West Division Leadership Forum: Recap

The LBPD held its West Division Leadership Forum yesterday. The topic was primarily auto theft. Auto theft is on the rise. In order to combat it, police recommend a common sense approach to keeping your belongings safe. Keep your car locked, windows rolled up and valuables out of site. The Long Beach PD also recommended that you think carefully about how you define valuables. For someone who is down and out, who sees a car with a window rolled down and a few dimes in the cup holder, that may be enough to spark a crime of opportunity. For more detailed information on keeping your car safe, please read this blog entry.

 

The second lecture was about the mobile apps the police use in crime and crime prevention. Go LBPD, provides "one stop shopping" access to The Long Beach Police Department - information relating to news, crime prevention, alerts, events, videos, and photos, through social media feeds such as Nixle, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, and Flickr, along with the ability to submit crime tips, all with the tap of a finger.

The Go Long Beach PH is part of a slew of apps Long Beach Residents can use to work towards a safer, cleaner city. Those other apps include Go Long Beach, Nixle, iWatch, Pulse Point and Crime Reports.

There was also a presentation by the police volunteer unit, a West Division Crime Statistician and a lot of success stories. One success story was of the nosy neighbor who stops a burglary in progress by recognizing what's out of place for her Wrigley Neighborhood. Six District resident Josephine Villasenor also chimed in with a success story where a homeless encampment reported that was selling drugs to minors was closed down within hours of sending in the photos to the LBPD.

The LBPD also generously gave out clubs for car steering wheels. We will be giving those away, but only to someone who takes the Neighborhood Pledge to keep their neighborhood clean and safe. The next West Division Leadership forum will take place n two months at St. Luke's Church. The topic will be gangs.

Neighborhood Expansion: Early Crime Trends for the 6th District. Wrigley. 20th to 21st on Cedar and Chestnut: Theft/ Property Crime. Property crime often precedes something worse. Pacific and Willow. Assault/ Theft. Washington Neighborhood: Auto Theft: Auto theft. Pacific and 16th. MacArthur Park Neighborhood: Auto thefts on PCH from Cherry to MLK. Also violent crime matches up with earlier trends on Junipero and Spaulding.