With sideshows becoming more mobile as participants travel greater distances to participate, Bay Area law enforcement agencies say prevention is becoming more difficult.
Some Bay Area law enforcement agencies, including the Santa Rosa Police Department, have task forces dedicated strictly to sideshows.
"Some of those participants start to have a roving group that moves around the Bay Area to find other places to have their sideshows on the weekends," Santa Rosa police Sgt. Christopher Mahurin told KCBS Radio in an interview.
Participants traveled from as far as Sacramento, Oakland and Richmond to a recent sideshow in Santa Rosa, according to Mahurin. He said spontaneous sideshows can stretch the department on nights that it's already busy with other calls for service.
"Next thing you know, we have 300 cars taking over multiple intersections at the same time, splitting up resources and making it very difficult to enforce and break up," he said
California Highway Patrol Officer David de Rutte said onlookers often block the streets, causing other drivers to get caught in the action.
"It is kind of a scary situation for sure, for someone completely innocently driving along to get where they’re going and they are completely blocked with nowhere to go," de Rutte said.
Police monitor social media and rely on tips from the community to keep up with sideshow locations. Officials said large caravans of cars, some including up to 100 driving recklessly, can be a sign of a sideshow.
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