The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is pressing a street-takeover enforcement campaign after a weekend of gatherings that, FOX 11 Los Angeles reported, left a Superior Grocers store in South Los Angeles ransacked and takeovers reported in Gardena and Westmont.

Commander Terrence Bell told FOX 11 that investigators are working to identify people responsible for the damage. “We are doing our investigative efforts to bring those people to justice,” he said. Bell said the department is using automatic license-plate readers and drones as first responders, that some cities including Pico Rivera and Paramount have spectator fines that can reach $2,500, and that organizers who advertise takeovers online can face criminal prosecution. He also said the department is weighing destroying seized takeover vehicles on camera. Those remarks are Bell’s, as quoted by the station.

Separately, in an Aug. 26 statement carried by MyNewsLA and other local outlets, LASD said it was acting “to identify and hold organizers and participants accountable through arrests, vehicle impounds, citations and criminal prosecution.” Detectives from the Detective Division’s Street Racing Task Force ran a targeted operation focused on illegally modified vehicles in Compton, Carson, Lakewood, East Los Angeles, and Lynwood. The department said that operation produced 19 citations, six arrests on suspicion of recklessness, exhibition of speed, driving with a suspended license, and evading a peace officer, and four vehicles impounded for 30 days.

The same LASD statement described a Sunday-night takeover of more than 100 vehicles at Downey Road and Olympic Boulevard in East Los Angeles. After California Highway Patrol helped clear the intersection, deputies learned three masked men had entered a restaurant in the 4200 block of Olympic Boulevard through a drive-thru window, simulated a firearm, and took two cash registers. No employees were injured, LASD said, and no suspects had been identified at the time of the statement. News accounts identified the business as a Jack in the Box.

“Illegal street takeovers are not harmless entertainment; they often attract large crowds, reckless driving, illegal firearms and other criminal activity that threaten the safety of our entire community,” the department said. LASD said it is coordinating with the California Highway Patrol, the LAPD Street Takeover Taskforce, and other partners, and that East Los Angeles Special Assignment Team deputies have been trained to spot illegal vehicle modifications. County ordinance work earlier in 2026 raised organizer and promoter misdemeanor fines; that is the Board of Supervisors’ lawmaking power. The Sheriff’s Department’s power is the one on the street: stops, citations, impounds, and the cases it sends to prosecutors.

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