DUI Attorney in Calabasas

Reviewed by Ron Chini, Esq. · CA State Bar No. 263308 · DUI defense attorney in Irvine, CA since 2009.
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How DUIs are policed in Calabasas

Calabasas has never operated its own police department. Since incorporating in 1991 the city has contracted with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, patrolled out of the Malibu/Lost Hills Station, 27050 Agoura Road, Agoura, CA 91301, non-emergency line (818) 878-1808. The city council renewed that law-enforcement agreement for another five years in 2024 (Resolution No. 2024-1913, covering July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2029), and the FY2023-24 contract cost the city roughly $5.6 million. Lost Hills Station's coverage area also reaches Agoura Hills, Hidden Hills, Malibu, and the surrounding unincorporated Santa Monica Mountains communities. Inside Calabasas, deputies patrol Calabasas Road, Mulholland Highway, Las Virgenes Road, and the Old Town and Commons commercial districts.

The Ventura Freeway (U.S. 101) runs east-west through the middle of the city, and that segment generally falls to the California Highway Patrol's West Valley Area office, 5825 De Soto Avenue, Woodland Hills — a station with roughly 400 square miles of patrol territory. CHP's jurisdiction on that stretch is well documented: local news has reported CHP responding to a wrong-way driver on the southbound 101 between Las Virgenes Road and Parkway Calabasas. A DUI stop made on the freeway itself is typically a CHP matter; a stop on Calabasas Road or inside a Commons parking structure is typically a Sheriff's deputy out of Lost Hills.

• Calabasas incorporated on April 5, 1991 and has contracted with the LA County Sheriff's Department for police services ever since — the city has no sheriff's sub-station or police department of its own.
• The 2024-2029 law-enforcement services agreement (Resolution No. 2024-1913) bills the city for Deputy Service Units rather than individual officers, plus a liability surcharge that has climbed from roughly 4% in 2010 to about 12% in recent years.

Where a Calabasas DUI case is heard

A Calabasas DUI is generally heard at the Van Nuys Courthouse (West building), 14400 Erwin Street Mall, Van Nuys, CA 91401 — the courthouse that handles criminal cases, including DUI, for much of the western San Fernando Valley. We can't point to a source that names Calabasas by number the way a court locator names a city like Van Nuys itself, but the inference is a strong one: neighboring Malibu's own courthouse closed, and Malibu's cases now route to Van Nuys for the same reason — the West District courthouse that once covered the area southwest of the Santa Monica Mountains no longer exists for criminal matters. Confirm the exact department from your citation, booking paperwork, or by calling the court clerk before your first appearance; a small share of cases from this part of the county can also land at the Airport (LAX) Courthouse depending on the arresting agency and the charge.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office prosecutes the case; Calabasas does not have a city attorney handling misdemeanor DUI prosecutions. Whichever Van Nuys courthouse accepts the filing handles both misdemeanor and felony matters, consistent with how this site's Van Nuys pages describe their own criminal dockets.

Booking and getting a car back after a Calabasas arrest

A Calabasas DUI arrest is typically booked first at Lost Hills Station, 27050 Agoura Road — that stop is the intake step, not where someone stays. From there the county's custody system takes over: men are generally transferred downtown to the Inmate Reception Center, Men's Central Jail, or Twin Towers, and women to the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood. Whether someone is released on their own recognizance, posts bail, or qualifies for a cite-and-release depends on the specifics of the stop. If you're trying to track down a family member arrested in Calabasas, call our office and we'll help you find the right facility.

Getting your vehicle back is a separate question from the arrest itself. A routine DUI-related tow is handled under Vehicle Code §22651(h), and once you clear the release paperwork, towing fee, and storage fee at the yard, the car is normally yours (or your authorized driver's) to retrieve. The much harsher 30-day mandatory impound under Vehicle Code §14602.6 is a different animal entirely — it only applies when the driver was also operating on a suspended or revoked license, on a restricted license lacking a required interlock device, or without ever holding a valid one. It is not a blanket rule that follows every DUI stop. Ask us which situation applies to your arrest during your free consultation.

Old Town, The Commons, and a hillside enclave known for its privacy

Calabasas is the newest city in Los Angeles County, incorporated April 5, 1991, and still compact at 13.74 square miles tucked into the Santa Monica Mountains along the U.S. 101 corridor. The 2020 Census counted 23,241 residents, with a population that is 73.2% White, 12.6% Asian, 8.7% two-or-more-races, and 2.5% Black, and 9.0% Hispanic or Latino — a density of roughly 1,695 people per square mile, well below many of the denser cities elsewhere in the county. The city has long drawn a disproportionate share of celebrity homeowners, from the Kardashian-Jenner family to Will Smith, pulled by large hillside lots and relative privacy rather than by any proximity to a studio lot.

Old Town Calabasas, centered on Calabasas Road, follows a stretch of what was once El Camino Real; a 1994 master plan and a 2008 cultural-resources ordinance have kept its low-rise, early-20th-century character largely intact. The Leonis Adobe, dating to 1844 and one of the oldest surviving buildings in greater Los Angeles, anchors that district. A few minutes away, developer Rick Caruso's Commons at Calabasas, opened in 1998 and built in a European-village style with fountains and outdoor paseos, is the city's best-known retail and dining destination — and, not coincidentally, a place local deputies keep an eye on parking structures and the restaurant rows along Calabasas Road and Mulholland Highway during busy weekend nights. Just outside the city limits, unincorporated Calabasas is also home to King Gillette Ranch, part of Malibu Creek State Park.

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Ron Chini, Esq.

DUI Defense Attorney · CA State Bar No. 263308

Ron defends DUI cases across Southern California from his Irvine office, in English and Farsi — and works directly with you, not a call center.

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