98+ " Cambodian Child, Age 14, Was Fatal Shooting Victim Found Deceased 1400 block St. Louis (CD 4/Supernaw)
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Cambodian Child, Age 14, Was Fatal Shooting Victim Found Deceased 1400 block St. Louis (CD 4/Supernaw)

Amnesia File: Includes transcript of Supernaw telling taxpayers (April 2019) to stop raising issue of Council's failure to restore LBPD field anti-gang unit



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(December 19, 2020) -- The LA County Coroner's office has identified a 14-year old Cambodian child is the "male" LBPD said in a release was found shot to death on Dec. 16 in the 1400 block of St. Louis Ave. (CD 4/Supernaw.)

Arthur Touch, 14, is the child's name (source: LA County Coroner Capt. Emily Tauscher.)

In a Dec. 17 release, LBPD said a calling party indicated a "male" (no age indicated in release) had fallen and appeared injured; LBFD determined that the male was deceased, observed apparent gunshot wounds and sought a police response (officers were dispatched at about 8:50 p.m. Dec. 16.) It's unclear from LBPD's release exactly where the shooting occurred although LBPD says the homicide is being investigated as gang-related. .

Amnesia File

At an April 30, 2019 meeting of the Long Beach City Council's Public Safety Committee, Committee vice chair Daryl Supernaw downplayed the need to restore funding for LBPD's former field anti-gang unit, indicated he didn't want to hear taxpayers bring up the issue again and boasted that CD 4 hadn't had a homicide for over two years. [Supernaw's CD 4 has since had two fatal shootings within the past six months (since June 1, 2020) plus another on the CD4/CD 2 border.]

LBPD does have an anti-gang unit which investigates shootings, identifies and locates suspects, makes arrests, testifies in court and handles related matters. But LB taxpayers no longer have an LBPD field anti-gang unit (20 budgeted officers + 2 sergeants deployed in gang-plagued neighborhoods where they consistently communicated, interacted and developed relationships with residents and businesses, observed conditions and collected intelligence.)

Each LBPD Division (North, South, East and West) also has a "Directed Enforcement Team" that handles specific assignments directed by each Division's Commander, which may or may not include gang issues. But the bottom line for LB taxpayers is that the Council previously funded an LBPD field anti-gang unit and Directed Enforcement Teams but now -- despite the Measure A ("blank check") sales tax increase -- LB taxpayers citywide and in gang plagued neighborhoods no longer have a field anti-gang unit.

A number of LB residents (and LBREPORT.com editorially) have urged the Council to restore funding for the field anti-gang unit without success. LBREPIORT.com provides below a transcript of Councilman Supernaw's words at the April 30, 2019 Public Safety Committee meeting, effectively telling taxpayers to stop bringing up the issue.







Councilman Supernaw: I'm going to bring up a topic that has appeared before and that is field gang units, and to our esteemed chair here she's probably say "asked and answered" in her parlance but I think it bears repeating just so members of the community don't bring this up again.

My understanding is that the function of the field gang unit still exists but we don't specifically have a field gang unit. I guess I would say back when we did, that field gang unit could take on other responsibilities at any given time if there were burglaries, they could be assigned to that for a day, and I don't want to divulge how any systems work, but from what I understood you to say in terms of intervention strategies, that there are gang officers and the Direct Enforcement Officers within in a patrol division can function at any given time as a field gang unit. Would that be accurate?

Commander Robert Smith: Councilman, I would say that the Directed Enforcement Teams, they have many functions but one of their emphasis is certainly on gang crimes.

Councilman Supernaw: OK, thank you. And in terms of the crimes being committed, I'll just speak for the 4th Council district, we need to put things in perspective. In 2013, the 4th district specifically Beat 11, led the city in homicides with 8. Knock on wood, we haven't had a homicide in the 4th district for over two years, so thank you for the great work.

In 2018, LB's Financial Management Department told LBREPORT.com that restoring 10 citywide deployable officers (fully turned-out/equipped) would cost (figure for rough budget estimate purposes) about $2 million. That would put the budgeted cost of restoring LBPD's field anti-gang unit (20 officers + 2 sergeants) at a little over $4 million.
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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.


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