Man Is Shot/Wounded 2600 block Lakewood Blvd At Willow (CD 4/Supernaw); PD Investigates As Gang-Related
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(Nov. 24, 2021) -- A man was shot/wounded on Sunday Nov. 23 in the 2600 block of Lakewood Blvd. (at Willow St.). The shooting occurred outside, not inside, a business.
The crime scene is in CD/4 Supernaw (in both current and upcoming redistricting maps.) In 2019, Supernaw urged the public to stop calling for restoration of LBPD's field anti-gang unit (details below.)
LBPD Public information officer Allison Gallagher says that on Nov. 23 at about 6:14 p.m., officers responded to the location and found evidence, including casings that a shooting had occurred.
A male juvenile victim sustained a gunshot wound and took himself to a local hospital in stable condition. Officers arrested two suspects in the area: after a short foot pursuit, a 15 year old male, and at the scene, Earl Stanley Tate, 20, of Los Angeles (booked on suspicion of violation of parole.)
Officers recovered two firearms, PIO Gallagher says...and the shooting is being investigated as gang related.
CD 4 Councilman Supernaw's record re field anti-gang unit
LBPD does have an anti-gang unit. It actively investigates shootings, identifies and locates suspects, makes arrests, testifies in court and handles related matters. In addition, each LBPD Division (North, South, East and West) has a Directed Enforcement Team to handle specific assignments as directed by each Division's Commander. Those specific assignments can include gang issues as well as multiple other policing needs including quality of life and various neighborhood impacting crimes.
But without LBPD's field anti-gang unit, each of the four Directed Enforcement Teams now try to perform functions similar to what the field anti-gang unit performed. The net result is less than what LB taxpayers previously received. LB taxpayers previously had a field anti-gang unit plus four flexibly deployed "Directed Enforcement Teams" available to handle multiple issues. Now LB taxpayers have no field anti-gang unit and the Division's Directed Enforcement Teams now have to deal with escalating gang issues during which time they can't devote attention to other community policing needs.
At the April 30, 2019 Public Safety Committee meeting, CD4 Councilman Supernaw sought to portray the status quo as basically providing the same anti-gang functions as previously...and in effect discouraged members of the community from bringing up the subject again.
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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.
[Supernaw's CD 4 has since had multiple shootings including homicides.]
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PD said "similar" but not the same
A little over two years earlier on Dec. 6, 2016, LBPD Deputy Chief Richard Conant told the Public Safety Committee (responding to a question by Supernaw) that as a result of the Mayor/Council's decision to end funding for the field anti-gang unit, LBPD uses its gang intel team plus Directed Enforcement Team plus a crime analyst to try to replicate what the field anti-gang unit previously did. He said it's "similar," not the same...and a close reading shows it's clearly less than what LB taxpayers previously received.
Deputy Chief Conant "...Our gang field team was a in-the-field rollin' around responsive team to calls. In place of that, since fiscal cuts, we are utilizing our Direct Enforcement Team in a similar fashion. As you know, our Direct Enforcement Team is a proactive team that handles our quality of life related issues and/or acts as an immediate response team for Divisional Commanders for gang crimes, and any criminal trend or crime trend that may be occurring in a respective Division. Our Direct Enforcement Teams work in conjunction with out gang intel team, effectively working as an extension of the gang enforcement unit...
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In 2018, LB 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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In June 2016, LB voters approved the Mayor Garcia-sought/Council enabled Measure A General Fund ("blank check") sales tax increase giving LB City Hall over $50 million more each year. Since then, Mayor Garcia hasn't recommended, and LB's Council hasn't restored, LBPD's field anti-gang unit. As of Sept. 2021 entering FY22, LB taxpayers have over 200 fewer citywide deployable police officers than they previously had.
LB's current budget level reflects Council votes in Sept 2020 and (continued in Sept. 2021) to approve budgets that defunded 48 additional officers. This came on top of larger reductions under former Mayor Foster approved by a previous Council that included then-Councilman Garcia.
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.
