Hear It: 3rd Council District Meeting Draws Roughly 200 People To Hear -- And Be Heard -- On Increasingly Visible Homeless Persons, Related Neighborhood Crime, Police Responses And Homeless Services By City of LB; Councilwoman Price and Police Chief Luna Blast Prop 47, Urge Residents To "Read the Fine Print" On Ballot Props

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Hear It: 3rd Council District Meeting Draws Roughly 200 People To Hear -- And Be Heard -- On Increasingly Visible Homeless Persons, Related Neighborhood Crime, Police Responses And Homeless Services By City of LB; Councilwoman Price and Police Chief Luna Criticize Prop 47, Urge Residents To "Read the Fine Print" On Ballot Props

Police Chief Luna: "AB 109 [Gov. Brown budget driven, Sacramento legislature-enacted "realignment" of state prison incarcertaion policies] and Prop 47 has absolutely impacted this problem."
Councilwoman Price says homeless population today is different: "We are dealing with a lot of people who are addicted to drugs...so theft has become more common because theft and stealing things is a form of currency," says measure failed to "replace the services that these individuals who are now back on the street really need to succeed. We're really setting these people up for failure."

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(Updated Sept. 18, 2016, 4:00 p.m. from initial Sept. 17, 2016, 9:45 p.m.) -- LBREPORT.com provides Extended On-Demand Audio below of the Sat. Sept. 17 public meeting organized by 3rd dist. Councilwoman Suzie Price attended by roughly 200 people who came to hear -- and be heard -- on issues involving increasingly large numbers of visible homeless persons, related neighborhood crime issues, law enforcement responses and homeless services provided by the City of LB.

LBREPORT.com provides extended coverage of what officials said, and what the public said, in on-demand audio below.

Audience members said they see more homeless persons now in more parts of the city. Elected officials said the problem affects many CA cities beyond Long Beach.

Among officials present and fielding audience questions were meeting organizer Councilwoman Suzie Price, joined by Police Chief Robert Luna (with several members of his command staff), Fire Chief Mike DuRee, City Prosecutor Doug Haubert, Assemblyman Patrick O'Donnell and City of LB Homeless Services officer Teresa Chandler.

At podium: Councilwoman Suzie Price

Councilwoman Price and Police Chief Luna both criticized Proposition 47 (enacted by CA voters in Nov. 2014) which reduced a number of what it called "non-violent" felonies to misdemeanors. The result, they said, effectively made it difficult for police to arrest those using methamphetamines or breaking into peoples's homes (now deemed "non-violent" crimes) and at the same time, they said Sacramento has failed to follow-through with funding for rehabilitative and drug services to those seriously in need.

Councilwoman Price said today's homeless population is different: "We are dealing with a lot of people who are addicted to drugs...so theft has become more common because theft and stealing things is a form of currency," says measure failed to "replace the services that these individuals who are now back on the street really need to succeed. We're really setting these people up for failure."

Chief Luna said that from his perspective, "AB 109 [Sacramento's "realignment" of state prison incarcertaion policies] and Prop 47 have "absolutely impacted this problem."

Both stressed that Long Beach residents should "read the fine print" on ballot propositions.

Councilwoman Suzie Price and Police Chief Robert Luna both attributed a vug part of the problem to Proposition 47, approved by voters statewide in Nov. 2014, that reduced certain felonies to misdemeanors and effectively made it more diffcult for police to make arrests for acts previously deemed felonies because to make an arrest an officer must observe a misdemeanor committed in his/her presence.

Councilwoman Price (an OC Deputy DA) said said today's homeless population is very different than in the past. "We are dealing with a lot of people who are addicted to drugs, and obviously they don't have a job, and stealing things "has become a form of currency," she said. She noted that although Prop 47 lowered the level of punishment for certain types of crimes, it failed to "replace the services that these individuals who are now back on the street really need to succeed. We're really setting these people up for failure, because they no longer are going to be ordered to go into a drug rehabilitation program like they used to have to be when the offense was a felony."

Councilwoman Price noted that under Prop 47, possession of methamphetamine, which was previously a felony, is now treated as a misdemeanor. Price told residents: "I really want you to think very rationally when you're looking at the ballot propositions...and really read them. Just because they're called 'Great neighborhood act' doesn't mean it's great for our neighborhoods...Read the fine print.

[Ed. note: Prop 47's supporters titled their measure the "Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act." For details, including a list of Prop 47's supporters, click here.]

Assemblyman Patrick O'Donnell said Sacramento had provided roughly $2 million in sums sent to local cities and counties for homeless related issues...and brought up Prop 57 on the November 2016 ballot (that would increase a felon's chances of parole for what it calls non-violent crimes, allows more chances for "good behavior" credits and would let judges, not prosecutors, decide whether to try certain juveniles as adults in court.) Assemblyman O'Donnell said Prop 57 [which is backed by Governor Brown] has "a lot of that was good; there's also some challenges that's been shared by Suzie where prosecuting agencies don't have a hook to get the people the help they need...[T]here's good parts of it, there's probably some parts of it that might not be good in the long term for us as well, so I encourage you to look at that."

When Police Chief Luna was given the floor, he spoke approvingly of Councilwoman Price's remarks and stated that from his perspective, "AB 109 [Gov. Brown budget driven, Sacramento legislature-enacted "realignment" of state prison incarcertaion policies] and Prop 47 has absolutely impacted this problem." He continued:

Police Chief Luna: At one point, possession of heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine was a felony. I'm not standing before you as a person who says I want to lock everybody up; you can't do that; it doesn't work. But we went the other way. We said basically if you're arrested for these issues, you're not going to be incarcerated. So when you hear people talk about not putting people in jail for 'non violent offenses,' what do you think that means? That means that if somebody steals your bike, your car, breaks into your home, that's a 'non violent' offense...
So when Councilwoman Price talks about us paying attention to current legislation: read the fine print. I'm not sitting here telling you how to vote, but I am telling you these have an impact on the way we work. Our capacity has shrunk and our workload has exploded because we're dealing with so many legislative changes.
And if that isn't enough, coming November, there's two things that very much concern me -- and again, I want to stress, I'm not telling you how to vote.
Look at Proposition 57 that is going to propose we let even more people out of prison without the proper services. Read the fine print.
We're also talking about legalizing marijuana. Before you vote on that, read the fine print. Look at the statistics in the state of Colorado and Washington and look when has happened to their homeless population when it comes to or attributed to marijuana legalization. I'm telling you right now: read the fine print.
We're all sitting here right now. We're frustrated, but we in the Police Department are working probably harder than we ever have and trying to figure out how to solve some of these issues when yet somebody breaks into your home, we put 'em in jail and they're out a week later because it's a 'non-violent offense' and nobody wants 'em in jail, and then everyone is surprised when we catch them a third, fourth and firth time...

[Ed. note: For arguments pro and con on Prop 57, click here.]

At the start of the meeting, we counted roughly 150 persons at Fire Station 14 (at Colorado Lagoon), but another reliable source counted 160 persons, and others arrived during the course of the meeting...so we believe attendees approached (and may have exceeded) 200 persons.

LBPD East Division Commander Liz Griffin moderated/coordinated Q & A and commented on a number of points raised by the audience, as did LBPD Patrol Bureau Deputy Chief David Hendricks.

To launch audio (MP3), click links below. A "whoosh" sound indicates an edit when discussion digressed; we inserted a tone when speakers alleged activity at specific addresses.