Mayor Garcia initially claimed the contract would "add" officers in his Jan. 10 "State of the City" message when he said the agreement "could add up to an additional 30 police officers to the Long Beach police department..." No Councilmembers, then or on March 7 challenged the assertion, and on Jan. 10 and March 7, Garcia scrupulously avoided using the term "overtime."

LBPD has indicated to LBREPORT.com that it aims to limit the impact to current operations through overtime so that it shouldn't affect current citywide police staffing deployments for neighborhoods elsewhere. While overtime can produce FTE's that will project a visible LBPD presence along Metro's Blue Line, it won't add to the underlying number of budgeted officers available deployment for LB neighborhoods citywide. Only Councilmembers -- not the Mayor or a Metro contract -- can actually add to the number of underlying budgeted officers.

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At a November 17, 2016 Metro Committee meeting, and at a December 1 Metro Board meeting (the latter attended by Mayor Garcia prior to joining the Board), Metro staff recommended using 14 LBPD officers under the contract. Speaking at the Metro Dec. 1 Board meeting, MNayor Garcia explicitly stated that he supported the 14 officer staff recommended figure. However, when portraying the transaction to LB audiences, Garcia has instead used the 30 "FTE" figure.

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14 budgeted sworn officers can produce roughly 30 "FTE's" ("full time equivalents") by using overtime, but having "FTE's" cover shifts isn't the same as having underlying budgeted sworn officers available. Despite an "all hands" response on July 4th, LBPD has been visibly unable to enforce the city's fireworks laws (some residents called last year's conditions a "war zone") leading some to wonder what might happen in a genuinely serious citywide emergency or terrorist incident.

The issue of relying on overtime (by LBPD and LAPD) to handle Metro policing was the subject of extended Metro Board discussion on Dec. 1...but received little serious scrutiny when LB Councilmembers considered the Metro transaction.

Councilwoman Price (Mayor Garcia's choice to chair the Council's Public Safety Committee) posed questions that elicited positive responses from Police Chief Luna:

Councilwoman Price: One of the things that we've been telling the community is this is a great development for the Blue Line and our ability to enforce those areas but in addition to that it's going to relieve pressure citywide for the police department and that's something that we've heard. Can you speak to that a little bit?

Chief Luna Yes. When we have more uniformed presence along our corridors, which would be primarily Long Beach Blvd. and Pacific, if you can picture at least a half of dozen more officers per shift in those areas, that improves the visibility, which in turn will have a positive impact we believe on crime and the quality of life. We're going to have to work up to those numbers of course, but when we get there, when you're adding 30 new officers to our department, how can you go wrong? And that's what we're really looking forward to.

Councilwoman Price: Now will these officers also be available to respond to citywide emergencies or things that may be called upon for their services and their assistance?

Chief Luna: Absolutely, on both ways. When we need help anywhere in the city, they can respond, and when Metro needs help, we respond just like we currently do with any contract that our police department serves now.

Councilwoman Price: Well that's fantastic. I think that's win-win for the whole city...

LB Councilmembers universally praised Mayor Garcia for the contract, which Metro staff recommended to increase actual and perceived security (and acknowledged it will also save Metro money). Metro's Board approved the agreement on Feb. 23 with Mayor Garcia as a new Boardmember.

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Putting LBPD in charge of LB Blue Line policing is supported by downtown interests and LB Metro Blue Line riders. Councilmembers noted that having LBPD handle the LB section of the Blue Line is anticipated to significantly reduce response times. LBPD Chief Luna praised the agreement, and indicated expects it will provide citywide benefits by increasing LBPD visibility on the major corridors of Pacific Ave. and Long Beach Blvd. The Chief was a bit more circumspect about "adding" officers, basically indicating he expects currently planned back-to-back replenishment police academy classes [plus future Council budget actions] could produce added officers in the future.

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In a Feb. 24 email responding to LBREPORT.com's request for clarification of LBPD's position, LBPD CFO Maura Velasco-Ventura said: "LBPD does not intend to draw officers from other citywide assignments because it plans to initially cover the officers' citywide Metro field team tasks using overtime." A March 3 email via LBPD's Public Information Office further clarified LBPD's position: "Sworn staffing of up to 12 positions [2 additional positions will be administrative] will be deployed daily utilizing overtime. These shifts will not remove staffing from city-wide deployment. Metro shifts will be filled with sworn personnel who choose to work this assignment outside of their regularly scheduled hours. 30 FTEs ["full time equivalent" shift coverage] allows for the necessary 7-day weekly coverage, for officers and supervisors, taking into account multiple shifts, days off, training, etc. While we do not release specific deployment schedules, the daily staffing will be based on service demands and other public safety considerations." [LBPD officers generally work a four-day 40-hour week with 10 hour shifts, leaving many available (and even eager) to pick up an extra day's work with overtime pay.]

LBPD's March 3 statement continued: "The implementation of this contract is consistent with the manner in which the Department has successfully phased in other contracts (i.e., Port, LGB, LBUSD, LBCC, LB Transit, Carmelitos). Officers working contract assignments (Port, LGB, LBUSD, LBCC, LB Transit, Carmelitos), can and do work overtime that is unrelated to their contracted assignments."

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On March 3, LBREPORT.com asked Metro under the Public Records Act for a copy of the LBPD contract; on March 6, Metro closed our request by stating the contract "is still being conformed and reviewed prior to the signature cycle." LB city management didn't attach a copy of the draft contract to its March 7 Council agenda item, consistent with its policy of seeking Council authorization for contracts based on summary memos but not showing Councilmembers or the public the full contract terms until after taxpayers are bound.

In 2008 approaching FY09, Long Beach had 1,020 total budgeted officers. These consisted of 961 budgeted citywide deployable officers (including 17 [half budget year] police academy recruits) in the citywide deployable bucket and 59 contracted officers.

In 2017 approaching FY18, Long Beach has 823 total budgeted officers. These consist of -- prior to the Metro contract -- 67.25 contracted officers leaving 755.75 officers deployable in the citywide (823 - 67.25 = 755.75.)

Thus far, neither Mayor Garcia, nor LBPD or city management, nor the Council have indicated how many officers they plan to add in the upcoming FY18 budget or by any future date certain. To date, after a Mayor/Council sought/voter approved sales tax increase, Mayor and management have recommended, and the Council has restored, 17 of 208 officers erased by previous Council votes (that included Garcia) since FY10. LBPD's March 3 statement said the FY18 budget "is not yet available; however, we anticipate adding 30 FTEs to our personnel budget in FY18."