(Dec. 30, 2015) -- With just hours remaining in 2015, LBPD crime stats show that for the first eleven months of 2015 (December not yet included), Long Beach total violent crimes, total murders and total serious property crimes have increased significantly based on LBPD "citywide" data (total of all Council districts combined) when compared to the same period one year ago.

There are some bright spots, including fewer reported residential and commercial burglaries, but in terms of other serious crimes, when comparing the periods Jan.-Nov. 2014 to Jan-Nov. 2015:

• Murders have increased by 47.5% (21 to 31).

  LBREPORT.com is aware of at least five murders (homicides) to date in December. If that figure holds through Dec. 31, LB would have a total of 36 homicides/murders in 2015, a one year increase of 56.5%. It would be the city's highest murder/homicide level in the last five years. LB had 23 murders in 2014, 33 in 2013, 30 in 2012 and 25 in 2011.

• Total violent crimes (murders + rape + robbery + aggravated assaults) increased 21.4%. Robberies up 21.3% Aggravated assaults (category includes shootings and other crimes) up 22% (LBPD doesn't separately break out shootings.)

• LB serious property crimes (total residential burgs + garage burgs + comm'l burgs + auto burgs + grant theft + petty thefts + bike theft + grand theft auto + arson) increased 14.9%. Res burgs decreased 13.6%. Commercial burgs decreased 16.5%...but Grand Theft Auto increased by 35.4%.

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As LBREPORT.com has repeatedly noted, in terms of violent crime, Long Beach is a "tale of two cities." Some parts of Long Beach experience violent crime at disproportionately high levels while other parts of the City experience nearly none. However city officials routinely cite "citywide" data, which necessarily combines all parts of the city and thus unavoidably camouflages high crime areas and to some extent overstates crime in LB's lower crime areas. On October 20, 2015, LBREPORT.com (through our own laborious calculation) reported that within the past 30 days, LB's 1st and 6th Council districts combined had more hit shootings per capita than Chicago. (LBREPORT.com coverage here.)

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At the same time we noted: "Large portions of Long Beach don't experience the conditions experienced by residents and businesses in parts of the 1st-6th districts. Council district 2 (LB's downtown area and eastward), plus districts 3 (SE LB/Belmont Shore) and 5 (ELB) had no shootings within the same period. ELB and SE LB districts 3 and 5 rarely if ever have shootings; most of district 4 (including Los Altos) had no shootings within the period."

LBREPORT.com has for several years objected to the City's refusal to routinely release crime data by Council districts, something the City routinely did for years until Mayor Beverly O'Neill ended that practice as the Council entered the 2004 citywide election cycle.

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In August 2015, Mayor Garcia made a statement about crime in a budget context that LBREPORT.com found very disturbing...and is now statistically discredited. Garcia stated during an Aug. 18, 2015 City Council budget hearing that as of that date there'd been no increase in Long Beach murders from last year and said the number of murders at that time was about the same as it was last year, perhaps give or take one or two, and noted that last year was a historic low.

Mayor Garcia acknowledged that [paraphrase] even one murder is one too many, but told the Council: "From a murder point of view, we're still kind of facing a historic low number."

In response to Mayor Garcia's statement, Police Chief Luna noted that most of the big cities across the country had experienced significant increases; Garcia said the increase in murder rates had jumped dramatically in many cases in a lot of urban areas and Chief Luna said he thinks the average was about 19% across the country, especially on the east coast.

But by September 2015, Mayor Garcia's body count wasn't even numerically accurate. Long Beach had 21 murders as of mid-September 2015 compared to 18 as of the end of September 2014, meaning an increase of 16.6%. In other words, LB was actually in the running with other big cities by September...and the increase in percentage terms by year end has now roughly tripled.

What Mayor Garcia referred to as a "low" number of murders included Keshawn Brooks, the Cabrillo High student stabbed to death while walking home at midafternoon along busy Santa Fe Ave. in what prosecutors allege was a robbery committed in a association with a criminal street gang. As LBREPORT.com reported in March 2015, while LB elected officials were telling the public (until recently) that crime (including violent crime) had decreased (based on "citywide" figures), the truth was that violent crime had increased in some neighborhoods...including the WLB area where Mr. Brooks walked into his untimely death. (LBREPORT.com coverage here.)

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Long Beach city officials have on previous occasions attributed crime increases to Prop 47 (Nov. 2014 voters statewide changed some felonies to misdemeanors) and Sacramento "realignment" (Governor/legislators balanced the state budget in part by sending so-called "less violent" inmates to County jails, where some are released early due to overcrowding.) Some LB officials have also noted that current increases come after historically low levels...an argument we find unpersuasive since officials who boasted about the low levels didn't say they would be "temporary."

What Long Beach Councilmembers and LBPD brass have tried to downplay are two budget actions that the current and immediate past Mayors recommended and City Councils enacted: (1) eliminating LBPD's field anti-gang unit (previously 20 officers + 2 sergeants) deployed on the streets (where they can observe conditions firsthand, interact with residents and businesses and learn important information) and (2) "proportional budget reductions" supported by Mayor Foster and Mayor Garcia [that had significan impacts on public safety service levels for taxpayers.]

The Council's police budget reductions have left LB taxpayers with roughly 200 fewer police officers than they had in 2008 [with no decrease in taxes and some Council talk of possible tax increases.] Today, LB's vudgeted police level for citywide deployment for taxpayers is roughly equivalent per capita to what L.A. would have if its Mayor and City Council cut over 30% of L.A.P.D.'s officers.

In Los Angeles, violent crimes and property crimes increased from 2014 to 2015 (through Dec. 26) but in somewhat smaller percentages than Long Beach (through Nov. 30.) A Dec. 30 LATimes.com story at this link reported that using LAPD data, it determined that violent crime in L.A. (citywide) increased 19.9% and property crimes increased 10.3% through Dec. 26, 2015 compared with the same period in 2014.

Unanswered entering 2016: why is the City of Long Beach unable to provide its taxpayers with per capita levels of police service that L.A. County's largest city (Los Angeles) and one of its smallest (Signal Hill) provide for their taxpayers? City Hall claims it is now healthier financially...but about eight years ago, LB taxpayers had more police than their City provides now.

Developing entering 2016.