Long Beach
Innovation Team

Final year-end crime statistics unveiled today indicate that the most serious crime of murders dropped by 8.3% in 2016, and that overall crime in the City of Long Beach remained essentially flat when compared to 2015 levels.  

Total Part 1 crime in 2016 remained flat when compared with 2015, with a .01% slight increase. Violent Crime saw a small increase of 3.5%, while Property Crime saw a small decrease of 0.5% with notable double digit decreases in bike theft, grand theft, and petty theft greater than $50. Additional crime  statistics are available on the Police Department’s  website. These statistics represent the final tallies for 2016.

“While many cities across California saw increases in murder and overall crime, I am grateful that Long Beach saw its murder rate decrease and that overall crime remained flat," said Mayor Robert Garcia. "There is still more work to do which is why we are hiring more police officers, modernizing our equipment and facilities, and bringing in the Long Beach Innovation Team."

Long term trends continue to show positive results with decreases in total violent crimes of more than 30% and murders are down over 47% since 1985.

“Thanks to the combined efforts of our community members, City partners, and the dedication of the men and women of the Long Beach Police Department, we were able to keep crime from spiking,” said Chief of Police, Robert Luna. “We are looking forward to the Innovation Team providing more creative solutions so we can continue to keep Long Beach safe."

In 2017, the Long Beach Innovation Team (i-team) will shift its efforts and focus on public safety, engaging the community, and supporting the Long Beach Police Department. By taking their cutting-edge approach to public safety, they will give the city the capacity to develop new strategies even as our Police Department continues its focus to responding to and preventing crime. 

“We are incredibly excited to bring the human-centered approach to public safety in Long Beach,” said Tracy Colunga, the City’s Innovation Team Director, “We are proud to support the amazing men and women of our law enforcement community and work with community members to deploy multiple strategies that reduce crime and further enhance community-police relations.” 

Areas of continued focus for the Police Department and the i-team will include the following:

Deployment of Resources with Data Driven Policing Approach
The Long Beach Police Department uses data-driven approaches to strategically deploy resources and maximize enforcement efforts. To address increases in certain violent crime categories, efforts were made to raise awareness through community meetings and educational campaigns, in addition to collaborating with advocates of victims’ rights. 

The i-team will build upon these efforts to help increase transparency, accountability, and trust with the community and create a strong and integrated 21st Century Police Force. In December 2014, President Barack Obama created the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. In 2016, the City of Long Beach became part of the Data-Driven Justice Initiative that brings together city, county, and state governments that incorporate data-driven approaches into their law-enforcement programs.

Public Safety Continuum and Community Policing
The Police Department continues to build on relationships with all City Departments and community partners that are part of the Public Safety Continuum which provide opportunities to combine resources toward a common goal, and are effective in reducing crime and addressing quality of life issues throughout the City. The i-team will work with the Police Department to identify additional methods to cultivate partnerships with departments and community members through Safe Long Beach, the City’s Violence Prevention Plan, working together to create and sustain conditions that promote long-term safety. 

Education and Outreach
The City of Long Beach’s goal to further public trust remains a priority. The City was awarded $600,000 in grant funding to strengthen law enforcement and community relations. The Police Department implemented training consistent with the recommendations made by the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, in addition to a Community Police Academy where participants have the opportunity to gain insight into police training and operations.

The City is increasing community outreach efforts to engage residents through enhanced technology with the Police Department’s “Go LBPD” Mobile app that was updated with expanded information categories, online reporting and additional social media presence.

Making Long Beach a safe city for all remains a focal point. Toward that goal, collaboration with regional, state, and federal law enforcement partners will continue in 2017.

For additional information about the City of Long Beach, visit  www.longbeach.gov. To learn more about the Long Beach Police Department, visit  www.longbeach.gov/police, like them on  Facebook, or follow them on Twitter  @LBPD.

Funded through the generous support of Bloomberg Philanthropies, the i-team uses a proven innovation approach to work with partners both inside and outside of city government to deeply understand issues and develop new approaches to solving urban challenges. The i-team’s exhaustive earlier efforts in economic development have led to a number of initiatives that make it easier for entrepreneurs to start and grow their business in Long Beach. 

About the Innovation Team
Launched in 2012, the Innovation Teams Program is one of seven Government Innovation offerings at Bloomberg Philanthropies. Innovation teams (i-teams) function as in-house innovation consultants; helping agency leaders and staff go through a data-driven process to assess problems, generate responsive new interventions, develop partnerships, and deliver measurable results. The City of Long Beach is one of 20 cities around the world that are participating in the program. Launched in 2015 by Mayor Robert Garcia, Long Beach’s i-team works closely, and supportively, with their colleagues across city government — offering them a different set of tools and techniques to innovate more effectively. In partnership with these colleagues, the Long Beach i-team aims to deeply understand the problem they are trying to solve by building empathy for the people impacted by it and then work quickly and creatively to co-create and test solutions that deliver meaningful results for residents. For more information on the City of Long Beach Innovation Team, please visit  www.longbeach.gov/iteam or follow them on Twitter  @iteam_LongBeach and  Facebook.