End Comfortable Numbness, Fund Replenishment Police & Fire Academy Classes Now

by Val Lerch
Mr. Lerch, a former Long Beach Vice Mayor and two-term 9th district City Councilmember (2002-2010), chaired the Council's Public Safety Committee under Mayor Bob Foster

It may be true that crime stats are lower than they've been in 25 years or so, but they are starting to go up. Crime in this City in some categories is slowly increasing, not enough that we notice it at first, but it is going up. We must not become the frog that's put into a pot of water and as the cook raises the water temperature, the frog doesn't notice until he is "Comfortably Numb."

We, as a City, need to take action now, while we still have time. We need to find ways to put more public safety officers on our streets. Since 2002, the year I took office we are down roughly 148 police officers and 27 fire fighters. There are no replacements in the works. If we start today, by the time we train qualified personnel, two years from now, we will likely be down almost 200 police officers and 50 fire fighters.

We need replenishment police and fire academy classes now, not when our response times have doubled and tripled. Hello? Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me. Is there anyone at home?

Our City leaders must find ways to finance academies this fiscal year and the next two years. They need to come up with innovative ways to put personnel on our streets, perhaps by lateral transfers with officer candidate schools, mini-academies, like the military does. They can finance the training with surplus oil funds. I know someone will say we shouldn't use one time revenues for salaries, they are right. But by the time we'll need to pay those salaries the money we need will be available since the officers they are replacing will be gone. Hello? Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me. Is there anyone at home?

Churchill said, "Out of intense complexities intense simplicities emerge." Now, I am a simple man and see this as a complex problem that can be solved as long as we put our collective minds together and work towards a common goal: Public Safety affects the entire City.

Hello? Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me. Is there anyone at home?