Redondo Beach Police sponsor skate contest at pier
Redondo Beach Police watch local pro Caedyn Curto frontside ollies a nine-stair at the Redondo Pier. RBPD is sponsoring the King of the Harbor Skateboard Championships on Sat., Oct. 14. @redondobeachpd/Instagram
For a few hours this weekend, “no skateboarding” signs at King Harbor’s Octagon will be ignored. The Redondo Beach Police Department is sponsoring the First Annual King of the Harbor Skateboard Championships on Saturday, Oct. 14. The area in front of the Fun Fish Market will be set up as a skate park for competition in three age divisions — 8 to 12, 13 to 15 and 16 to 18. Local skater Jason “Wee Man” Acuña, star of the Jackass movies, will judge and present the awards.
Acuña’s no stranger to RBPD. A photo from his Instagram account went viral when RBPD Officer John Banach crashed a skate session and was photographed mid-ollie.
“Many of our officers are from a generation that grew up skateboarding around here, and for a lot of kids, that’s how they get around town,” said Dinah Lary, RBPD’s Community Services Program Manager. “Skateboarding isn’t a crime, but our officers get calls when kids are in spaces they shouldn’t be.”
The idea, Lary said, is to create an opportunity for skaters to learn that cops understand get it; skaters want to ride. They just need to know where they can and can’t skate, and how to do it safely.
The event is, in part, a brainchild of RBPD Chief and former skater Keith Kauffman.
His bona fides are right on the wall of his office; old-school Powell Peralta Bones Brigade decks are mounted above his bookshelf.
“Those were a lot of my heroes when I was growing up and those are the decks I used to ride,” Kauffman said.
Kauffman had a chance to meet one of his skateboarding heroes during his time with the Hawthorne Police Department when he stumbled on the legendary Rodney Mullen. The reclusive Mullen was skating behind a sporting goods store late at night, alone.
“He was doing some amazing trick right as I was pulling up,” Kauffman recalled. “When he told me who he was, I was just floored.”
The chief still skates with his son, typically down to their local coffee shop on the weekends. But he doesn’t expect to show off at the King of the Harbor contest. One of the last times he skated seriously ended badly.
“We were at the Hermosa skate park…I put together a new deck and was trying to encourage my son to get a little higher on the quarter-pipe,” Kauffman said. “I ended up with a plate and seven pins in my wrist.”
Saturday’s event runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Giveaways will take place throughout the day, including new helmets and gear from ET, Spyder, food from Chronic Tacos and water and snacks from the Beach Cities Health District. Participants must register at redondo.org/police.