RateMyEverything

because I already live there.

Long Beach, California ... Image of long beaches, warm weather with cooling breezes off the ocean.  City rated as having great services for youths.

Underlying all that picturesqe fantasy (the beaches are filty) is a city far beyond troubled.  The most troubled aspect of Long Beach City government is the police Department.  But it is not entirely the police.  The LBPD is so tradition bound in CYA, politically active officer union and corruption the police department represents the biggest criminal element in the City.

Police "management" cannot control or discipline the rank and file, even if the Chief wanted to, because of the fear that the officer union will among other things write a "letter of no confidence" to the City Council, something that has been done before.  The Council is afraid to back the Chief because of the officer union threat of strike (politically correct term "Blue Flu.")

The way too strong officer union defends against any and all allegations of misconduct by the officers.  Part of the problem is the sergeants are represented by the officer union so sergeants are nothing more than lead officers and have no supervisory capacity.  Sergetants are certainly not part of any disciplinary system even if anyone wanted to correct officer misconduct.  The denial of wrong doing starts with the officer and is supported by the sergeants.  If an allegation goes to the Complaint Commission it is forwarded to the Department for investigation where every effort is made to deny the allegation(s) and the Complaint Commision merely rubber stamps the "findings" of the department.  The Internal Affairs investigators clearly have as their goal to exhonorate the officer(s) and Department, and treat complaintaints as criminals.  At first the IA investigators appear to be working a "Good cop-bad cop" investigation, but it soon becomes obvious that they are in fact bad investigators with a mission to discredit the complainant.

The sworn members of LBPD display in every way imaginable disregard for statutes, codes and policy manuals.  The concern for the City should be for the potential liability that may arise from routine violation of Federal, State, Municipal and Department laws and policies by Department employees.  For example it is common for the police not authorized code 3 to use lights and siren to violate red traffic signals.  This may seem harmless, but if one of those officers is involved in a collision while violating traffic codes standby for the lawsuit.

That is only the beginning for the LBPD is dedicated to law enforcement in the City and the end justifies the means.  Violation of the Vehicle Code is nothing compared to the violations of the Constitution and Federal Civil Rights Acts.  It is common amoung incompetent police to write reports and "find" evidence that supports the prosecution of people that they "know" are guilty.  This is especially common by detectives that are expected to make arrests and get convictions to satisify crime clearance statistics.

The City Prosecutor's Office is in on this game as well.  They take whatever the Police gives them in the way of reports, the less written in the reports the better, and files charges.  The "Persecutor's" Office boasts a high conviction rate, that is based on incompetent investigations, minimal reports and questionable evidence.  For the most part with the police outright lying on the reports and in testimony the "subject" has little chance of defending against the charge(s).

The Superior Court judges in Long Beach are more than willing to make decisions that support the conviction of miscreants.  Criminal Defense is a mere exercise in futility for the courts are favorable towards the City and overlooks the "stacking the deck" that the City in involved in to get a conviction.  The end result justify the means.

The City has another unique way of compensating for incompetent law enforcement.  If it should so happen that the "criminal(s)" are renting in the City the owner/renter of the property can be forced to evict the tenant.  The owner of the property is thereby being forced to breech contract and evict tenents to deal with crime that the police are too incompetent to manage through the usual means of crime detection.

The officers of the LBPD are culturated to be aggressive, disregard the law and that the end justifies the means.  There is no hope for anything resembling a competent, professional and law abiding Police Department without drastic action by the Mayor and Council.  The City had an opportunity to replace the LBPD with the LA County Sheriff but did not have the nerve to take the critical step towards bringing competent law enforcement to the City.

If you are contemplating moving to or even visiting the City of Long Beach, California I suggest you seriously consider alternatives.

My rating of the Long Beach Police Deprtment is VERY POOR: in every conceivable way this department deserves to be replaced.