Law enforcement officers have broken up at least a dozen New Year’s Eve gatherings deemed “super-spreader events” across Los Angeles County, California, arresting 90 partygoers and sending thousands more back home, the authorities said.
County sheriff’s officials said last Friday that a special task force, made up of hundreds of detectives, patrol deputies, and specialized response teams, had shut down at least five parties involving more than 900 people, including at a rented house, a vacant warehouse, a hotel, and a closed business.
During New Year’s Eve, the task force arrested and cited 90 individuals for violating the county’s stay-at-home order, warned more than 900 people, and retrieved five handguns from a party in the city of Hawthorne.
The actions against large parties came after Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti urged people to cancel their travel and gathering plans and stay at home for New Year’s Eve.
“Please do not let us have a third surge that we simply cannot take here in Los Angeles,” Garcetti said. “Do not host or attend a party in person. Do not travel. Celebrate virtually.”
Meanwhile, in neighboring Orange County, Sheriff Don Barnes instructed his department not to enforce Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order that came into effect Dec. 6 throughout Southern California.
“Compliance with health orders is a matter of personal responsibility and not a matter of law enforcement,” Barnes said in a statement. “Orange County sheriff’s deputies will not be dispatched to, or respond to, calls for service to enforce compliance with face coverings, social gatherings, or stay-at-home orders only.”
“Conversely, policy makers must not penalize residents for earning a livelihood, safeguarding their mental health, or enjoying our most cherished freedoms,” he stated.
