Long Beach residents want the city’s new chief of police to be someone who is transparent, understands the community, holds officers accountable and has integrity, according to survey results posted by the city Wednesday.
Long Beach Police Department Chief Robert Luna announced earlier this year that he would retire as chief at the end of the year but has since thrown his name into the race to be Los Angeles County’s next sheriff.
While the city’s recruitment process has ended, an announcement has not been made on who will succeed Luna. The city manager is expected to announce a new LBPD chief before the end of the year.
The more than 1,200 responses received by the city painted a wide-ranging picture of what different parts of the city expect out of the new police chief.
“Long Beach is at a breaking point,” one respondent wrote. “We need to protect our city so we don’t end up like the rest of LA. The criminals need to know that we don’t allow law breakers and vagrants in our city.”
Others said the city’s approach to law enforcement under the new chief needed some revisions.
“The police for too many years has been militarized and appears like an army that is at war with the most vulnerable citizens in our community, the homeless, the mentally ill, and the poor,” another respondent wrote. “More can be done and must be done to move towards a socially just law enforcement and LB has the potential to be a model for the rest of the state and the country.”
Whoever takes over the LBPD will be in charge of over 800 sworn officers and the leader of the second-largest municipal police agency in the county. They will also be tasked with bridging divisions that communities of color have said have grown with transparency and equity in how residents of poorer communities are treated by the city’s police department being sources of ongoing complaints.
According to data from the LBPD through October 2021, violent crime is up 11.5% but property crime is down 1.8% compared to October of 2020. Overall, combined crime is up 0.2%, according to LBPD data.
Respondents said they want a chief who can reduce crime and prevent it (74%) as well as one who addresses gang activity and holds their officers accountable (53%). Written responses to the survey said that the chief should be tough on crime, but also tough on racial profiling and work to reduce use of force incidents and improve de-escalation training for officers.
Addressing homelessness, preventing gang activity, increasing traffic enforcement and engaging more with the community were other often-cited priorities that the new chief should have, according to the survey.
Other things respondents felt the city should consider when hiring a new chief were an understanding of systemic racism and causes of community violence, experience working with Long Beach communities, and whether they’re a resident of the city.
Some respondents also suggested that the city should look at hiring a woman or another person of color to replace Luna.
The survey, which ran from late October through the first week of November, may not have received responses that are representative of the city’s overall demographics. According to the 2020 Census, White residents make up 28.2% of the city, but were dramatically overrepresented in the survey results with nearly 53% of respondents identifying as White.
Meanwhile, Latinos, who are 43.3% of the city’s population, made up just 15% of responses. Similarly, Black (12.7%) and Asian (13.1%) residents provided just 7.9% and 5.4% of the responses, respectively.
Respondents were 54% female and were largely older, with 63% being over 45 years old. The overwhelming majority of responses came from East Long Beach and the city’s coastal communities. The city’s 90810 area code, which includes all of West Long Beach, had just 27 responses.
The city manager is expected to name a new police chief in the coming weeks.
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