(March 17, 2015) -- As reported yesterday (Mar. 16) by LBREPORT.com, the L.A. County District Attorney's office alleges in its formal court filing that the fatal stabbing of 15 year old Keshawn Brooks while walking home from Cabrillo High along the busy 2800 block of Santa Fe Ave. (across the street from Stephens Middle School) was a murder during commission of a robbery and "committed in association with a criminal street gang."

The prosecution will have the burden in court of proving that allegation beyond a reasonable doubt, but it is a matter of record that Long Beach Mayors Robert Garcia and Bob Foster recommended, and in September 2014 a new City Council majority enacted without dissent, a FY15 budget that dismantled LBPD's field anti-gang unit. While LB elected officials told the public that crime (including violent crime) had decreased to historically low levels by citing a citywide statistic, shootings and other violent activity had increased in the WLB vicinity where Mr. Brooks walked into his untimely death.

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The Cabrillo High student was fatally stabbed barely six weeks after a Jan. 24 drive-by shooting in the neighborhood just west of Santa Fe. Ave. and three blocks south of Spring St. By LBREPORT.com's unofficial tally, it was the seventh shooting in West Long Beach (of which LBREPORT.com is aware) within the past roughly ten months (one of which was fatal.)

Red Xs=2014 and 2015 murders to date; Blue Xs=2014 and 2015 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; Grey Xs=shots fired (no hit, no target identified); Orange X's=non-fatal stabbings. Map is unofficial for shootings in area shown.

As reported in January 2015 by LBREPORT.com, a City of Long BEach application seeking state taxpayer funds (a grant called "My Sister's Keeper") under the CA Gang Reduction, Intervention [paperwork obtained by LBREPORT.com from the state agency under the CA Public Records Act] acknowledged that in 2014, gang membership in Long Beach was 12.82/1,000 people, more than twice the state average of 6.18/1,000 people.

"Although violent crime in Long Beach dropped to the lowest level over the past forty years, youth and gang violence has spiked in certain neighborhoods," the city said, acknowledging that "gang related murders in 2012 were up 51% and gang shootings were up 18.9% since 2011 as reported by LBPD." It added (as previously acknowledged in statements by LBPD) that "gang violence contributes to at least half of the homicides in Long Beach."

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At the same time, Long Beach Mayors Bob Foster and Robert Garcia recommended budgets that eliminated funding for LBPD's field anti-gang unit. It was formerly comprised of twenty officers officers plus two sergeants and deployed in gang impacted areas where they could interact with residents and gather intelligence. LBPD continues to maintain a conventional gang unit (often working indoors on investigations and the like) but L.A. County's second largest city no longer has the field anti-gang unit that LB taxpayers had until September 2012.

Salient points in the record are set forth below:

• Aug. 2012: Mayor Bob Foster recommends a city management proposed FY13 budget that would entirely eliminate LBPD's field anti-gang comprised of 20 officers + 2 sergeants.

• Aug. 2012: The Council's Public Safety Committee, chaired by Vice Mayor Robert Garcia (chosen by Mayor Foster) holds no meetings to address the public safety impacts (police or fire) of Mayor Foster's recommended FY13 budget.

• Aug. 2012: The Council's Budget Oversight Committee (chair DeLong) recommends (on motion by DeLong and Lowenthal) a roughly $1 million increase to the PD budget sum recommended by Mayor Foster.

• Sept. 2012: Councilman Patrick O'Donnell makes a Council floor motion, approved without dissent, to budget a roughly $1 million more beyond what the Budget Oversight Committee recommended, to give the Chief discretion to fund up to half of the former anti-gang field unit (10 officers plus one sergeant) for one year using "one time" money.

• Aug. 2013: Mayor Foster recommends what he said would be his final budget (of which he said he is "most proud") for FY14. It includes no sums to replace the expiring "one time funds" approved by the Council in Sept. 2012 that kept up to half of the field anti-gang unit afloat.

