The department has formed a specialized Looter Suppression Team to crack down on looters raiding private property in Altadena, which lies within the Eaton fire burn zone. 

The team will operate in conjunction with additional deputy personnel and helicopter patrols to provide around-the-clock protection to residents dealing with looters. 

“Together, these efforts ensure continuous 24-hour patrolling to provide a consistent and visible law enforcement presence, particularly in neighborhoods still dealing with utility outages and heightened security risks,” the sheriff’s department said in a press release.

Neighborhoods in Altadena, a suburb of Los Angeles, were left unsecured after the Eaton fire forced mandatory evacuations. After surviving the fire, many residents faced the secondary threat of looters taking advantage of police departments that have been stretched to the limit, chaotic conditions, and abandoned property.

The Eaton fire is still not 100% contained after breaking out on Jan. 7. Seventeen people have been killed, more than 1,000 structures have been damaged, and 9,418 structures have been destroyed due to the disaster.

Altadena was swiftly issued evacuation orders as the Eaton fire raged, with the measure affecting thousands of residents. However, many of them chose to ignore the orders to guard their homes and neighborhoods against looters. 

“Police are doing the best they can. They’re seeing looters walking down the street with large TVs just taking advantage of what little this town has left,” Haley Winslow, a reporter with local news station KCAL, said of authorities in Altadena. 

Ana Martinez, one of the residents who refused to leave the Eaton burn zone, said her family is so busy trying to protect their home they have trouble finding time to eat.

“The looters just … they’re nonstop. They keep on asking us, ‘Why don’t you just go?’ Because it seems like, last night we had one, they come onto the property, they come into the home,” she told CBS News. 

Altadena resident Nick Norman described “organized and brazen” looters videotaping his smoldering neighborhood as though casing homes.  

“I stayed behind because there are looters,” Norman told EarthBeat. “I did the American thing. I got out my shotgun and sat on the porch. And did patrols about every 90 minutes” with fellow neighbors. 

Would-be looters showed up, but “they saw me, and then they left,” he continued.

Altadena police arrested two looters on Jan. 16, one of whom was caught stealing an Emmy award. 

By Jan. 15, about 50 suspects had been arrested after looting in wildfire evacuation zones across Los Angeles. 

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman previously announced that nine suspects were charged with residential burglary in the Palisades and Eaton fire evacuation zones. One of them, Martrell Peoples, was suspected of helping to steal ​​$200,000 worth of property while on state prison parole. He was allegedly aided by Damari Bell, who was on felony probation. 

Roughly 400 National Guard troops arrived in the Los Angeles area Friday, Jan. 10, to help clamp down on looters. Yet some residents criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) for waiting too long to approve the increased security presence. 

Lihui Xu, who evacuated, said by the time the troops arrived, looters had already stolen valuables from her home.

“I haven’t even had time to survey all that’s been taken from me,” she told the New York Times. 

Under Newsom’s directive, CalGuard’s presence in Los Angeles County has been boosted up to 1,680 service members.

Hochman and his counterpart in Orange County, Todd Spitzer, earlier this month pushed Newsom to make sure his special legislative session looked at passing legislation to impose harsher penalties for looters. The proposed legislation would make looting during a local emergency a felony punishable by a prison sentence. It would also classify looting as a strike, making it harder to clear from a criminal record.

“Current law falls woefully short for punishing these scavengers who are nothing more than graverobbers, stealing the last remaining possessions from those who have already lost everything, including their own lives,” Spitzer said.