Tonight we attended the West Division Leadership Forum. The topic was auto theft. LBPD is giving away the club for the wheel. Both the MacArthur Park Community Association & the Wrigley Community Neighborhood Group​ will be giving away one of the two you see in the picture soon. Not sure how yet, but I am leaning to giving it to someone willing to take the pledge to keep the neighborhood safe and clean. 

Follow this link for details:  
http://macarthurparklbc.blogspot.com/2015/04/macarthur-park-neighborhood-pledge.html

West Division Leadership Forum: Car Theft/ Mobile Apps/ Crime Analysis/ Success Stories

MacArthur Park's 1st City Wide Breakfast: Updated

Thank you to We Love Long Beach for the kind donations, the neighbors who came out, Wrigley Community Neighborhood Groupp for the help organizing and Tania Morales for the additional support in the MacArthur Park Neighborhood's first City Wide Breakfast.

It's hard to read but hear were the suggestions: 

• A neighborhood grocery store
• Shuttles for seniors - People with no cars
• More neighborhood events
• Speed bumps for cars turning off PCH
• Neighborhood cleaning
• Neighborhood watch
• Game day 
• Board game pot lucks 
• Neighborhood Olympics.

West Division Leadership Forum: 02/24/2016: 6pm

Please join Commander Robert Smith and his staff for this informative meeting on Wednesday February 24, 2016 at 6:00pm. at 1129 Alamitos. We will be having an Auto Theft Detective give a presentation as well as Administrator Karen Owens will be giving a presentation on the Community Engagement Division. 

West Division Leadership Forum: Human Trafficking

There are two major kinds of Human Trafficking. One focuses on sex, the other on slave labor. This month's West Division Leadership Forum, a bi-monthly meeting on community safety focused on this topic. The West Division Leadership Forum is a bi-monthly forum, held on the third Wednesday of the month. The current meeting place for the forum is Grant AME Church at 1129 Alamitos Ave, in Long Beach. The next meeting should be December 20th, 2015.

This is the delayed write up.

Because this is a serious topic, I want to do it some justice. We are talking about a form of slavery here. Because of the seriousness of the topic, I am leaving the other topic of Code Enforcement for another day.  

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The pimps are revered by boys who hope to grow up with their status

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The concept of human trafficking reflects a shift in police tactics. In earlier days, law enforcement saw the prostitute as the prime target. Once arrested, police didn't talk to the prostitute and the prostitute didn't talk to the police. These days, the focus has shifted to the pimp. Human trafficking, which is now a felony, has brought much of the focus away from the women bought and sold like commodities, who in many cases are victims of severe emotional, physical and sexual abuse. 

Many of the pimps subjects will be manipulated through fear, abuse and intimidation.

Human trafficking victims have been as young as five years old. There have been more than 27 million victims, 800,000 a year, 244,000 in America and 3000 in LA County alone. The industry itself is a $32 billion industry, with one girl often bringing in $500 a day. In many cases the victims are homeless, emotionally traumatized or mentally ill. They may also rely on drugs, alcohol or lack the ability to meet their own basic needs.

In that sense, human trafficking is a kind of kidnapping based on mental and emotional abuse and manipulation. 

Sex and labor traffickers may find their victims at clubs, on the street, group homes, through mutual friends, malls and after school programs, Within our neighborhoods also be careful of traveling food carts, especially in the downtown and Central Long Beach Neighborhoods.

Often the pimps send other girls into these areas like homeless shelters to recruit for them. And sexual slavery does not just target the poor, but can also affect those who dwell in upper class families where rape may be used as a tool of coercion and blackmail. Pimps have also employed social media as a recruiting tool. Sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Moco Space, the latter is a gaming community I had never heard of until the meeting, have all bean used to lure in new girls.

To help keep their children safe, parents should always discuss how to stay safe online. And they should recognize the warning signs when their children might have taken online conversations too far. The relationship the pimp creates  is based on controlling everything. The pimp decides on where the women he is trafficking can be. They may need his permission to shower or even sleep. In some cases the pimp may threaten not only the girl herself but her entire family. In many cases the trafficker will force their victims to call him "Daddy," the deepen his control.

Many girls find themselves branded, isolated and trapped. They are prevented from having conversations with anyone, with their pimp handling all communication with any potential John or Jane. 

There are warning signs someone may be headed towards a life human trafficking. 

The warning signs include:

• Unexpected truancy
• Signs of physical abuse
• Chronically running away
• Unusual promiscuous behavior
• Withdrawn/ depression and fear
• Inappropriate behavior with other people
• Sudden possession of expensive Jewelry and clothing

If you see these signs in your children, friends or peers be aware what they may mean.

Those who would like to help protect Long Beach from human trafficking are asked to stay educated on the subject and help educate others. This involves not only getting churches and community organizations involved, but working with those community organizations already dealing with the issue like the Saving Innocence Project. It involves teaching potential victims, to walk in pairs, to walk with self confidence and purpose as well as chose your friends wisely. And it involves showing empathy to the people you see on the street. Human traffickers rely on an absence of empathy to create victims.

Also, when you do see something out of place, say something that may lead to help.

Sunday Safety Update: 10/25/2015 - 11/07/2015

Disclaimer: Please note these maps are meant to show which direction crime is trending, areas to keep an extra eye on and places to remain vigilant in order for Central Long Beach residents to remain safe. That said, previous trends don't guarantee future trends will repeat in the same direction and patterns. Also, an absence of crime in one area, does not guarantee an absence in that same area later on. as well.

The map of last week is on the bottom; this week is on the top.

There was a a trend of residential burglaries on the streets just north of 15th last week. They begin around Sherman and 15th on Sunday and trend both east and west into this week. 

Afterwards, they trended west and north. Also note there is a pattern of burglaries on the other side of Rotary Centennial Park this week and last week there was a trend of auto thefts trending up, in about the same place. 

Please read up on preventing burglaries, since they are clearly up. 

This week assaults are up beginning at Cherry and trending towards MacArthur Park. From there, they end as auto thefts pick up and begin trending north towards PCH. From PCH, those  crimes trends back to it's starting place. In other words, keep your eye open everywhere. 

In case you would like to help put an end to this there are some upcoming Community Watch Meetings.

Community Watch Workshops 
Beginning Next Week

Washington Neighborhood
Wednesday, November 11th
6 – 8 pm 
The Guidance Center
1301 Pine Ave

Willmore Neighborhood
Thursday, November 19th
7 – 9 pm
Drake Park Community Room
951 Maine Ave

Linden-Roosevelt Neighborhood
Monday, December 7th
7 – 9 pm
Location To Be Determined

Shootings Outside Our Neighborhood: 

An early Saturday morning shooting in central Long Beach left one man dead.
Officers were called at 3:26 a.m. Saturday to the 1000 block of Olive Avenue on reports of a shooting, according to the Long Beach Police Department. When officers arrived, they found a man who had been struck by gunfire. Long Beach Fire Department paramedics responded and transported to a local hospital. - Full Story

There will soon be a page here to collect information on all shootings, make victims into names instead of numbers and make it incredibly difficult for anyone who does something so cowardly to count on their actions being forgotten.

* Within MacArthur Park: There have been less shootings, but crime is still up. Please keep an eye out for your neighbors. The MacArthur Park Community Association will be paroling at the least twice during the week and once during the weekend. Any suspicious activity will immediately be reported to police. Also until 15th street clears up, there will be morning patrols to look after the pathways to school.

There was a West Division forum on Human Trafficking and a Public Safety meeting by the first district. A separate write up is coming soon. I will have links to the write ups soon. Sorry for the delay.

West Division Leadership Forum: 10/28/2015