• City management informed Mayor Garcia and the City Council -- initially in the latter half of 2015 and most recently just days before the 2016 July 4th period -- that the City planned to use a strategy that disseminated public messages that all fireworks are illegal in Long Beach. In 2016, the City used an intensified version of the same strategy and message that proved ineffective in 2015 when LB experienced disruptive fireworks.

  In a June 30, 2016 internal memo to the Mayor and Council, city management said the City's "primary focus areas" would "as in previous years" remain "public outreach and enforcement" including public service announcements, press releases, educational materials, speakers at community events, City Hall's website, banners/fliers/posters/bus posters/donated billboards, reciting that all fireworks are dangerous and are illegal in Long Beach. The Mayor and Council didn't publicly object to management's announced strategy.

• Despite a recommendation from a member of the public in September 2015 meeting of the Council's Public Safety Committee (which the Committee didn't vote to recommend), and a suggestion by Councilwoman Stacy Mungo at a May 2016 City Council meeting at which city management's innovation chief indicated his department would look into the matter, the City's Dept. of Technology and Innovation ultimately failed to enable the popular "Go Long Beach" app [or develop another app or offer other digital means] to let LB residents document and report illegal fireworks. Management's June 30 memo said a "rapid enhancement and integration of the Go Long Beach app into PD dispatch was not a viable option due to the level of complexity of and the security concerns over CLETS data. In addition, data collection via the Go Long Beach app is stored independently to PD dispatch and would create duplicate incidents, therefore reporting accurate data would require a manual process." The net result left the public to rely on conventional telephone messaging/dispatching.

• City management's June 30 memo indicated that LBFD and LBPD would "continue to partner" to deploy two patrol vehicles, each with two arson investigators, to target areas known for historic use of fireworks and respond to reports of illegal fireworks activity Citywide. [Long Beach spans more than 50 square miles.] The memo indicated the arson patrols would "work in conjunction with the Police Department to cite and/or arrest those who commit fireworks violations and will confiscate all fireworks during their patrols"

The results were audible and visible in Long Beach neighborhoods between July 3 and 4.

Advertisement

Advertisement

• LBREPORT.com has learned that LBPD made no fireworks related arrests during the July 3-4, 2016 period [LBPD PIO email to LBREPORT.com.] This compares to six fireworks-related arrests in the July 4th 2015 holiday period [LBPD testimony, May 17, 2016 Council meeting]. [LBREPORT.com note: Most fireworks-related crimes are misdemeanors, capped as such under state law, meaning they must be witnessed by the officer or by a private citizen willing to make a "citizen's arrest" [potential civil liability and possible physical risk] and serve as a testifying witness [including undergoing defense cross-examination] with evidence beyond a reasonable doubt needed to convict.]

• LBPD issued 63 fireworks-related citations in the July 3-4, 2016 period [LBPD PIO email to LBREPORT.com] compared to 50 fireworks-related citations in 2015 [LBPD management testimony May 17, 2016 Council meeting.]

• LBPD's Public Information Office indicates that between July 3-4, 2016 LBPD received nearly 1,000 fireworks-related calls. Officers were dispatched to 444 of the pyro related calls; an officer wasn't dispatched to another 522 other pyro related calls when the caller reported hearing fireworks but couldn't provide a specific location. (LBPD's PIO says the latter information was generally transmitted over police radio channels so officers in the field would be aware of the caller report.)

Advertisement

Advertisement

In a July 5, 2016 internal email to the Mayor and Councilmembers, City Manager Pat West acknowledged that "the number of violators simply outmatches our resources to enforce our ordinance, in addition to all the other safety issues our police and fire departments are confronted with on one of the busiest days of the year."

LBREPORT.com provides the full text of the email below, followed by an Amnesia File recap of prior Council actions.

[July 5 memo from City Manager West to Mayor and Councilmembers, cc'd to citywide electeds]

Per the City Council's request last year, the City of Long Beach stepped up our efforts to inform the public of the dangers of fireworks and that all fireworks are illegal in the City of Long Beach. This is an issue that affects every major city, and enforcing this law is extremely difficult given the number of people who purchase fireworks in neighboring cities as allowed under State law. In addition, the number of violators simply outmatches our resources to enforce our ordinance, in addition to all the other safety issues our police and fire departments are confronted with on one of the busiest days of the year.

Below is a summary of our efforts last night for you to see the attention paid to fireworks by our Police and Fire departments, in addition to all the other responsibilities, they have to ensure a safe 4th of July for our City. These are preliminary statistics, and may change as we do further analysis.

July 4th is one of the busiest days of the year for the Fire Department. They responded to 202 calls, a 23% increase above the daily average.

• July 4 is one of the of the busiest days of the year for the Police Department, where employees are required to work, except under special circumstances. During the month of June, PD is dispatched to an average of 620 calls per day. Between 5:00 PM and midnight on July 4th, PD was dispatched to 850 calls for service, which is about a 37% increase over an average Monday night.

• The Police Department had 686 calls for service specifically related to Fireworks on July 4, a 12% increase from last year (612 last year).

• Jointly, on July 4 the Police Departments [sic, is actually singular Police Dept.] issued 63 citations, a 163% increase from last year (24 last year). Police confiscated 310 fireworks on July 4, a 118% increase from last year (142 last year).

• From June 25 to July 3, Police issued an additional 57 citations and confiscated 267 fireworks.

• Approximately 500 pounds of fireworks were seized by LBPD and LBFD from July 1 to July 5, 2016.

• 5 fires (4 structures and 1 brush fire) were related to fireworks (approximately $400,000 total dollar loss) .

