Sunday Safety Update: 02/21/2016 to 02/27/2016

The map above shows little change from early trends. There are thefts along PCH and Orange heading into the neighborhood and then up. There is a rise in assaults at the east end of the neighborhood, please be very careful as there was a shooting in that area recently.

02/09/2016: LBPD Public Information Officer Sgt. Bradley Johnson says that at about 12:25 a.m. on Feb. 9, officers were dispatched to a shooting in the 2200 block of Spaulding St. and found a man shot. Sgt. Johnson says the victim was uncooperative with police; LBFD transported him to a hospital with non-life-threatening wounds. 

There is a trend of auto thefts and property crime, just south of us at the west end of the AOC7 heading north towards the neighborhood. The property crime tends to foreshadow worse things to come, so be cautious around 11th/ 10th between Orange and Gundry. There is also a week trend of auto thefts along Rotary Centennial Park. Auto theft is down here overall. We still have two wheel clubs ready for one Wrigley and one MacArthur Park resident willing to take the Neighborhood Pledge. It's a nice gift for agreeing to keep your neighborhood clean.

Break in the  Alicia Faith Todd Case

I am also grateful to announce there was an arrest made in the shooting of Alicia Faith Todd of Signal Hill. Police say they've arrested a man in connection to the case of a young woman shot dead in an alley in Long Beach last summer. Following an investigation, police arrested Tremaine Lewis, 24, of Long Beach, last Thursday. Police said Lewis was in a domestic relationship with Todd and the two were together on the night of the murder. If you have any information about this case, you're urged to contact Long Beach Police Department homicide detectives at (562) 570-7244.

Take the Neighborhood Pledge

There was also an arrest in the December shooting of North Long Beach resident on 02/22/2016. Keonte Runell Jones, 23, who is also known as “Blue Dawg,” pleaded not guilty Jan. 22 to one count of murder with allegations that he used a handgun and committed the crime in association with a street gang, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. He is accused of shooting Roosevelt Newton at Orange Avenue and East Washington Street in Long Beach on Dec. 10.

Washington Neighborhood Shooting

There was another shooting on Thursday in the Washington Neighborhood.Officers were dispatched to the 300 block of West 14th Street at 11:05PM on Thursday, February 25 regarding a possible shooting, Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) spokesman Brad Johnson said. “Upon arrival, officers found evidence that a bullet had struck the house but did not enter and no one was injured,” he added. We already attacked the gang element by doing a Go Long Beach Run and reporting all gang related tagging on Cedar, We'll do it again ASAP..

Sunday Safety Update: 10/04/2015 to 10/202015

That map for this week in the MacArthur Park Neighborhood looks worse than it is. The biggest issue is the tagging has picked up. Keep an eye on 14th and Walnut, the south end of Rose and Anaheim and the north end of PCH and Gardenia. Notice that car thefts are trending towards Junipero and Anaheim. However, know that this is a much weaker pattern than last week. They seem to be trending that way, but if you look at a larger picture you can argue there is no real pattern.

You may still want to keep your cars locked up around 15th street and the east end of the neighborhood, near Junipero and Rotary Centennial Park. Do the same on Anaheim Street, Peterson and around MacArthur Park itself.

The multiple incident at the south end of the park was a fight. Since it was four fights on the same day at the same time, I assume they all refer to different people in the same fight. Near Junipero and 17th, the multiple incidents are two auto burglaries. Just south of that area, where the car thefts are trending towards us, we submitted about 15 Go Long Beach Requests for tagging and dumping to draw attention to the area as part of a Neighborhood Expansion effort. We will be getting the West Side of the 710 in response to the most recent shootings.

Lastly, notice the theft and assault on Alamitos. Stay safe in that area, especially as the construction continues. Also a large dumping area on Warner south of 14th has moved to Werner. This is actually one of the largest collections of dumped items I have ever seen.

District Six rep Dee Andrews has suggested Long Beach adopt the Dog Walker's program to the city's existing community watch program. 

The Long Beach City Council on Tuesday will hear a proposal from Councilman Dee Andrew to implement a Dog Walker Watch program as part of the city’s existing Community Watch Program. 

The idea, according to Andrew’s office, is that while residents are out walking their dogs, they can also be trained to watch for suspicious activity that police have called on citizens to report. With more than 63,000 dog-owning households in Long Beach, that is a lot of eyes and ears, officials say. - Full Story.

I have a cat, but I will still be watching anyway.

 

Sunday Safety Update: 09/13/2015 to 09/19/2015

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. 

09/13/2015 - 09/18/2015: This map looks really good overall. There is a few things going on outside the neighborhood. There are some random scattered activity outside the neighborhood border. The most obvious is on the other side of Alamitos and 17th. Since there have been two shootings in this area, keep your eye open here, be safe and stay observant. There is a weak trend showing that activity trending north east.

A lot that the map does not show is also way down. The neighborhood is seeing less dumping, less tagging and less loitering in places where the loitering had gotten way out of hand. As a matter of fact, some tagging, that had been up for up to six months, because it was somewhat hard to get to, also came down this week.

At Walnut and Anaheim, there was a burglary and a theft. It appears that is also trending north east towards Cherry and 14th. There are also a string of vehicle related crimes that start around Stanley and 11th. This is in an area defined on Next Door as Cambodia Town East. They appear to be trending South East, but keep cars locked in the south east end of the MacArthur Park Neighborhood, that could change any time.

I am still working on creating an unsolved violent crimes page, so that no victim of a violent crime in this Central Long Beach becomes a statistic instead of a name.

In Long Beach itself, there have been no further shootings and violent crimes outside of our neighborhood since the last update. I am hoping for that trend to continue. Hopefully, we get a few more maps as empty of incident as this one in the weeks to come.

Sunday Safety Update: 06/21/2015 - 06/28/2015

Crime is clearly down in MacArthur Park. There are three places you should keep your eye on. Right outside out neighborhood, keep you eye on Altimos Blvd, especially where it crosses PCH. Please do this for two reasons, the first being crime is up along that corridor. The second is that's the corridor that leads north to the neighborhood where the homicide of Alicia Faith Todd took place on 06/24.

Also notice there is a string of thefts and assaults on Anaheim just east of our neighborhood. They do not trend any direction, but keep your eye on the east end on Anaheim, just in case they do begin to trend east.

There was not a lot of tagging this week. The tagging shown on the map is minor and does not cluster anywhere. One trend was predictable. On Wednesday I reported that there was increased crime along PCH. While it doesn't trend either direction if you compare the map on Wednesday to the one released today you will notice, that the number of incidents has nearly doubled along PCH.

The top map represents crime through Wednesday along PCH. The bottom is crime through Sunday. Notice how both the number of overall incidents doubles as does the number of specific types. For instance, by Wed along Altimos we have two car thefts. By Sunday, we have another one and someone stealing from a car as well as a theft along Anaheim just outside our neighborhood. In other words if you see crime increase in a specific area, keep your eye on that area. 

Right now, especially keep an eye on Altimos and PCH.