Few arrests at growing BeachLife
by Garth Meyer
“Beachlife was smooth, no major issues,” said Captain John Naylor, Redondo Beach Police special operations bureau commander, after the fourth installment of the waterfront music festival May 5-7.
Police made seven arrests, all alcohol-related, including one in which an intoxicated fan shoved an officer Saturday.
“Unprovoked,” said Naylor, who is acting police chief this week while Chief Joe Hoffman is away.
Reported thefts at Beachlife totaled 16, mostly pick-pocketers – wallets and cell phones.
Uniformed and undercover officers numbered about 25 each day at the festival.
Something learned at this edition of BeachLife, Naylor said, is that the event is growing in popularity.
“It definitely was bigger this year,” said the bureau commander, who has worked each BeachLife Festival, and has been involved in its planning since the 2019 original.
Naylor noted that festivalgoers are coming from all over the U.S. and even other countries, which he picked up on at “Coffee With a Cop” – a large gathering of greater South Bay officers sitting down with members of the public.
Redondo Beach Police also used its new SkyTower at BeachLife for the first time, set up to watch over the entry gates. The 20-foot tall observation cab also records video, which officers may monitor from elsewhere.
“We like (the SkyTower) because it’s a force-multiplier,” said Naylor.
Hoffman, other RBPD officers ride from New Jersey to D.C.
On Monday after BeachLife concluded, Police Chief Joe Hoffman and nearly a dozen other RBPD officers flew to the East Coast to participate in the national “Police Unity Tour” – a bike ride from New Jersey to Washington, D.C. – which raises money for families of officers killed in the line of duty.
Hoffman is riding a bicycle for the second year. Other officers are part of the motorcycle escort crew.
Members of the Redondo Beach Volunteers in Policing hauled the motorcycles and bikes across the country in a trailer for the event.ER