Long Beach Resident Whose Viral Video Showed Stranger On Her Doorstep Opening Her Mail, Spots Same Person Back In Her Neighborhood, Calls Police Who Respond, Detain...And Release Her

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Long Beach Resident Whose Viral Video Showed Stranger On Her Doorstep Taking/Opening Her Mail, Spots Same Suspect Back In Her Neighborhood, Calls Police Who Detain...And Release Her

If LBREPORT.com didn't tell you,
who would?No one in LBREPORT.com's ownership, reporting or editorial decision-making has ties to 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 decisionmaking has been part of the governing board of any City government body or other entity on whose policies we report.

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(April 24, 2019, 4:30 p.m.) -- LBREPORT.com has learned that the Long Beach resident whose door-bell video showed an individual (a stranger) taking a letter from the resident's mail box and opening it before the resident confronted her, retrieved the letter and chased her off the property, today (April 24) spotted the same individual in her neighborhood, called Long Beach police, who detained the individual...and then released her.

The resident, Shirah Booker, described to LBREPORT.com in her own words what happened earlier today (April 24) after she spotted the same individual walking in her neighborhood:

To launch audio, click here.
(Two audio edits are indicated with a "whoosh" sound.)

Prior to publishing this report, LBREPORT.com let LBPD hear the resident's audio description; we welcome a response if LBPD or city management or city electeds so desire.)

[Scroll down for further.]

Ms. Booker displayed video of the initial incident video on her Facebook page on April 18, and Los Angeles media outlets (as well as LBREPORT.com) reported the incident. (In LBREPORT.com's initial report, Ms. Booker asked that we describe her simply as "a resident," which we did, but other outlets identified her by name and she has allowed us to use her name here.)

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Ms. Booker indicated on Facebook that when she called LBPD in response to the initial incident, an officer responded in less than five minutes. On Monday April 22 (the first business day after the intervening weekend), LBREPORT.com emailed LBPD a few questions about the original incident and how it handles similar incidents. LBPD responded:

Is there anything further on this incident? Anyone in custody?
The calling party in this incident did not desire prosecution, therefore no report was taken.
What is LBPD’s protocol in "porch pirate" incidents (either U.S. mail and/or private delivery of boxes)? Do they generate a report? A crime statistic of any kind?
Similar to other calls for service, these incidents are handled on a case by case basis based on the information that is received. Depending on the information provided by the calling party who is reporting a theft, a call for service can be requested resulting in a response by a patrol officer. The incident is documented based on the scope of the theft, therefore there is no specific statistic available for just "porch pirate" type of incidents.
Roughly how many arrests have been made in such incidents since (arbitrary date) Jan 1 (or pick some other period per week, per month)?
As mentioned above, because these incidents are entered as theft reports, there is no separate statistic available. The only statistics available would be for petty theft or grand theft and those reports would need to be requested through the PRA [Public Records Act request] process.

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Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia and the Long Beach City Council have cited LBPD's officially-reported crime stats in telling the public that Long Beach crime is down.

Further as it develops on LBREPORT.com.

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Support really independent news in Long Beach. No one in LBREPORT.com's ownership, reporting or editorial decision-making has ties to 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 decisionmaking 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.