Long Beach police pulled in local and state agencies in an attempt to crack down on Second Street bars after a deadly shooting in October that sparked an outcry for tighter enforcement.
During a Belmont Shore residents meeting Thursday, Long Beach Police Department East Division Commander Shaleana Benson told a room of roughly 30 locals that she requested help from the Long Beach Fire Department and the state’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control in the aftermath of the Oct. 25 shooting that killed 32-year-old Jeremy Spears.
The shooting stemmed from an altercation at one of the popular nightlight district’s bars, police said. Two people were arrested in connection with the shooting after fleeing the scene in a car, but the shooting left nearby residents on edge. It was the third killing on or around Second Street since early 2024.
For three straight weekends after the shooting, fire officials checked the capacity at the area’s four bars that remain open into the early morning hours but found them all in compliance, Benson said.
Undercover officers for ABC also infiltrated bars in plainclothes to watch for bartenders potentially overserving patrons, Benson said. But they too did not find any violations.
Police also sent more officers to the area in the aftermath of the shooting and plan to continue, Benson said.
One day recently, in an attempt to entice officers to visit the area, Benson said one of her lieutenants bought pizza and handed it out to officers who came to visit him near Second Street.
“We’re trying to get the officers to drive through here more because obviously a police car driving through here, a visible presence, tends to lower criminal activity,” Benson said.
Linda Rosental, who attended Thursday’s Belmont Shore Residents Association meeting, said she moved to Belmont Shore four years ago after spending nearly four decades in Rancho Palos Verdes.
A simple, yet effective, solution in Rancho Palos Verdes, she said, was to put an empty police car near a stretch of bars as a deterrent to drunk drivers.
Benson has requested adding a detail of bicycle officers to patrol the area “during happy hour” and has also added a voluntary overtime shift from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. on weekends, she said.
When they can’t get that overtime shift filled, she’s asked officers in other areas to patrol near Second Street if their usual patrol area isn’t busy.
But residents at the meeting said they still see problems, including people drinking in public regularly.
Since 2019, tickets issued for public drinking have sharply declined, according to police data obtained by the Long Beach Post. After issuing 26 tickets on or near Second Street in 2019, police have issued just 14 tickets in the last four years combined.
Benson said additional help is on the way to stem that problem.
A police academy class of 100 is set to begin their six-month training on Saturday, with the hope that enough make it through to help a department with a 20% vacancy rate, Benson said.
This comes as the city is weighing additional options to rein in nightlife on Second Street. Last month, a city memo laid out more options, such as creating an additional permit for bars — requiring them to hire more security guards, install better lighting and surveillance cameras and insist that bouncers use metal detectors on those coming inside.
A virtual meeting is scheduled on Jan. 28 at 5 p.m. for residents to provide feedback on the memo.