The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has vowed to increase patrols to combat looting in Altadena as residents begin to return to their homes two weeks after the Eaton Fire swept through the region.
A newly formed Looter Suppression Team will provide more surveillance and faster response times to Altadena neighborhoods evacuated during the fire but left unprotected by residents, the Sheriff's Department announced Tuesday.
The team will join other sheriff's deputies in the field with helicopter coverage.
“Together, these efforts promise continuous 24-hour patrols to provide a consistent and visible law enforcement presence, especially in neighborhoods still dealing with utility outages and heightened security risks,” the Sheriff's Department said in a news release.
Several arrests have been made in the last few days in the Eaton and Palisades fires, including two people caught impersonating reporters, an Oregon couple who allegedly impersonated firefighters after a fire truck was on fire, and a suspect in a robbery at the Palisades Fire District that was a firefighter.
A curfew remains in effect in parts of Altadena, but more road closures and evacuation orders have been lifted in recent days.
According to Sheriff's Deputy Jacob Sively, there is no timeline for when the California National Guard will leave the region. National Guard members joined local law enforcement at road checkpoints in the days following evacuation orders, but they were not responsible for “making arrests in evacuation zones,” says Sively.
