Revelers Warned to Check Gunfire

Newly arrived Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton said Monday there are some West Coast traditions he can do without.

“This is my first New Year’s in Los Angeles,” Bratton said. “I’m still getting used to some of your quaint little customs, such as going to your front door and shooting your gun into the air.”

Bratton’s disdain came with a warning issued jointly with Mayor James K. Hahn, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo at a news conference at the Los Angeles Police Academy.

“Here’s the message,” Hahn said. “You will be arrested. You will be prosecuted.”

For Bratton, the oddity of celebratory gunfire, which studies indicate has killed at least 40 people in Los Angeles County since 1985, comes with a twist.

“While some of these characters may not have learned that in school, what goes up must come down. Unfortunately it does not come down on the person shooting it up in the air,” the police chief said.

The plea for an end to random gunfire is a familiar one for city and county officials who have worked for more than a decade to curtail the dangerous practice. A state law enacted in 1988 made firing a gun into the air a felony punishable by as much as a year in county jail or imprisonment in a state penitentiary.

In recent years, police say, added enforcement and public education have made a substantial difference. In addition, a 1990 ban on the sale of ammunition in Los Angeles between Christmas and New Year’s Day made it more difficult to acquire bullets on the spur of the moment, officials said.

“There used to be so much gunfire, parts of the city were shut down to police, areas we couldn’t even get into,” said LAPD Lt. Doug Young, who is assigned to the 77th Division in South Los Angeles, where officers once tape-recorded an evening of New Year’s gunfire and played it back to city officials. The gunfire was so relentless that one councilman said it sounded like the streets of war-torn Beirut.

Young, who has worked to combat the practice for more than a decade, called the joint effort by area law enforcement officials a true success story.

In the last four years, area law enforcement officers have responded to nearly 1,000 calls from residents reporting gunshots between 8 p.m. Dec. 31 and 4 a.m. Jan. 1, according to the Sheriff’s Department. In contrast, in 1992 alone, Los Angeles police responded to nearly 800 reports of the firing of illegal shots.

Still, Bratton said, no level of random gunfire is acceptable. He said he believes a “total demise” of the “foolishness” could be achieved soon.

Bullets have dropped to earth after reaching as high as 2 miles in the air and traveling at speeds more than sufficient to penetrate the human body. Three years ago in Los Angeles, 9-year-old Brian Perez was killed when a bullet fell from the sky and struck him in the head as he watched fireworks from the front porch of his parents’ home on 75th Street. The homicide remains unsolved, police said. On the Fourth of July in Orange County, a 9-year-old Buena Park boy was critically wounded at a crowded park by a shot apparently fired randomly.

For the third year in a row, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department plans to use a gunfire location system known as Shotspotter.

It allows officers to pinpoint the location of the firing of bullets and immediately to dispatch units to look for the shooter. In the targeted areas, sheriff’s officials said, the technology helped to reduce New Year’s Eve gunfire incidents from several hundred in 1999 to four a year later.

Baca said his deputies have responded to incidents in which individuals fire assault weapons in the air and have an arsenal of guns on hand.

“Don’t hesitate to call us and let us know exactly where someone is shooting,” Baca said. “Do not allow your neighborhood to degenerate into neighbors who will carelessly shoot their weapon.”

LAPD officials said they will have 50 teams of 10 officers each who are specially trained to respond to random gunfire incidents on the streets tonight and into early Wednesday.

In addition, extra law enforcement personnel will be on duty to handle drunk-driving infractions, officials said.

A range of free transportation options will be available to partygoers who are unable to drive home. In Los Angeles, free rides will be offered on the MTA’s bus and rail systems. Subway trips will be free from 9 p.m. until closing -- about 1:30 a.m. The Metro bus system will offer free rides from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.

The Orange County Transportation Authority will offer free bus rides from 6 tonight until 4 a.m. Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Automobile Club of Southern California is offering free “Tipsy Tow” rides home for drinking drivers and their vehicles between 6 tonight and 6 a.m. New Year’s Day.

The service can be requested by motorists, bartenders, restaurant managers, party hosts or passengers of a drinking driver by calling 1-800-400-4AAA. The service is free for tows of as long as 7 miles to the driver’s home. Passengers are not allowed.