A Message from
Police Chief Robert Luna
A police officer never comes to work hoping to become involved in a use of force but, on rare occasions, it happens. And when it does happen, the LBPD critically reviews every aspect of the incident to make sure that our officers only use force when necessary and consistent with the Department's policies and values of preserving life and protecting our community.
This year, in compliance with Senate Bill 1421 and Assembly Bill 748, you will be seeing comprehensive reports of LBPD records regarding use of force reviews which contain an unprecedented amount of information, context, and analysis regarding utilization of force by LBPD officers.
As we do with every incident, we learn and adjust in an effort to better serve our community. Our many ongoing efforts to further enhance our training and changes in operations to help reduce the necessity to utilize force in all encounters have made an impact within our Department.
For example, we enhanced our de-escalation training, expanded our mental health intervention training, and continue our scenario-based training, with a focus on decision-making and tactics for deadly force and non-deadly encounters. In addition, we continue to increase the deployment of less-lethal force options.
Although it is too early to draw concrete conclusions from the effectiveness of our new efforts, the Department has experienced a significant decline in officer-involved shooting incidents in the last 18 months, a 12% reduction in violent crime year-to-date compared to 2018, and over the last five years, we have seized 2,623 firearms, while continuing to focus on prohibited possessors.
Despite the low levels of force when compared to the number of contacts, arrests, and calls for service our officers face on a daily basis, we continue to improve our efforts to protect and serve you, by continuing to build partnerships and make Long Beach a safe City for all people.
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