• Aug. 2013: The Council's Budget Oversight Committee learns through chair DeLong's questioning that LBPD's field anti-gang unit has shrunk to only roughly 7 sworn officers through exits/attrition.

• Aug. 2013: The Council's Public Safety Committee, chaired Vice Mayor Garcia, holds no meetings to address the public safety impacts (police or fire) of Mayor Foster's recommended FY14 budget.

• September 2013: A few taxpayers take the time and effort to speak at Council budget hearings urging restoration of LBPD's field anti-gang unit. They include veteran NLB community advocate Laurie Angel. To hear Ms. Angel's words, click here. No LB business or neighborhood group publicly calls for restoring the anti-gang field unit. The Council enacts a FY14 budget without structural budgeted funding to restore LBPD's anti-gang field unit.

• Feb. 2014: Mayor Foster endorses Vice Mayor Garcia for Mayor. The Long Beach Police Officers Ass'n PAC ultimately endorses Garcia for Mayor, as well as Council candidates Gonzalez, Price, Uranga and Richardson.

• May 2014: LBREPORT.com learns and reports that LBPD management has managed to staff a skeleton field anti-gang unit by drawing personnel from budgeted positions in LBPD's Patrol Calls for Service divisions. Since the Gang assignment created vacancies in the Patrol Divisions, LBPD management backfilled the vacant Patrol positions by using overtime funded by the City Council.

• July 2014: Exiting Mayor Foster recommends a FY15 budget with no funding for a field anti-gang unit.

• July 2014: Entering Mayor Garcia recommends a FY15 budget with no funding for a field anti-gang unit.

• August 2014: The Council's Public Safety Committee (now chaired by Councilwoman Price) holds no meetings on the Foster/Garcia recommended FY15 budget's public safety impacts and doesn't address restoring LBPD's anti-gang field unit.

• Sept. 2014: The Council adopts a FY15 budget without structural funding for an LBPD field anti-gang unit.

• Dec. 2014: The nephew of the now-former chair of LB City Hall's now-former Youth & Gang Violence Prevention Task force is murdered in a midafternoon drive-by shooting in the 1100 block of E. PCH.

• Jan. 2015: a drive-by shooting occurs in the neighborhood just west of Santa Fe. Ave. and three blocks south of Spring St. By LBREPORT.com's unofficial tally, it was the seventh shooting in West Long Beach (of which LBREPORT.com is aware) within the past roughly ten months (one of which was fatal.)

• March 2015: Keshawn Brooks is fatally stabbed while walking home from Cabrillo High in the busy 2800 block of Santa Fe Ave. The LA County District Attorney alleges that the crime was "committed in association with a criminal street gang."

LBPD's publicly released crime stats could, but don't, separately list shootings and gang-related crimes. Federal bureaucratic rules classify shootings among "aggravated assaults," a collective category that encompasses shootings and stabbings as well as serious fights and domestic violence.

LBPD reported crime stats show that in the area between the L.A. river and LB's west city limit from Hill Street to 34th St. (crime reporting districts, 61, 62. 63, 64, 72, 73, 74 and 75), aggravated assaults more than doubled from 17 in 2013 to 44 (including a murder) in 2014...and there were 7 more aggravated assaults reported in January 2015. At the same time, crime stats (cited by officials) showed total Part 1 (Murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assaults) "citywide" dropped 4.6% in 2014 from 2013's level (which was down from 2012's level.)

On January 13, 2015, Mayor Robert Garcia delivered his first "State of the City" message in which he stated, "Violent crime has dropped to its lowest level in more than 40 years. And progress in public safety can be seen in every neighborhood in Long Beach, including our downtown."

Less than sixty days later, 15 year old Keshawn Brooks was fatally stabbed while walking home from school through neighborhoods where violent crime had increased.

Speaking at a March 12 LBPD news conference announcing the arrest of the suspect in Mr. Brooks' murder, the victim's father, Keeyon Layton, said his son wasn't a gang member. LBPD Chief Robert Luna said he'd met the family at the hospital and said they are "an amazing family" and "as good [as any family] you'd ever meet."