Former Palos Verdes Estates police chief testifies about town’s reluctance to crack down on surf gang

LOS ANGELES (CN) — A former police chief of Palos Verdes Estates testified on Friday about the residents' attitudes toward outsiders, as well as their reluctance to take on the Lunada Bay Boys, a notorious surf gang that jealously guarded the city-owned beach as their own private turf.

Two surfers, one a former cop himself, are suing Palos Verdes Estates and the Bay Boys, over the latter's longtime practice of harassing and intimidating visitors seeking to visit the pristine cove, known for its premier big waves and natural beauty. The Bay Boys have, for decades, stood as one of the primary examples of surf "localism," where a clique of surfers stake out territory and guard it as their own, in much the same way an ordinary street gang would.

The plaintiffs say the Bay Boys' behavior, and the city's tolerance of it, is designed to keep the public away, and thus qualifies as an illegal "development" under the California Coastal Act, which seeks to keep all beaches in the state open and accessible to everyone.

Most surf gangs are disliked by the surrounding community. Not so for the Lunada Bay Boys, who have deep roots in the area, spanning generations, and who are, at least according to the plaintiffs, appreciated by the town for keeping visitors away from Palos Verdes Estates, a highly affluent city with the third-highest median household income in LA County, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

"We were dealing with people who felt they were elite, and this coastline that they lived around was theres," said Timm Browne, who served as Palos Verdes Estates' chief of police for six years, between 1998 and 2004.

In his first week on the job, he said, he rode in a patrol car with each and every one of the department's 27 sworn officers. During one ride-along, an officer pulled over a driver for what Browne called "a pretty flagrant traffic violation." After taking the driver's license and registration back to the squad car and checking the police computer, the officer let the driver go without even so much as a warning, let alone a ticket.

"I was a little confused," Browne said from the witness stand. He asked the cop, “Why didn’t you write them a citation?“

“Oh, we don't write citations to residents of the city,” the officer replied.

“That’ll be changing," Browne told him.

It wasn't long before Browne learned about what he considered one of the city's top crime priorities: localism at Lunada Bay, a small, crescent shaped city-owned beach surrounded by cliffs, accessible only by descending a steep "goat trail," as it was called.

"There were numerous complaints about other people trying to access that area and being run off," Browne recalled.

Browne waned the city to purchase jet skis for the department, to enable the police to patrol the waters, where much of the alleged violence was taking place. He also wanted all-terrain vehicles to patrol the bluffs, and motorcycles for traffic stops. Browne said his boss, the city manager, was "unwilling" to buy any of the vehicles.

"In his perception, it would be detrimental to our relationship with the community," Browne said. In part, the concern was noise. Eventually, Browne was able to get the jet skis anyway, as a donation to the department. He would later get a couple of boats as well.

The chief also made his feelings about the Bay Boys known to the media — much to the displeasure of the city manager, who "made it clear to me," said Browne, "that he was not happy with my efforts to address the problem in Lunada Bay. It would bring too much attention, and outsiders to the community, and he did not want that."

The City Council, likewise, "were unhappy with the undue attention I was bringing the city, which would bring undue attention to our coast," Browne said.

Browne also tried talking with the Bay Boys themselves, in a series of meetings, some of which were brokered by Browne's officers. One, Brant Blakeman, was initially named as a defendant in the case. According to Browne, there was a "certain segment of society" that Blakeman "didn’t want in Lunada Bay, and the city. He made reference to that repeatedly." When asked what segment Blakeman wanted to keep out, Browne said, "he referred to several different races derogatorily, that they weren’t welcome in our area and our beach, and he didn’t want that ‘trash’ in the city."

Those remarks were later deemed irrelevant by Superior Court Judge Lawrence Riff, who said that "invidious discrimination" had nothing to do with the claim that the city and the Bay Boys had violated the Coastal Act.

During cross examination, Palos Verdes Estates' attorney, Christopher Pisano, sought to illustrate how difficult it is to crack down on localism.

"Isn’t it true that it's difficult to police harassment issues because surfers don't want to make accusations against other surfers?" Pisano asked.

After a long pause, Browne answered, "I suppose."

According to evidence presented by Pisano, cops arrested only one Bay Boy for vandalism during Browne's six-year tenure as chief.

The bench trial is expected to last at least two more weeks. All but one of the 12 Bay Boys who were initially named as defendants reached settlements with the plaintiffs before the trial started, agreeing to stay away from Lunada Bay for a year or pay between $35,000 and $90,000. Alan Johnston remains as a defendant. Johnston's attorney said that he expects his client to take the stand sometime next week.

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