just more “laguna” people who think they are privileged and don’t want anybody but themselves to enjoy Laguna.