By LBREPORT.com's unofficial tally, LB's Sept. 14 homicide was the 22nd this year, reaching the 22 officially-tallied homicides for all of 2017. If LBREPORT.com's unofficial tally is correct, LB's homicides as of Sept. 15 are just one shy of LB's homicides for all of 2016 when 23 were officially recorded. In 2015, there were 36; in 2014 there were 23.

[Scroll down for further.]

A closer examination of the data reveals a significant inequity, a chronic and continuing injustice that LBREPORT.com has repeatedly noted. In terms of shootings -- fatal + non-fatal + gunfire with no person hit -- LB is a "tale of two cities" in which residents and businesses in some of LB's most vulnerable lower income and working class neighborhoods endure these violent crimes at levels nearly unimaginable in other parts of the city.

Sponsor

Sponsor

LB's incumbent Mayor/Councilmembers routinely tell the public that "crime is down" and at "record low levels" but cite "citywide" crime stats that, while statistically accurate, conceal the geographic inequity. Accordingly, LBREPORT.com reports below -- by Council district -- the number of confirmed LB shootings (fatal + non-fatal + no-hit) since Aug. 1, 2018 and homicides since Jan. 1, 2018 [as of Sept. 15, 7:20 p.m.]

Over half of LB's murders since Jan 1, and half of LB's shootings since Aug. 1, are concentrated within two Council districts: district 1 (Councilwoman Lena Gonzalez, took office mid-July 2014, re-elected without a ballot opponent in early 2018) and district 6 (Vice Mayor Dee Andrews, took office May 2007, most recently re-elected by write-in April 2016.)

We chose Aug 1 for shootings because it's one day after Mayor Garcia (re-elected April 2018) recommended Council passage of a FY19 budget which added 5 net citywide deployable officers beyond the Council's FY18 budgeted level. On Sept. 4, the Council approved this (9-0).

For continuing easy reference, LBREPORT.com has embedded the chart above on our front page (top right column) www,LBREPORT.com where we plan to keep it continually updated.

Sponsor

The City Council's Sept. 4, 2018 FY19 budget adoption vote leaves LB taxpayers with 22 routinely citywide deployable officers restored to date out of 208 erased by Council votes (that included then-Councilman Garcia) between 2009-2014. Today, 186 citywide routinely deployable officers remain unrestored for taxpayers,

A chart below compares the resulting per capita police levels currently provided to taxpayers by LB's incumbent Mayor/Council compared to what Mayors/Councils in Los Angeles and Signal Hill provide for their constituents.

For additional details on LB's budgeted police staffing for taxpayers, see LBREPORT.com coverage here and here.

Sponsor

Sponsor

Support really independent news in Long Beach. No one in LBREPORT.com's ownership, reporting or editorial decision-making has ties to incumbent Long Beach officials, development interests, advocacy groups or other special interests; or is seeking or receiving benefits of City development-related decisions; or holds a City Hall appointive position; or has contributed sums to political campaigns for Long Beach incumbents or challengers. LBREPORT.com isn't part of an out of town corporate cluster and no one its ownership, editorial or publishing decision making has been part of the governing board of any City government body or other entity on whose policies we report. LBREPORT.com is reader and advertiser supported. You can help keep really independent news in LB similar to the way people support NPR and PBS stations. We're not non-profit so it's not tax deductible but $49.95 (less than an annual dollar a week) helps keep us online.