Last week was a busy one for Long Beach’s finest, who made local and regional headlines for several days after finding themselves in two officer-involved shootings within twelve hours on Wednesday. Those incidents marked the eighth and ninth such shootings for the LBPD in 2009, which outlets like the Los Angeles Times have noted is just one less than the number of shootings for the Los Angeles Police Department – which employs ten times as many officers over a much larger area.
Police have acknowledged and attempted to explain the increase in violent crime in past weeks, blaming tough economic times and the fact that families have been forced to move into more affordable neighborhoods – bringing together groups and cultures that are not accustomed to living with each other. Police Chief Tony Batts used these examples during a May press briefing to explain an increase in gang activity, but the incident that drew the most attention last week had little to do with all that.
Within hours of the publication of a District Weekly article outlining complaints from Belmont Shore residents about a lack of police presence and the excessive noise and troublemaking that thrives there thanks to the bar scene, an officer shot an unruly man who seized his police baton during an arrest attempt. It led to “enough-is-enough” uproar from the Belmont Shore community and – as this District article explains – more officers in following nights. It begs the question, which is fascinatingly debated in the DW comments section, is Belmont Shore the best place for Long Beach officers to focus their attention during a year of increased violent crime?
Those residents deserve peace and security as much as anyone else, but Batts and the Police Department are preparing for an active summer for gang activity magnified by tough economic times, continuing increases in unemployment, and cutbacks in youth programs that can’t keep kids off the streets as effectively as they could in the past.
It can be difficult for police to track and predict the violence, as well, because the attacks are not isolated to select gangs or areas of the city. Because of the current social conditions that have brought large numbers of people experiencing hard times into close contact with each other, trouble can arise between any two groups at any time. Authorities have commented that a gang war would be easier to control than this current, nearly unpredictable situation.
“A majority of the circumstances that we’ve had this year have all involved armed suspects, which for us is above what we have handled in the past,” Deputy Chief William Blair said during last Thursday’€™s press briefing. “I think we are seeing something that is indicative of a nationwide trend. More armed violence.”
The 25-year old man shot by an officer in Belmont Shore was not armed (save for the police baton he seized from the officer). But the three male suspects who were shot by police just hours earlier were, and shot at officers just after an attempted drive-by shooting in Compton that left one man shaken but unharmed. One of those suspects was killed in the ensuing shootout, while the other two were critically injured.
The District’s coverage and ensuing reader reaction have highlighted problems in Belmont Shore that seem to be receiving the police attention it once lacked, but it’s a different kind of problem from those that have been seen in other parts of Long Beach – problems that require constant police attention and monitoring at all hours, not just after the last call for alcohol.
By Ryan ZumMallen, Managing Editor