LAW ENFORCEMENT – MBPD Chief addresses perceived property crime wave

manhattan beach police

by Mark McDermott 

Manhattan Beach Police Department Chief Rachel Johnson told concerned residents at Tuesday’s City Council meeting that the department has increased patrols, particularly over the holidays, in the wake of a recent spike in property crimes. But the council and the chief rejected the idea of hiring a private armed security firm to increase policing presence between now and when MBPD staffing is increased. 

“This year, I’m pleased to report our staffing in the patrol and traffic divisions is 20 percent higher than last year and 11 percent higher than 2019 and 2020,” Johnson said. “This increase in patrol staffing has allowed us to fill the second school resource officer vacancy as well as bring back our swing shift, which allows for increased coverage in the afternoon and evening parts of the day. Additionally, for this holiday period, we have brought in officers on an overtime basis to patrol the commercial and residential areas of our city to address issues that generally increased during this time period, including shoplifting and package theft.” 

Johnson said average response time to “priority calls,” including in-progress calls involving violence, averaged 2 minutes and 43 seconds over the last year. 

“To put that in perspective, the industry metric for this type of call is five minutes,” Johnson said. “We continue our efforts to provide patrols downtown. We have officers patrolling the area in vehicles and bicycles on a continuous basis.” 

Residents have been on high alert ever since a high-profile armed robbery at a jewelry store downtown. Residents who spoke at council Tuesday argued that a larger crime wave appears to be occurring throughout the city. 

Mike Michalski said he’d added up the Neighborhood Watch crime statistics released weekly by MBPD and identified an upward trend in property crime. 

“I added up all the months data for 2022 and compared it to 2021, and through November we have an additional 14 percent increase in property crime over last year,” Michalski said. “But what was most startling to me was just last week…we had two auto thefts, and at least two more since then, five residential burglaries, only one of which was preventable, and 20 vehicle burglaries, four of which were preventable. So a lot of residents are going to experience a pretty lousy Christmas because it almost seems as though we’re just throwing up our hands…The answer is not to do nothing.”

Resident Heidi Raydon Tobias questioned if MBPD was still engaged in “broken window” policing in which residents were encouraged to call when they saw something suspicious. She said a man appeared to be stalking children outside an elementary school on two different occasions lately, and she called MBPD only to have a dispatcher “grill” her and not send a unit.  

“So I called back and I complained and the supervisor at dispatch said that’s not at all how the call should have been handled,” she said. “So are we still practicing ‘if we see something, say something’ or not? That’s the least we can do.” 

Mayor Steve Napolitano asked Chief Johnson to address both issues. 

“We’ve been accused of preventing broken windows policing and other issues,” he said. “Are we not doing anything?” 

“I will tell you that this afternoon, one of our detectives was undercover in a plainclothes assignment looking to solve some of our theft of motor vehicles. And he actually contacted and arrested a serial burglar responsible for a number of crimes in our city,” Johnson said. “At this time, our detective is still at his residence, which is in the southern part of Los Angeles County, serving a search warrant and attempting to recover stolen property. So we are taking this seriously and that’s why we have the undercover detail out there, in response to the increasing crimes. It does matter to us. ‘If you see something, say something’ will always be important. We cannot do this without the partnership with the community.” 

Johnson said officers responded to a report of a property crime in the Tree Section on Monday and were able to arrive on the scene in 1 minute 26 seconds and make two arrests. 

“So your police department is responsive,” she said. “We are making great arrests every day of people who come to do harm in our neighborhoods and we will continue that effort at full tilt.” 

Johnson said the issue with the dispatcher had also been addressed. MBPD uses a regional dispatch center.

The council also discussed the idea of hiring armed security guards. It’s something cities such as Beverly Hills have done to address increases in property crimes. But no member of the council, or Chief Johnson, thought it was an appropriate solution for Manhattan Beach. 

Mayor Steve Napolitano said the cost of such a service would be as much as $1.5 million “for staff who can’t make arrests” and could create other problems. 

“I dare say we would worry about liability of armed folks who haven’t gone through the same training as police… getting involved in a shooting downtown [among] innocent bystanders,” Napolitano said. 

The council has authorized an “overhire” of five additional police officers beyond the 65 currently authorized. MBUSD currently has 63 sworn officers. Johnson said reinforcements are on the way. 

“We’re planning to send at least two trainees to the academy in the first quarter of 2023,” she said. “We continue to move full speed ahead with hiring police academy trainees as well as lateral candidates with our goal of reaching our authorized complement soon.” ER 

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