LASD to re-open Malibu sub-station

[LAflyer]

After 8-years hiatus Malibu will get a Sheriff facility back. The previous sub-station was closed following the opening of the new Lost Hills facility, which meant deputies had to do the a daily 10-mile drive back and forth to reach Malibu.

As part of a Santa Monica College satellite campus being constructed in in Malibu, the Sheriff department will receive a 5,700sq foot facility that will allow deputies to start and end their shifts in Malibu along with providing a small booking facility. All in all the new sub-station will allow deputies to spend more of their contracted hours in Malibu and minimize need for trips over the hill to Lost Hills.

Malibu Times > News > Sheriff's substation, campus will add to safety, reduce traffic

 

[PaulNDaOC]

Did the County sell the former Malibu station on Civic Center?

 

[LAflyer]

I'm not sure what the behind the scenes property dealings were however the old station either has already or will be demolished shortly as part of Malibu Civic Center modernization project being undertaken by the city.

 

[DPD1]

I never knew they stopped having it. But they still had a jail though, right? Because I remember that lady a couple years back got let out and disappeared in Malibu.

I've been in the old one in Lost Hills, and that thing was ridiculous... Little hole in the wall.

 

[LAflyer]

According to LASD website:

"The LASD Malibu-Lost Hills Station is operated by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and services Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Mailbu, and Westlake Village. The unincorporated communities include Chatsworth Lake Manor, Malibu Lake, Topanga, and West Hills.

The station located in Agoura Hills is a smaller jail facility which houses a only small number of inmates at a time. If someone jailed there is not bailed out right away, they will typically be transported to the Twin Towers jail which is the main county jail for Los Angeles."

 

[PaulNDaOC]

The jail was closed back in the 90's, as well as all the Admin and call takings operattions when Lost Hills opened. Malibu was retainded as a local substation for Malibu patrol ops.afterwards.

 

[DPD1]

I see where I got confused... The lady that disappeared was arrested in Malibu, and put in the Lost Hills jail. I think maybe one of the news articles said she was released in Malibu. That's why I assumed there was still one there.

But at any rate, seems like there should be one. That's a lot of distance from there to LH. As far as radio goes, that might actually be bad though. Because if they assign a separate channel, it might be localized to the coast. Right now you can hear the whole area from the valley.

 

[PaulNDaOC]

Dispatch 10 is used for the entire station area, valley and coast, and to do this LASD utilizes simulcasting off four transmit sites and probably a few additional receive sites. (Malibu/Catalina off the top of my head)

Be that as it may, due to the rough terrain there are still some real bad coverage lapses.

The Baldwin Hills and Castro Peak sites puts out a decent signal along the coast. Castro and Verdugo cover the 101 corridor ok and Oat adds additional coverage.

On the receive end, some of the canyon were dead spots with the town of Topanga being barely readable on a mobile, forget it on a portable.

From station to coast it's 10 miles (15-20 minutes) which I agree is a long time.

The deal is the city doesn't even want to pay for traffic units, thinking CHP should cover PCH for free because it's a state highway, so I don't see them funding a local station, and it's not the county's responsibility to fund. BTW what those cheapskates at Malibu City Hall fail to understand is the city does not patrol surface streets in incorporated cities even if it is a state highway anywhere in the state for example Topanga Canyon Blvd in the valley (SR-27) or Santa Monica Blvd (SR-2)

 

[LAflyer]

I would not call the Malibu City Council cheapskates. They do fund traffic units. Matter of fact this coming budget year, they again have upped the staffing count for another motor unit. The LASD contract is the single largest budget item in the City.

An interesting tidbit, is of the current 2 full time motor units, one of them is apparently the #1 deputy in the entire county in number of citations issued per news story from last summer.
Malibu Surfside News: Second LASD Motorcycle Deputy Is Officially on Full-Time Patrol

As far as PCH, both the LASD and County Supervisors agree and supports the city in its efforts to get CHP back to take over enforcement along the almost 30 miles that run through the city.

 

[PaulNDaOC]

I would not call the Malibu City Council cheapskates. They do fund traffic units. Matter of fact this coming budget year, they again have upped the staffing count for another motor unit. The LASD contract is the single largest budget item in the City.

An interesting tidbit, is of the current 2 full time motor units, one of them is apparently the #1 deputy in the entire county in number of citations issued per news story from last summer.
Malibu Surfside News: Second LASD Motorcycle Deputy Is Officially on Full-Time Patrol

As far as PCH, both the LASD and County Supervisors agree and supports the city in its efforts to get CHP back to take over enforcement along the almost 30 miles that run through the city.

Agreed, Malibu does fund traffic units just like every other contract city in the county including Hidden Hills 8 hours a week of patrol time.

The thing is they want to have an exception exclusive to Malibu where the CHP would come in and have the state pay for their traffic enforcement on PCH. This is contrary to state law. Sure the county Sups may have passed a meaningless resolution in support. It's not costing them anymore than the price of the paper it's on, and it's not relevant without a chamge in the state law.

And it's not gonna happen, because the next thing you know you will have LagunaBch, Newport, Huntington, Seal Bch, Long Bch, Torrance etc... all wanting the state to do the same for them on state highways in their towns.

I would love to hear the rationale behind why Malibu is supposedly different than every other city that needs to fund traffic cops.

 

[jrholm]

Actually Paul there is an enabling section in the CVC to allow CHP to patrol that stretch. I'll have to try and find it, but I read it before.

Let's face it money talks to legislators and there is a lot of money living just off that stretch.

 

[LAflyer]

Here you go -- CVC 2400.6.

"The commissioner shall enforce all laws regulating the
operation of vehicles on, and the use of any portion of, State
Highway Route 1 in the City of Malibu, if requested by the city, and
if a contract is entered into between the state and the city. The
contract shall require that an amount be paid to the commissioner
that is equal to the costs incurred by the department for services
provided under the contract."

 

[PaulNDaOC]

Thanks for that VC section.

I can appreciate the legislation as intended, however some in Malibu seem to feel that they should get the enforcement at no charge and perhaps drop or decrease the number of hours they contract for traffic enforcement.

I can understand the city's fiscal concerns, the cost of a deputy as of a year or two ago 40 hours a week, with no backfill behind his absences was $177,000 a year, plus the 4% liability surcharge. But every city is in the same boat. They will never get CHP without a contract in the current state budget environment.