Sgt. Soderlund provides storm update; city hopes to host Public Safety Expo near the Malibu Library
California Highway Patrol Sgt. Lopez attended the Public Safety Commission meeting last week and provided an update on the PCH enforcement since the City Council approved the long-term contract in January.
According to the city’s website, CHP officers issued 88 citations from Jan. 23-28. Most violations were for speeding.
Lopez said they have seen a decrease in speeders.
“More proactively and in view, speeds have come down,” Lopez said. “We’ve actually started at the beginning of the year; even though the contract just started, we had our unincorporated areas in the north and south that we have already been patrolling, our officers have already noticed a slight decrease in the amount of speeders.”
The CHP specializes in highway safety and traffic enforcement. The contract includes a dedicated three-officer traffic enforcement taskforce to patrol PCH in city limits. The CHP officers will be dedicated to traffic enforcement in Malibu only. The two-year contract is not to exceed $2 million. Despite PCH being under Caltrans jurisdiction, the city remains committed to doing everything possible within its jurisdictional ability to make PCH safer.
Commissioners expressed their appreciation for the city’s, the sheriff’s, and CHP’s efforts in making PCH safer and hope CHP can do more, such as impounding vehicles.
“We’re kind of big in enforcement now, and in the penalty phase, and I think that the sheriffs are on board with impounding vehicles … I’d like to see CHP do that, I understand that we don’t make the call, but I just wanted to communicate that with you, there is a level of expectation in this community that we’re doing,” Commissioner Josh Spiegel said.
“The Highway Patrol, the way our impound system works is that we don’t have our own tow company, nor [do we] have our own tow lot, every tow company that works for the highway patrol is subcontracted by us, so they have their own rules,” Lopez said. “If it’s an arrestable offense such as reckless driving, so if they’re racing, our officers will decently impound the car, straight speeding it’s a very fine line between liability on the department side and our policy. If they’re doing over 100 [mph], it’s reckless driving, the car is more likely going to be impounded, but if they’re doing 70 or 80 in a 55, they’re going to get an expensive speeding ticket, but they’re not going to lose their car as a result.”
Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriffs Sgt. Chris Soderlund provided a report on the recent traffic and safety enforcement in Malibu as well as a storm update.
Soderlund mentioned the mudslide that occurred near Corral Canyon.
“Caltrans was quick to set up cones and come out and scrape the mud off,” Soderlund said. “The next area was Paradise Cove, they lost about 15 parking spots, and the lower parking lot next to the pier that fell into the ocean.”
The rain storm lasted nearly a week and caused various canyon closures, such as Malibu Canyon on Feb. 4 and Topanga Canyon on Feb. 5, as they were experiencing rock and mudslides. Cross Creek near Whole Foods also experienced some flooding on Sunday, Feb. 4. The water was cleared out the following day.
Soderlund acknowledged Deputy Frank Espinoza after saving a worker clearing out brush in Sierra Retreat in Malibu Creek.
“The deputies had to rescue him; they were able to get him a rope and throw it out to him; he was hanging on for dear life out in the middle of the creek there; they were able to rescue him and pull him back to shore,” Soderlund said.
“Topanga got hit hard, Topanga Creek overflowed the banks and onto Topanga Canyon, and they had two feet of mud and water, and about half a dozen cars got swept; fortunately, no one got hurt,” Soderlund said.
Commissioners thanked Public Works and Caltrans for their efforts during the storm.
Chief Traffic Operations District 7 Abdi Saghafi also attended the meeting and said he was happy to see Sherrif’s and CHP work together and enforce speed.
“Of all the cities that I’ve worked with, Malibu has always been forthcoming with helping us with improvements on PCH; they go after money from Metro or their own funds,” Saghafi said. “There have been bumps in the road, but because we are dealing with so many moving parts, I’ve always said PCH is a commuter route, it’s a tourist attraction, and it’s Malibu’s main street. Not many highways have those three characteristics all in one, so to meet the needs of all these categories, is a challenge. You got the commuters who want to get from A to B, regardless of what’s in between, you got the tourists, and you have the folks who live here and who have to deal with all this, with the speeding and everything else that goes on here.”
Public Safety Director Susan Dueñas said they are preparing for the next Public Safety Expo in June and are hoping to host it near the Malibu Library.
The next Public Safety Commission meeting is scheduled for March 6, in-person at Malibu City Hall Multipurpose Room.