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As of dawn December 26, LBREPORT.com's unofficial count indicates Long Beach has had 20 murders to date in 2014. (We cite our total as "unofficial" because LBPD, like other law enforcement agencies, occasionally reclassifies some homicides as their investigation progresses. Our total excludes a NLB homicide that LBPD originally considered a murder but subsequently ruled self-defense and includes a NLB murder/suicide that we're counting as one murder.)

Long Beach had 25 murders in 2011, at that time a historic low. In 2012, LB's murders began increasing, rising to 30 in 2012 and 32 in 2013 (still quite low compared to levels in the 1990s and early 2000s.)

Caveat: These are "citywide" statistics. While frequently cited by city officials, "citywide" statistics combine data from the city's lowest and highest crime areas, which means they may not reflect real-world conditions experienced by residents in some neighborhoods (since they understate crime in some parts of town and overstate it in other areas.) Some parts of Long Beach (LB's 3rd and 5th Council districts) have had no murders in 2014 while LB's 9th and 6th districts have had a murder on average roughly every seven weeks.)

For context in reporting criminal homicides (fatal and non-fatal), LBREPORT.com routinely includes maps displaying cumulative annual totals. Our maps below are from 2014 to date. (The two maps display different sized geographic areas.).

Red Xs=2014 murders; Blue Xs=2014 shootings, person wounded; Brown Xs=shots fired at victim(s), not hit; Purple Xs=2014 shots at occupied residence/vehicle; Green Xs=shots at unoccupied vehicle/residence; Orange X's=non-fatal stabbings. Map is unofficial for shootings in area shown.

Red Xs=2014 murders; Blue Xs=2014 shootings, person wounded; Brown Xs=shots fired at victim(s), not hit; Purple Xs=2014 shots at occupied residence/vehicle; Green Xs=shots at unoccupied vehicle/residence; Orange X's=non-fatal stabbings. Map is unofficial for shootings in area shown.

Regarding 2014 murders, our unofficial count indicates (as of Dec. 25)::

• NLB's 9th district had 8 murders

• Central LB's 6th district had 7 murders.

• LB's 1st district had 2 murders

• 4th district, 7th district and 8th district each had one murder.

As we've remind readers in connection with crime statistics: each number represents a real person, with real family and friends. The most recent Central LB murder took the life of the nephew of the now-former chair of Long Beach City Hall's now-former Youth & Gang Violence Prevention Task Force. It occurred in broad daylight at midday Sunday (Dec. 14) on Pacific Coast Highway just blocks from Martin Luther King, Jr. park. A representative of the family provided us with an obituary for the shooting victim, Robert Lee Hollie, Jr., 33. A memorial service for Mr. Hollie is scheduled on Saturday, December 27, 10:30 a.m., St. John's Baptist Church, 741 E. 10th Street, Long Beach, CA 90813. To view Mr. Hollie's obituary, click here.

In addition, crime has pernicious impacts beyond its direct victims. Neighborhood residents and businesses hear police helicopters, see blocked streets and crime scene tape. None of this invites economic development or higher property values and the property tax revenue they could produce.

LBREPORT.com's data may under-state the number of non-fatal shootings. LBPD doesn't routinely issue releases on non-fatal shootings. We report them as we learn of them (after confirming the information with LBPD.) We likely miss some non-fatal shootings. LBPD crime stats include non-fatal shootings within the larger category of "aggravated assaults," which is accurate, but not transparent, since that crime category includes other crimes, making it difficult to track these crimes.

In addition, some "no hit" shootings and gunfire likely goes unreported and/or undocumented. Although Long Beach elected officials frequently profess support for new technology, Long Beach has refused for years to do what a number of other cities have done: budget and deploy a "shot-spotter" gunfire location system that near instantly identifies gunfire locations, enabling officers to rapidly respond, hopefully apprehend the shooters and more rapidly send medical aid for the victim(s). LB currently relies on residents to take the time and effort to report hearing "shots fired." which dispatchers and officers must then conclude was gunfire or wasn't gunfire (not pyrotechnics) then try to locate the gunfire location (which in "no hit" shootings may or may not be found in darkness), all of which consume valuable time as the shooter(s) vanish [to shoot again.]

In November 2012, then-Vice Mayor (now Mayor) Robert Garcia and then-Councilman (now Assemblyman) Patrick O'Donnell.agendized an item that de-funded implementation of gunfire location technology that they and the rest of the Long Beach City Council had approved a little over a year earlier (in an item brought by Garcia, O'Donnell, DeLong and Andrews allocating oil revenue to fund various items.) The gunfire location technology budgeted in Oct. 2011 was never deployed by LBPD management. In a Nov. 13, 2012 agendizing memo, O'Donnell and Garcia wrote:

On October 4,2011, the Council approved the appropriation of one-time Upland Oil funds to the Long Beach Police Department for the potential deployment of gunfire detection technology. The vendor referred to in these discussions was ShotSpotter.

ShotSpotter, and other similar vendors, assist public safety agencies in gathering specific data about gunfire, using microphones and computer technology to determine location, number of shots fired and timing.

After analysis by City Management and the LBPD, it has been determined that ShotSpotter's technology does not currently meet the public safety needs of the City. Further, it has been concluded that a gunfire detection technology that is compatible with the City's landscape does not currently exist with any vendor. At this time, the existing funds will not be used to purchase or subscribe to this type of program...

Shotspotter's website says cities that have deployed such a "shotspotter" system have discovered considerably more gunfire occurs than had been previously reported.

LBPD and other law enforcement agencies routinely describe non-fatal shootings as "non-life-threatening," which is accurate, but may range from minor wounds to serious permanent injuries (crippling, disfiguring or other permanent damage.)

Some of the shootings involve multiple victims (indicated by 2Xs or 3Xs on our maps). On Dec. 6, two persons were hit in a non-fatal shooting (2200 block of Lewis Ave. between MLK and Orange, north of Hill St.) It occurred just blocks from a double-shootings earlier this year (between MLK and Atlantic, north of Hill St.) and a double shooting a blocks west (between Pacific and LB Blvd. north of Hill St.) and a double shooting between Pacific and Magnolia Ave.) in which one person was killed (6th Council district.) In March, 2014 four people were shot (one of whom died) in downtown Long Beach along Long Beach Blvd. just north of 6th St. (1st Council district.) At least four crime scenes in North Long Beach involved multiple victims in 2014 (9th and 8th Council districts).

As we frequently remind readers in viewing any crime statistics: each number or "X" on a map represents a real person, with real family and friends, and in addition to those victims, the residents, families and businesses in those areas are impacted by crime scenes, sirens, police tape, blocked streets, helicopters above sometimes at all hours.

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