Five years after the program was proposed, a Los Angeles Administrative Citation Enforcement (ACE) program moved a bit closer to fruition as a way to combat residential quality-of-life crimes such as loud parties or barking dogs.

The City Council’s Public Safety and Personnel, Welfare and Animal Services committees recommended adoption of a pilot program that gives officers the ability to file a misdemeanor complaint as an alternative to just issuing a warning.

“This is a landmark proposal for us … a game-changer in protecting our local neighborhoods,” said Councilman Paul Koretz, adding that officers are currently limited in the actions they can take on the minor offenses.

“If there is a loud party, they might have to come out two and three times to try to get compliance,” Koretz said. “Now, they can issue this citation, and it will be stronger than a warning.”

Under the program, which still needs approval from the council’s Budget and Finance Committee, citations of $250, $500 and $1,000 for the first, second and third offenses could be issued. An administrative review process would be available should citizens choose to appeal.

City officials estimated it would cost $577,000 to start the program and that it would generate more than $2 million in revenue.

The panels added use of gasoline-powered leaf blowers as one of the violations and removed other crimes, such as illegal sales of tobacco and illegal parking lots.

Councilman Mitch Englander said the program is needed. “This will give us a lot more tools that our officers need,” he said. “We are not decriminalizing these issues but creating an opportunity for officers to go after things that are never enforced.”

Neighborhood councils have been advocating for the program to try to deal with these issues, which tend to come before them frequently.