The Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) has been awarded a two-year, $600,000 grant from the California Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) to strengthen police-community relations and help ensure fair and impartial policing throughout Long Beach neighborhoods. The Long Beach City Council formally accepted the grant at its public meeting on July 19, 2016.
“Every day our Long Beach Police Officers are working hard to keep our community safe under extremely challenging circumstances,” said Mayor Robert Garcia. “This grant award will help to build on the City’s continued efforts to implement 21st Century Policing and practices that foster trust and build community.”
The BSCC Strengthening Law Enforcement and Community Relations grant will be aimed at enhancing collaborative approaches to reinforce police-community partnership, trust, and communication. The grant will also be used to provide training for LBPD officers, implement best policing practices and models, and support programs that address the needs of victims, offenders, and the community.
“This grant will allow the Long Beach Police Department to provide officers with ongoing training in procedural justice, as well as enhanced training in de-escalation and implicit bias,” said Police Chief Robert Luna. “Such training is consistent with the Strategic Vision of the Long Beach Police Department and reflects the recommendations provided by the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing.”
The LBPD has a long-standing commitment and many ongoing efforts to improve performance, ensure accountability, and serve the community. These efforts include developing a new curriculum to learn best practices to deal with the mentally ill and homeless, investing in new equipment, developing comprehensive communication plans to increase communication with the public, and enhancing investigatory capabilities for the Citizen’s Police Complaint Commission.
The BSCC grant award mirrors recent efforts spearheaded by President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, which was created to strengthen community policing and trust among law enforcement officers and the communities that they serve.
The BSCC grant award is aligned with the goals of the
Safe Long Beach Safe Communities strategies. Adopted by the City Council in May 2014,
Safe Long Beach, the City’s Violence Prevention Plan, addresses a broad safety agenda aimed at reducing all forms of violence, including domestic abuse, child abuse, elder abuse, hate crimes, bullying, gang violence, and violent crime. The Plan draws upon the City's many existing assets to target violence at its root and attain the goal of building a safer Long Beach by 2020.
For more information on
Safe Long Beach, go to
www.lbvpp.com.