LAPD: ‘No tolerance’ for violence, vandalism if Dodgers win World Series

Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore urged people Tuesday to celebrate a Dodgers win — if one comes — at home, given the ongoing threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“They are safer at home. This COVID-19 virus is real,” he said.

Moore also said that officers are being deployed to Dodger Stadium and other strategic locations throughout the city “to ensure that people are acting lawfully” in the event crowds do gather, and will respond swiftly to any violence or vandalism in the streets.

“There will be no tolerance for violence,” he said. “There is no room in Los Angeles for people to commit vandalism.”

During his remarks, given during a virtual meeting of the Police Commission, Moore referenced a gathering in downtown Los Angeles after the recent Lakers NBA title victory that he said “devolved into riotous acts” that included fires being set and the vandalism of dozens of storefronts and other property that Moore estimated as causing $500,000 in damages.

There were 76 people arrested after the Lakers win, 73 of them for failing to disperse after the LAPD declared the gathering unlawful. Police said that eight officers were injured as people in the crowd lobbed bottles and firecrackers at officers. Several people in the crowd were badly injured by police after officers began firing projectiles. Those injuries have raised concerns about the use of the weapons.

Moore said he hoped the Dodgers win, but also that Angelenos act in a manner worthy of their winning team.

He said he believed the added deployments of officers would serve as a “deterring effect” for individuals “who might otherwise think that they could act with impunity.”

Deputy Chief Vito Palazzolo said “we will have heavy deployment throughout the city and extraordinary heavy deployment around Dodger Stadium and L.A. Live where we had problems following the Lakers’ victory.”

Sources said the LAPD also plans to close some streets around Dodger Stadium.