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Cameras near the tennis courts at Drake Park. Photo by Sarah Bennett. 

Most mornings, Long Beach’s Drake Park is quiet. A couple might be playing tennis on the courts overlooking the Los Angeles River and a few groups of homeless people and their possessions may occupy picnic tables scattered throughout the nearly seven-acre park. But by afternoon, the park bustles with activity. 

Children play on the park’s multiple, brightly colored playgrounds, teenagers test out kickflips and ollies at the fenced-in skate park and residents of all ages play soccer and other field sports on the massive lighted field. As one of the city’s most utilized parks, however, the Drake Park area has also seen its share of crime, from tagging to property crime to the string of recent shootings that left one dead and more injured. 

But in the last month, crime has quieted down and some residents attribute it to the six cameras that are now continually watching over one of Long Beach’s most utilized parks, a system that was installed at the behest of several neighborhood groups who began discussing the idea of bringing the technology into Drake Park a few years ago.

“It’s a very busy park with a lot of children and we were concerned that because of the cuts in budget that the police needed tools to help with [our] problems,” said Kathleeen Irvine, President of Willmore City Heritage Association. “We felt this was an easy way, that would be cost effective, to keep an eye on things so we don’t have to rely on patrols so much.”

Willmore City Heritage Association, along with the Community Partners Council, kept the idea of cameras in the park fresh in the mind of their councilmember, Vice Mayor Robert Garcia, who earlier this year pulled $27,000 from the 1st District’s infrastructure funds for the project. 

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Cameras overlooking Drake Park’s large field off Loma Vista Drive.

The high-definition cameras–which are equipped with pan, tilt and zoom capabilities–are all mounted atop poles scattered throughout the park and are programmed to scan the area and zoom in on designated spots. They are all linked to the Long Beach Common Operating Picture (LBCOP), a system that connects closed-circuit cameras from across the city to the Long Beach Police Department’s communications center if there is ever a call for service.

So far, Irvine says, the cameras–which became fully operational in the last few weeks–seem to be working. There has been less gang grafitti on buildings in and near the park and she has not heard gunfire since March 20 when a gang member shot at a police officer and fled the scene (he was later arrested). 

“I’ve noticed that there are less guys hanging out at the park,” she says. “And it could just be that they don’t like being watched, but there are definitely less young males with nothing to do hanging around.”

Some residents of Willmore and the Drake Park neighborhood, however, disapprove of the new cameras, citing issues with everything from invasion of privacy to cost. 

“I live at Drake Park its been safe for years,” Facebook user John Edwards posted in a comment on the Long Beach, Calif. page. “The cameras are overkill and a waste of taxpayers money.”

Compared to other parts of the city, the neighborhood surrounding Drake Park is still relatively safe, especially–as many longtime homeowners note–compared with 20 years ago when gang activity and shootings were a normal occurance. At a monthly meeting of the Willmore Association the day after the officer was shot at in March, LBPD West Division Commander Richard Rocchi called shootings in the first three months of the year “a spike.” 

“A lot of it has to do with perception,” says Irvine. “Here, it is very safe and very neighborly. I think that as with any city, there are some issues and the cameras are a great tool for the police to help with those. But overall, we love living here and we feel it is a very safe area.”

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