After a handful of parents complained to City Hall over a blanket crackdown on curfew law, a Santa Clarita official told the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station to contact the families of nine teen offenders to say their cases were waived, according to emails between the city and L.A. County Sheriff’s Department officials.
The city requested increased enforcement from deputies in the fall because juvenile behavior, particularly on Friday nights after football games, was “wreaking havoc,” as City Manager Ken Striplin put it during an October City Council meeting.
News reports in weeks prior had included large gatherings at SCV In-N-Out locations where teens were known to congregate and create problems for local businesses, their customers and law enforcement.
The Oct. 10 operation appeared to have targeted three parking lots where In-N-Out drive-thrus were located: 24601 Bouquet Canyon Road; 27510 The Old Road, in Valencia; and 28368 Sand Canyon Road.
Sheriff’s Station Capt. Brandon Barclay did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday, regarding the dismissals.
At an Oct. 14 City Council meeting, some parents later complained their children were arrested without warning as they left the fast-food restaurant minutes after 10 p.m., the start of the city’s curfew.
At that meeting, city officials said the curfew law has been on the books for decades, but said multiple times the increased enforcement was prompted by the request from other residents.
SCV Sheriff’s Station officials said they had worked with the William S. Hart Union High School District on outreach ahead of the crackdown. Parents said the only alert they received from the school district, which was shared with The Signal, was sent out at 5 p.m. the Friday of the crackdown, and for some, the email was received after the operation had happened.
At the Oct. 28 meeting, parents again showed up to City Hall to share their grievances on the situation, and were told the likely outcome would be community service and a fine.
“I think all of us will agree that what we want is for law enforcement to stop the parties in the park with the underage drinking, deal with the true crime that is happening with the teens,” said Alicia Balsman, one of the parents who spoke out at the meeting. “But my daughter’s story is one of dozens. … It was an orchestrated sweep.”
The sheriff’s station announced on Facebook that 31 individuals were arrested during the sweep in October.
Assistant City Manager Frank Oviedo said that, speaking generally about the curfew operation, 25 of the suspects would be dealt with through the city’s “community court,” which meant if a teen satisfies the city’s punishment, it would be wiped away.
“My end goal would have the fine be paid and waive community service,” Barclay wrote in an Oct. 29 email.
The parent wrote back 10 minutes later that they “would very much appreciate” that.
On Nov. 4, Barclay wrote to the city he would have no problem “waiving community service and charging fine.”
Records from the city’s community court are confidential because they involve juveniles.
The following day, Masis Hagobian, the city’s intergovernmental relations manager, instructed a sheriff’s station official to contact the parents of the nine juveniles “cited under county ordinance,” to let them know their cases have been dismissed.
