Los Angeles Police Department Hosts Virtual Town Hall to Discuss Juvenile Incidents

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

Los Angeles Police Department Senior Lead Officer for Pacific Palisades Brian Espin recently hosted a meeting to address several community concerns regarding behavior of juveniles in the Village and park areas, including fights, fireworks and riding of e-bikes.

Espin was joined by LAPD Captain Richard Gabaldon, Community Resource Sergeant Scott Alpert and Juvenile Detective Justin Malcuit for a communitywide virtual town hall on Wednesday evening, March 20, which had almost 300 people in attendance, including CD 11 Councilmember Traci Park.

“Due to the recent activity regarding the juveniles’ behavior in Pacific Palisades, we would like to host a community meeting to disseminate and share information to dispel any rumors and clarify what actions have been taken and what we can facilitate for the future,” Espin wrote.

At the start of the meeting, Espin said LAPD has been “aware of” issues surrounding juvenile behavior for “quite a while,” though things have escalated the past few weeks due to “social media posts and everything else.”

Park reported that her office has had “a lot of outreach” over the last few weeks “about issues related to juveniles in the park,” and that they are “fully engaged in and supportive of any options and partnerships” that can “help resolve the issue.”

Espin, who took questions from community members and officials prior to the meeting, condensed inquiries and responded to repeat concerns.

“A lot of the questions are relevant to LAPD: If we’re aware of all the incidents that have occurred in the Palisades regarding these juveniles, how come we haven’t done any enforcement, arrested, cited and so on,” Espin said.

He said that he appreciated members of the community emailing videos and pictures of incidents, but in order for LAPD to do “any kind of investigation or enforcement,” they “need an actual police report.”

At the time of the meeting, Espin said LAPD had received “three actual police reports” regarding juvenile activity from last year to present day: “Unless we have an actual crime report, specifically for the battery—the fights that have been occurring—from our victims, there’s very little to no enforcement that we can do.”

Recently, Espin said, one person came forward and filed a police report, which LAPD was able to act on and issue some citations, which included release to either the parents or the custody of their school at the time.

He said he understands that kids and parents are worried about retaliation, noting that there are steps victims can take if there is retaliation or bullying related to reporting the incident, including filing a restraining order and additional reports in the future if a restraining order is violated.

When it comes to sharing information with area schools, Espin said LAPD has met with Palisades Charter High and Paul Revere Charter Middle schools, dating as far back as November 2023, when he sent a letter to the schools to disseminate to parents to let them know about the activity that was occurring. Espin said he speaks with Pali High staff “on a weekly basis regarding issues.”

Several of the questions related to how the community can assist LAPD and prevent further incidents from occurring. Espin suggested that “if kids are acting out,” “call them on it,” but “don’t take it to the point where you’re going to cause or have some sort of altercation.”

“I don’t want fights between kids and adults,” Espin said. “I don’t want fights between kids and kids. But definitely be vigilant.”

Espin also encouraged conversations between parents, as other parents may not be aware of what is occurring.

For local businesses that have been vandalized or shoplifted from by juveniles, Espin said he has spoken with the businesses to help mitigate the incidents. He suggested limiting the number of juveniles and/or backpacks that are in the store at one time—a policy he said one store said was not sustainable for their business based on their staffing.

One of the questions LAPD received was regarding school policy: “If we know who these kids are, what they’re doing in the neighborhood, how come the schools are not expelling or suspending the kids?”

“From my understanding, based on reading [a statement from Pali High], if it happens outside of school grounds,” Espin said, “the school does not get involved.”

Although, Espin continued, there is a caveat where if the student is on the way to or from campus, the school can get involved, but most of these incidents are at least “an hour or two outside of that timeframe.” Otherwise, it falls under LAPD’s jurisdiction, not the school police and staff.

“When addressing incidents, such as student fights or other disciplinary matters, we adhere to a progressive discipline approach that considers the severity and context of each situation,” read a message from Pali High that Espin repeated. “While suspension or expulsion may be considered in certain cases, it is not a one-size-fits-all response.”

The school said it uses “restorative justice practices to ensure that all students are treated fairly and that accountability, understanding and reconciliation principles guide disciplinary actions.” The school said it has used suspension and recommended expulsion “when necessary,” but these decisions are “always made with careful consideration.”

Over the past few months, Espin said LAPD has provided additional resources to the Palisades area—including in response to fireworks being set off in park areas—but when LAPD is visible, the kids tend to not act out, so LAPD has not been able to catch incidents that are underway. Espin said he is working with LAPD’s undercover officers to figure out a way to catch them.

“It’s really difficult to catch some of the activity when it’s happening because they’re smart enough to know not to do it when there’s a police car right there at that time,” Espin explained.

Reports of fireworks in the park area, Espin said, are “a little bit separate” because LAPD is able to investigate with a report of the incident—but regarding videos and other materials that have been submitted, “it’s extremely difficult” and “you can’t really tell which individual or kid is lighting the firework.” The videos do help Espin, he said, because it helps establish a pattern.

Espin stressed the importance of getting “high-definition” cameras in the park, which he said will help LAPD identify who is lighting fireworks.

He also spoke about juveniles who are riding e-bikes through the Village area, noting that LAPD’s policy is to not get into a pursuit over an infraction, citing the safety of the juveniles. One recent incident, Espin reported, involved e-bike riders crossing Sunset on a red light to evade LAPD, almost getting hit by a car.

After Espin spoke, Detective Malcuit gave a synopsis of the juvenile justice system, which he described as “entirely different than the adult system.”

“The juvenile justice system is designed for rehabilitation,” Malcuit described. “The system is completely geared toward avoiding placing juveniles into the justice system at this time.”

This is, Malcuit explained, apart from “serious offenders,” like murder, arson, robbery, kidnapping for ransom, etc. Malcuit mentioned a recent video that circulated of a fight involving juveniles in the Palisades, which he said was a misdemeanor.

“No matter what action we would take in that, it would not result in an arrest or detention of anybody in that case,” Malcuit said. “That’s not an LAPD policy, unfortunately that is the juvenile justice system as a whole.”

What could happen in a situation like that, Malcuit said, is LAPD can write a citation, which then goes to the county juvenile probation department, where what to do is assessed. The response is “generally going to be a diversionary-type program.” Juveniles can go through diversion programs a “bunch of times,” Malcuit said.

In general, Malcuit added, incidents involving juveniles are inherently confidential, so more specific information can not be provided.

For the remainder of the meeting, Espin took questions from attendees. During this portion of the meeting, he explained that he has knocked involved juvenile parents’ doors, with plans to do it again in the coming weeks.

“Obviously, social media platforms, it’s like a double-edged sword,” Espin responded to a question about getting the most accurate information about incidents. “Sometimes you get very good information that is helpful. Sometimes you get information that’s not really vetted or sometimes it’s a lot of hearsay. So, I have been telling everybody, if you have a specific question, reach out to me directly.”

Toward the end of the meeting, Pacific Palisades Community Council Chair Maryam Zar spoke on the ways the organization is working to mitigate incidents, including asking Recreation and Parks for a private foot patrol for weekend nights, as well as cameras.