Police Warn Against Laser Scope Use

A red beam of light coming from somewhere in the darkness shone on the eyes of a security guard keeping watch outside a nightclub earlier this month.

A couple of weeks earlier, a Los Angeles police officer making a routine traffic stop in the Harbor Gateway district spotted a similar red light on his uniform.

In a Hollywood action thriller, a red beam from a laser scope precedes gunfire piercing the body of an actor. Fortunately for the security guard and the officer, these red beams did not hurt anyone and were not mounted on high-tech firearms.

But the two cases--which resulted in criminal charges filed by the Los Angeles city attorney’s office just three weeks apart--are the first prosecutions in the city under a 1992 state law that prohibits the use of a laser scope with the intention of instilling fear of doing physical harm to someone else.

Authorities said the state law was largely designed to protect emergency personnel such as police officers and paramedics. A violation is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail.

The scopes are not illegal, authorities said, as long as they are used for legitimate functions. Those include their use as pointers in classrooms.

However, law enforcement officials said they are being especially cautious amid concerns that the scopes may be on their way to becoming trendy toys carried independently of firearms and used for pranks.

“The fact that we have received reports of laser scopes being sold as toys is particularly disturbing,” said James K. Hahn, the city attorney. “These devices are designed to be mounted on firearms and certainly are not toys and should not be treated as such.”

The first case in Los Angeles was filed in early August against Arthur Peter Lerma, 20, of Harbor Gateway.

Lerma, who was in his apartment when he allegedly pointed the red beam at the patrol officer, is scheduled to go on trial today.

In the other case, Hugo Alex Ponce, 20--who was on a Pacoima stairway outside the nightclub when he pointed the beam at motorists, pedestrians and the security guard--pleaded no contest last week and was sentenced to the 30-day jail term.

No guns were used in either of the recent cases, but law enforcement officials remained troubled by signs that the laser scopes are becoming more common as accessories and may be used illegally.

“We have had several incidents in the last few weeks,” said Capt. George Gascon, commanding officer of the LAPD’s Harbor Division.

Gascon said he noticed a beam pointed toward him while he drove on the freeway recently. No shots were fired and no one was hurt, he said.

In another case, he said, a bus driver who noticed a red beam on him while the bus was in service reacted by slamming on the brakes. Though no one was hurt, the potential for an accident was obvious, officials said.

Officers speculated that the increase of laser scopes on the streets was being driven by an increased variety of the instruments, some of which sell for as little as $1.

The scopes, which are sold at convenience stores, are also available at an Orange County swap meet, said Det. Larry Kallestad, a detective supervisor in the robbery unit at the Harbor Division.

Some of the scopes are cylindrical, resembling small flashlights, and can be attached to key rings..

Administrators from at least one school in Los Angeles--Wilson High--have called law enforcement officials to notify them that students commonly attach the instruments to key holders and hang them from their clothing, said Ted Goldstein, a spokesman for the city attorney.

Authorities said they want everyone to know that pointing a laser beam at someone else is not funny.

“Imagine all of a sudden you realize you are being sighted with a laser,” Kallestad said. “It’s against the law to make somebody believe they are being targeted.”