Attention dog owners in the Los Angeles area, L.A. City Councilman Paul Koretz said, “The city just needs a little clout,” referring to regulating one of the most frequent complaints by the citizens of Los Angeles aside from urinating in public and garbage dumping on public places. A pilot program for the Administrative Citation Enforcement, it will give the L.A. police and the Department of Animal Services a new enforcement tool to impose fines that bypasses the nities of the court system. Currently officers can only give warnings or launch a criminal misdemeanor case for violators who commit these petty crimes. But enforcement is difficult since officers are reluctant to file a case said Councilman Koretz.
Under the program, initial violators will be fined with $100, succeeding offenses will rose to $250, $500, $1,000 and so on. But officers have the option to issue a warning, the penalty and/or file a related case. Other offenses included in the program are: drinking alcohol in public, smoking in prohibited areas and using fireworks. The program was said to generate around $1.59 million for the city fund once Mayor Eric Garcetti approved and signed its implementation.