• We had one serious fireworks-related injury. At approximately 10:00 PM on July 4th, the LBFD received a call for a traumatic injury related to fireworks in the area of Pacific Coast Highway and Lemon Avenue. Units arrived and found a 17 year old male with his right hand partially amputated due to the use of illegal fireworks.

• On the beach, we experienced 222 swim rescues, 338 medical calls, 67 boat assists, 28 boat rescues, and 59 lost children found and reunited with parent/guardian.

• As a new deterrent, Fire engines proactively visited the permitted block parties in their response area to talk about Fire safety and remind everyone that Fireworks are illegal in Long Beach.

While investigating a critical incident in East Division, officers conducted a public safety check and seized numerous boxes of illegal fireworks from an unoccupied garage.

Attached is a memo [linked by LBREPORT.com here] that describes the additional proactive efforts the City engaged in this year in response to the City Council's request to increase our public education efforts. Despite all of these efforts, we know there were many, many instances of illegal firework activity in the City last night. However, we are proud of our departments' efforts to keep the City safe on a day with so many calls for service, so many public safety issues, and responding as much as possible to firework-related complaints with the resources available.

As we do each year, we will debrief with departments on what we can do next year to further enhance public safety in Long Beach.

PATRICK H. WEST
City Manager

Advertisement

Advertisement

On July 7, 2015, a LB resident came to the City Council to testify about chronic, neighborhood disruptive explosive devices (that she declined to label "fireworks"), in response to which Mayor Garcia called the issue "serious" and said the Council planned to meet on the matter [but didn't say he'd take any specific actions on the matter. [LBREPORT.com coverage: Almost Exactly One Year Ago (July 7, 2015) Re Neighborhood Disruptive Explosive Fireworks: Hear What LB Resident (2nd dist.) Told City Council And What Mayor Garcia Said]

• On September 22, 2015, the Council's Public Safety Committee met on an item agendized as "a report evaluating warnings and citations that were issued related to fireworks on the 4th of July holiday, as well as discuss possible changes that can be made in the future such as higher penalties, stepped up enforcement, and/or a public education campaign." LBFD Deputy Chief Rich Brandt [also speaking for LBPD] noted that most fireworks related offenses are misdemeanors, meaning an officer must witness them or a member of the public must make a "citizen's arrest" and be available to testify on court. A member of the public suggested using the Go Long Beach App so the public could report and document illegal fireworks; chair Price inquired about this; LBPD Deputy Chief Hendricks replied that LBPD would still have to locate and apprehend the suspect; neither Price nor Austin nor Supernaw pursued the public suggestion further. At the same Public Safety Committee meeting: downtown resident Jack Smith testified that he doubted that those detonating the bombs read City Hall's website or are deterred by city fliers; Mr. Smith added that he believes a strong prosecution would be more effective. Downtown resident Gary Shelton suggested offering rewards; Los Cerritos resident John Deats focused on prosecution and police resources. The committee ultimately adjourned without making any voted recommendation to the City Council.

• On November 3, 2015, Councilmembers Price, Supernaw and Austin agendized an item to request that City Hall's "Fireworks Steering Committee" (basically inside City Hall staff and department reps) "reconvene starting in March of 2016 through the 4th of July holiday in an effort to be pro-active with fireworks education and enforcement." Price cited what the "Steering Committee" did in 2015 but didn't explain exactly how this would produce a different result in 2016. Mayor Garcia said he was "very supportive" of the idea but hoped that process would invite the public to be engaged. The Council voted 7-0 (Uranga, Richardson absent) to approve the agendized item.

• On May 17 2016, Councilmembers Richardson, Price, Uranga and Austin agendized a report from the City Manager "on the status of the citywide coordinated effort around the prevention and enforcement of illegal fireworks in Long Beach before and after the 4th of July holiday." [City Manager West indicated that the Council had been given a written report prior to the Council meeting, but that document isn't online.] LBPD's management rep said the Department was planning to deploy both uniformed and plainclothes officers in an effort to disrupt the supply chain and would also participate in a coordinated educational campaign to notify the community of dangers and consequences of those breaking the law and would issue a media release and use social social media to spread the message.

  Councilwoman Price recommended working with LBUSD to put fliers in middle and high school students' backpacks and said LBUSD should also do a robo call and send out an email blast on the issue. Councilwoman Mungo said her 5th district is impacted by adjoining cities that sell "safe and sane" fireworks and requested more signage to tell the public that fireworks are illegal in LB. Councilwoman Mungo also suggested addding a dropdown link to the "Go Long Beach" app that could enable residents to quickly geolocate and inform police of residences where they beleve illegal fireworks have previously been a problem to prepare police for the 4th of July; LB"s Director of Technology and Innovation, Bryan Sastokas, indicated they'd look into Mungo's suggestion. [Management subsequently indicated in a June 30 memo that a "rapid enhancement and integration of the Go Long Beach app into PD dispatch was not a feasible option due to the level of complexity of and the security concerns over CLETS data. In addition, data collection via the Go Long Beach app is stored independently to PD dispatch and would create duplicate incidents, therefore reporting accurate data would require a manual process."] Councilman Supernaw urged management not to get started too late and suggested June 4 would be a good start date but neither sought nor got any commitment from management.

  To hear the May 17, 2016 City Council item -- the Council's final public discussion about fireworks prior to the July 4, 2016 holiday, click here.

• On June 30, city management sent a memo to the Mayor and Councilmembers summarizing the City's strategy and preparations for July 4. To view the memo, click here.