The city of Santa Monica will be under a citywide curfew Tuesday for the third consecutive day.
Officials announced the restriction Tuesday morning. Residents will be required to stay home from 2 p.m. Tuesday through 5:30 a.m. Wednesday. Emergency responders are exempt, as are those traveling to and from work or seeking or giving emergency care.
Curfews have been in place since Sunday when looters ransacked sections of the city during a protest against police violence.
According to City Spokeswoman Constance Farrell, the City continues to actively monitor and respond to unlawful activity within and outside of its borders.
"Following significant property destruction two days ago, the City is taking ongoing actions to keep our community safe," she said. "These actions include active deployment of the Santa Monica Police Department across our community, maintaining a national guard presence in the Civic Center and Downtown Areas, drawing on mutual aid resources where necessary, and imposing curfews."
She said curfews are set based on an overall assessment of the risks to persons or property.
"Based on an assessment of all the circumstances, a decision was made to move to a 2 p.m. start time for the curfew today," she said. "The City will be reevaluating the circumstances each day to see whether a curfew remains necessary and if so what the appropriate start time for that curfew is. The National Guard will remain in place indefinitely, until the City makes a determination based on regional activity that their presence is no longer needed."
SMPD Lt. Joseph Cortez said local officers are committed to preventing any kind of violence. The pre-emptive and preventative strategy includes education about curfews and enforcement where necessary.
"We are going to assure residents that anyone out will be contacted and educated about the curfew," he said. "If they fail to leave or are in possession of dangerous items or looting material, we will be taking them to jail."
Cortez said five individuals were arrested Tuesday.
"We are going to be responsive, we are not going to be reactive," he said.
According City Hall, forty-one arrests were made Monday and 438 were made Sunday. The city has recorded 347 damage reports, including 84 reports of graffiti and 292 reports of damage to retail businesses, of which 155 indicated significant damage. The city is calling affected businesses today to get further details on estimated cost of damages and stolen property.
Business owners should report past looting and vandalism to santamonicapd.org/crimereport/. The most important question to answer is 3. All other questions can be answered with “no”. Community members should continue to submit information related to evidence and surveillance to info@santamonica.gov.
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