National Guard activated to protect local streets from looters capitalizing on Palisades Fire chaos
With thousands of residents displaced from their homes due to the Palisades Fire and other emergencies, a sadly predictable but no less craven concern has emerged with looters and thieves targeting now empty homes.
In Santa Monica, the Police Department said it found 100 people illegally inside the evacuation zone in the course of a single night. On Thursday, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said his officers have arrested 20 people for looting in evacuation zones as wildfires continue to ravage the region, with authorities promising strict enforcement against criminal activity.
"I'm going to make this crystal clear to everybody out there," Luna said. "If you are in one of these areas and you do not belong there, you are going to be subject to arrest."
Nearly 180,000 residents are under mandatory evacuation orders across Los Angeles County, with an additional 200,000 under evacuation warnings due to the Palisades, Eaton, Hearst, and Lydia fires. Those homes are empty and make a tempting target for the morally bankrupt thieves looking to exploit the regional tragedy.
Luna said that over 400 sheriff's personnel are deployed to assist with evacuations and security operations, while maintaining normal patrol duties. Deputies are conducting humanitarian missions, including providing food and blankets to residents, and performing rescues of people who failed to evacuate.
"Every example I'm given is as a result of somebody who chose not to evacuate," Luna said, describing incidents where first responders have been put at risk. "I don't want to tell those stories anymore."
The sheriff's department has substantially increased deputy presence at traffic checkpoints to prevent unauthorized access to evacuation zones. Luna said the California National Guard has been called in to help with some of those duties and while curfews are in place for some areas, Luna said his department has the authority to enforce the evacuations regardless of time of day.
“I'm going to give direction to our department members, as you know, when we have an evacuation order by law, if you remain in that area, you are guilty of a misdemeanor. If you commit certain crimes, it could jump up to a felony,” he said. “I'm going to be asking our employees to start enforcing that.”
Law enforcement officials said the National Guard is valuable during this emergency and would help law enforcement to focus on crime suppression. The National Guard will be assisting in traffic control to maintain roadways and ensuring access to affected areas is restricted only to authorized personnel, critical infrastructure security and checkpoints verifying credentials and restricting unauthorized entry into those protected zones.
“They're going to get deployed to specific missions,” said Luna. “The first missions will be at the Palisades fire, at the Eaton fire. They will be supporting the city of Los Angeles as well.”
He said Santa Monica is among the handful of cities that have requested the Guard’s presence in the coming days to alleviate the burden on local officers.
In the meantime, the Santa Monica Police Department has mobilized all available resources and called in mutual aid to prevent looting in areas evacuated due to wildfires.
The department has gone on tactical alert, canceling days off and implementing 12-hour shifts to maximize coverage in evacuation zones. An additional 20 officers from neighboring jurisdictions have joined patrols in the affected areas over the past 36 hours.
The department said its primary focus has been making sure that they have every single possible resource in the area to make sure that they’re not seeing the kind of burglaries or looting that is feared.
SMPD Chief Ramon Batista said most of the people the department contacted during the first night of the City’s curfew were simply warned to leave. However, they made seven felony arrests and six misdemeanor arrests.
“Day and night, we are dedicated to ensuring the security of your homes and loved ones. Our team is proactively monitoring the evacuation zone, deploying extra officers, and collaborating closely with mutual aid partners to provide comprehensive support. We remain steadfast in our commitment to respond swiftly to any needs that arise,” he said.
He said the vast majority of subjects stopped were not from Santa Monica or local areas.
According to the Chief, two felony arrests were made for outstanding warrants for firearms violations. Officers made five additional felony arrests of subjects on probation or parole for burglary.
Officers completed a traffic enforcement stop for a registration violation in the 2500 Block of Georgina. During their contact with the three occupants of the vehicle, officers discovered one subject had a No Bail Warrant for a Firearms violation, and another was on probation for Burglary.
Later in the day, officers contacted a subject after he failed to stop for and rode through the traffic control point at 26th St and San Vicente Blvd. During their contact with the individual, officers found a loaded firearm.
“To those considering coming to our city to commit crimes or victimize our residents: Your actions will not be tolerated,” he said. “Our officers are vigilant, and we are fully prepared to arrest and hold offenders accountable. Choose wisely—crime has no place here.”
At a morning event, newly elected District Attorney Nathan Hochman said his office will take an active role in prosecuting thieves.
“If you want to go ahead and loot, if you want to commit burglary, if you want to engage in Grand Theft, if you want to engage in these internet scams where you're going to take advantage of people who are going to be seeking insurance and government benefits, you will be arrested, you will be prosecuted, and you will be punished to the full extent of the law,” he said. “And the reason I want to send this warning now is so that there won't be any mistake later that somehow they thought, oh, ‘it's not a big deal.’ It's a huge deal. These acts are despicable. We will prosecute them with maximal punishment.”
