Street takeovers perplex public and law enforcement

“We’re just having fun. We’re not hurting anybody.”
That’s a common retort from any of the thousands of local teens who frequent street takeovers. Commandeering intersections–particularly in South LA–have been a part of Southern California culture for years. It’s “car country” after all. The takeovers typically sprawl across multiple roads, with hordes of spectators blocking intersections to watch drivers in muscle cars hurtle around doing “donuts,” “burnouts” and then scattering when vehicles sometimes careen into the crowd or when law enforcement arrives.
What’s different about these sideshows today is the link to social media. Takeovers, for the most part, grew exponentially during the COVID-19 pandemic when city streets were largely devoid of drivers during lockdowns. Now just a smartphone click away, these exhibitions have taken a malicious and sometimes deadly turn as the car show devolves into looting and ransacking nearby businesses.
Take Compton for instance. Those who reside in the Hub City say street racing and takeovers have defiled the city. The topic is a regular point of discussion during city council meetings not only there but in nearby municipalities such as Lynwood, South Gate and Paramount. Frustrated residents believe the police have stopped trying to curtail the problem.
To be fair, representatives from the California Highway Patrol, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles Police Department say they lack staffing to safely stop street takeovers while in progress. What’s more, large crowds can quickly become hostile, therefore any coordinated response to combat what can be fairly termed as motorized flash mobs has largely failed to curb the events. Each of the above agencies find officers discouraged from pursuing suspects in the interest of public safety.
“If you really have two patrol cars out there, you can’t do anything with 200 other cars on the runway,” said Sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Downing. “We’ve had officers attacked. We’ve had patrol cars crashed into. We’ve had people get run over while people are leaving.” Downing lamented that because of limited resources, “we can’t really deal with the large crowds.”
With the large crowds comes a criminal element. Not all of the young people set out in the middle of the night to loot and pillage, but, often, a singular mindset can manifest itself and cause a sense of self to surrender to a collective identity. It happens in riots, and it happens in street takeovers.
On April 18, 2023, what began as a “flash mob” descended into chaos as a massive crowd of youths stormed multiple Compton businesses. A gas station at the corner of Alondra Boulevard and Central Avenue was robbed of thousands of dollars of merchandise. That was just one of six Compton businesses ransacked that evening, including another gas station, two restaurants, a laundromat and an automotive shop. Deputies arrived but couldn’t intervene because the huge crowd scattered in all directions.
Last July, a woman was killed and several others hurt after a collision involving vehicles leaving a reported street takeover at El Segundo Boulevard and South Central Avenue in Willowbrook. And last week, an illegal street takeover at Jefferson Boulevard and Figueroa Street ended with one car set on fire and a nearby car dealership vandalized. Just a few hours earlier at the intersection of Florence and Normandie avenues, another street takeover ended with the vehicle of one of the participants set on fire.
“Let’s face it, we’ve seen a number of these in the past where these cars were set on fire intentionally,” said LAPD Commander Craig Valenzuela, who leads the department’s Street Racing Task Force. “I’m most worried because these are becoming more violent. The exhibition of vehicles burned–and takeovers and looting of stores–these are not just street takeovers where folks are spinning and doing donuts and dispersing.”
The majority of takeovers are organized via social media posts, particularly on Instagram. They’re often simple comment threads under posts with vague details, but enough information to entice those interested to know where to meet. To meet the challenge, the LAPD has taken to social media such as the department’s @streetracertaskforce Instagram account operated in the Central and South traffic divisions. Here, the LAPD shares videos of drivers doing stunts and the outtakes are followed by pictures of those vehicles being towed away.
Oddly, this has only emboldened some commentators who sometimes chime in about “buckets” (vehicles) impounded by police or simply the sport of eluding patrol cars and the sheer notoriety that comes from being featured on a law enforcement feed.
“It’s a way to develop a following on social media,” said one streetracer who chose to remain anonymous. “It’s different from street art. You only leave your tag and a lot less people know who you are. With takeovers, you’re featured on social media and your name recognition is much larger among followers.”
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors this year called on the Sheriff’s Department and other local agencies to prepare and present a verbal report on which specific actions they’re taking to try and combat street takeovers.
“In the last couple of years, the streets of the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles have been overwhelmed with dangerous and illegal street takeovers that cause damage to roadways, vandalism, arson and place participants and spectators at high risk for serious injuries and even death,” read a July moton from Supervisors Hilda Solis and Holly Mitchell.
The motion comes on the heels of a directive by the Board to gather a host of county and other agencies to hold a community symposium on street takeovers. “It’s a forum to gather information and (develop) a comprehensive plan to address the issue,” Mitchell said.
So far, no one consensus can replace the “whack-a-mole” response by law enforcement to combat the issue. There are too many takeovers happening almost every night. According to LAPD traffic group commander Art Pasos, the novelty of filming these gatherings–whether they are live streamed or posted on someone’s web page–”causes more people to go out and become more involved in [takeovers].”