TITLE
Recommendation to request City Manager, or designee, to work with all appropriate departments to report back to the City Council within 30 days on violent and quality-of-life crime in Long Beach with an overview of incidents and trends, an outline of current efforts and opportunities to address violence in highly-impacted neighborhoods, and a plan of action to meet the need for safety in all of our communities.
DISCUSSION
Over the last several months the City of Long Beach has experienced an alarming rise in gun violence and homicide-particularly in the Willmore and Washington Neighborhoods of the First District. In the month of December for example, the Long Beach Police Department reported four new murder investigations with two of them occurring in these neighborhoods. In addition to these four investigations, Long Beach has seen a number of other violent crimes and no-hit shootings, and community safety has been an increasingly prevalent public concern throughout this past year.
Long Beach residents are also reporting an extraordinary increase in "petty" crime such as graffiti, dumped items, broken car windows, property crime, and theft throughout the city. Currently, in the First District alone, the Go Long Beach app has 243 cases of dumped items or graffiti being reported. There is also a loud chorus of residents reporting this directly to District 1 staff during the normal course of daily work and during weekly Check-ins via Zoom.
These impacts are not unique to Long Beach or the Southern California region, and the COVID- 19 pandemic has deeply limited access to upstream opportunities and community-building that help prevent instances of violent crime. Efforts to address violence have been further hindered by the widespread closure of in-person education due to the pandemic and the financial hardship of a recession that has been disproportionately concentrated on low-income residents and communities of color.
Around the country, major and mid-sized cities alike have reported increases in shootings in 2020 relative to equivalent time frames from before the start of the health crisis in March of last year. Gun violence has spiked in New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation identified a 14.8% increase in murder and non negligent manslaughter offenses over the first six months of 2020 relative to 2019.
As this has become an increasingly significant concern-especially in the neighborhoods most impacted by violence-an opportunity for both a comprehensive accounting of prevention and mitigation efforts and a road map to the City's anticipated response would be tremendously beneficial towards addressing questions of public safety. Such a report would also offer helpful information and the opportunity for community input and feedback that some residents otherwise would have more limited access to.
This matter has been reviewed by Budget Manager Grace H. Yoon on January 22, 2021.
TIMING CONSIDERATIONS
As stated above, this action is especially important now with the recent increase in violent and quality-of-life crimes throughout the city being reported. It is also important to report to the Council what current programs are in place and what will be done to address this issue with the recent addition of two new councilmembers.
FISCAL IMPACT
This recommendation requests a report within 30 days on violent and quality-of-life crime in Long Beach with an overview of incidents and trends, an outline of current efforts and opportunities to address violence in highly-impacted neighborhoods, and a plan of action to meet the need for safety in all of our communities. Preparing this report is anticipated to have a moderate impact on staff hours beyond the normal budgeted scope of duties and a moderate impact on existing City Council priorities due to staff diversion to other critical citywide priorities. Additional fiscal impacts of the potential implementation of any action items will be further outlined in the report.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
BODY
[Enter Body Here]
Respectfully Submitted,
MARY ZENDEJAS
COUNCILWOMAN, FIRST DISTRICT
CINDY ALLEN
COUNCILWOMAN, SECOND DISTRICT