11:57am | The Long Beach Police Department has received a $486,664 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office to protect children from sexual predators.
“Securing this funding will help the Police Department add additional resources to better protect children in our city and aggressively pursue those who would prey on them,” Mayor Bob Foster said.
The Child Sexual Predator Program (CSPP) funding will help the Police Department establish and enhance strategies to locate, arrest, and prosecute child sexual predators and exploiters.
“The safety of the children in our community is a top priority for the Long Beach Police Department,” Chief Jim McDonnell said, “We are very fortunate to have received this grant, which will significantly impact the predators who victimize and exploit our children.”
The grant will also help the Police Department to better track the population of registered sex offenders residing in the City of Long Beach to ensure compliance and enforce state sex offender registration laws. The grant funding will supplement the Computer Crimes and Sex Crimes Details as well as the Violent Sexual Predator Unit by adding additional investigative hours focused specifically on child sexual predators.
In addition, the Police Department will continue community outreach through faith-based organizations and schools as well as work with outside law enforcement agencies such as the United States Marshal’s Service and the United States Attorneys Office and other surrounding local law enforcement agencies.
The Child Sexual Predator Grant was made possible through an invitation to apply by United States Marshal David M. Singer, Central District of California. The Long Beach Police Department thanks Marshal Singer for his nomination, which was required before the Department was eligible to apply for the grant.
The Child Sexual Predator Program aims to support community policing initiatives throughout the United States by promoting partnerships between law enforcement and other community partners to collectively reduce and prevent child endangerment by sexual predators.