Police Chief Anthony Batts and his command staff discussed a number of
topics at their quarterly meeting with local media representatives,
including the increase in murders and shooting for the year, the status
of the investigation into the murder/suicide at Long Beach Memorial
Medical Center and the department's on-going work to deal with a
severely reduced budget.
Little of the information provided at the meeting was new, although Deputy Chief Bill Blair noted that gang-involved murders have increased 50 percent this year and the city has seen "a huge uptick in homicides and murders this year."
Batts and his staff, however, denied rumors that the increase in violence is tantamount to a gang war and attributed the rise in deaths to conflict in neighborhoods long known to be plagued by gang activity.
Little of the information provided at the meeting was new, although Deputy Chief Bill Blair noted that gang-involved murders have increased 50 percent this year and the city has seen "a huge uptick in homicides and murders this year."
Batts and his staff, however, denied rumors that the increase in violence is tantamount to a gang war and attributed the rise in deaths to conflict in neighborhoods long known to be plagued by gang activity.
Part of the problem, the chief said, can be attributed to residents
from other communities, including Compton and Carson, moving into the
Long Beach area, specifically noting an influx of Samoan and Tongan
residents.
Rumors in North Long Beach neighborhoods hit hard by gang violence have speculated that members of the Sons of Samoa are moving into the city and vying for control in areas formerly dominated by the West Coast Crips.
Farinella said there is a lot of gang conflict in the city related to recent killings and attacks, but said the conflicts run the gamut from fights over girls to a history of rivalry and that they include a variety of gangs in a number of areas.
And while Blair noted this year's increase in gang-involved murders he also said, "Gang shootings are still below last year's rates."
To combat the issue, Batts said mobile units of specially assigned officers are being deployed to hot spots with the highest crime incidents. The ability to move the units at any time, depending on shifts in activity and changes in trends, not only helps address the violence but also helps reduce overtime costs, the chief said.
Overtime, and more specifically the police department's budget, resulted in a long discussion at the meeting with reporters.
Batts was asked if police union numbers projecting this year's city-mandated furloughs would be equivalent to laying-off 57 officers were accurate. He was also asked how much the department had ear-marked for the 15 percent in city proposed budget cuts in a projected budget for 2010 submitted earlier this year.
The chief said he could not discuss the projected budget until the City Manager and City Council had voted on the issue and said that he had not seen the numbers upon which the union was basing their projections .
The chief also said he would not release information impacting his department to the media before discussing it with all the officers on his force.
Press-Telegram requests for the projected budgets for both the Police Department and the Long Beach Fire Department were rejected, with the city citing the documents are only drafts and therefore not public information.
But members of the rank and file have said the city's manager's request for 15 percent in cuts for next year would have drastic consequences, including laying off fire fighters and police officers, closing fire stations and all but wiping out lifeguard services.
Among the department's business being impacted by the city's budget troubles is this year's awards ceremony, which for the first time is being co-hosted by the Long Beach Police Department Foundation and is seeking sponsors to save money, http://www.longbeach.gov/police/awards_ceremony_2009.asp .
The ceremony, scheduled for June 17, will also be held at night and at the Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center at Cal State Long Beach, both firsts as well.
Batts said he is hopeful the federal government's stimulus package plan will help cushion some of the financial blows, but said he has not been told when the funds will be awarded.
While he was fairly confident in the support promised by the federal government, Batts said his biggest concern is that state measures to provide more public safety funding could fall through, having a drastic impact on local municipalities, including Long Beach.
Another issue of concern for Batts has been the increase in suicides and public shootings, he said Wednesday morning.
Referring to the recent tragedy at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center -- which resulted in Pharmacy Technician Mario Ramirez, 50, gunning down two supervisors, Hugo Bustamante, 46, and Kelly Hales, 56, before turning the gun on himself -- Batts said members of his staff were already tracking similar cases when the murder-suicide occurred.
Just two weeks prior to the hospital shooting, Lt. Steve Nottingham reported to the chief on the disturbing trend of active shooters at public venues, including an incident that resulted in four officers killed in Oakland in late March, Batts said.
"For every week of this year we've had an active shooter (situation in the US)," the chief said.
Batts repeated the statistics on last year's spikes in suicides and added that attempted suicides are up 75 percent in Long Beach so far this year.
To deal with the issue, the police department trains frequently on active shooter scenarios with the Long Beach School District, Long Beach City College and area churches, Deputy Chief Robert Luna said.
All that training, however, could not have predicted Ramirez's April 16 rampage, the command staff said.
"To this date we still don't have a motive," Batts said, noting that the gunman's co-workers and pharmacy patients who knew him all described him as a warm and thoughtful man.
Farinella said the investigation is on-going, and declined to get too deep into the specifics, but said nothing appeared amiss to the suspect's family either.
"He kissed his wife good-bye and went to work as usual," Farinella said.
Friends and co-workers have said Ramirez had been a little down and seemed stressed because he thought he might get laid off during a round of cuts that were rumored to happen in June. They, however, never dreamed the happy-go-lucky Ramirez, whose nickname from one friends was George -- in reference to comedian George Lopez -- would come to work with two guns and carry-out the targeted slayings.
Hospital officials confirmed they laid-off more than 30 people in March, but said there are no plans to cut jobs in June.
They have, so far, refused further comment on the issue.
Friends of Bustamante told the Press-Telegram he too had been depressed about the possibility of losing some of his staff, but was in a great mood in the weeks before the shooting because he had figured out a way to cut costs in the out-patient pharmacy without anyone losing their job.
Department Spokeswoman Karen Owens said the police department is working on a tip sheet for the community that helps identify possible suicidal or homicidal behavior so that the public will be better prepared to spot a problem developing and can report it.
Batts said that two potential harmful incidents have already been averted after members of the community reported signs of a problem to police.
"We were able to avoid two validated cases of potential situations and get the people the help they needed," the chief said.
Rumors in North Long Beach neighborhoods hit hard by gang violence have speculated that members of the Sons of Samoa are moving into the city and vying for control in areas formerly dominated by the West Coast Crips.
Farinella said there is a lot of gang conflict in the city related to recent killings and attacks, but said the conflicts run the gamut from fights over girls to a history of rivalry and that they include a variety of gangs in a number of areas.
And while Blair noted this year's increase in gang-involved murders he also said, "Gang shootings are still below last year's rates."
To combat the issue, Batts said mobile units of specially assigned officers are being deployed to hot spots with the highest crime incidents. The ability to move the units at any time, depending on shifts in activity and changes in trends, not only helps address the violence but also helps reduce overtime costs, the chief said.
Overtime, and more specifically the police department's budget, resulted in a long discussion at the meeting with reporters.
Batts was asked if police union numbers projecting this year's city-mandated furloughs would be equivalent to laying-off 57 officers were accurate. He was also asked how much the department had ear-marked for the 15 percent in city proposed budget cuts in a projected budget for 2010 submitted earlier this year.
The chief said he could not discuss the projected budget until the City Manager and City Council had voted on the issue and said that he had not seen the numbers upon which the union was basing their projections .
The chief also said he would not release information impacting his department to the media before discussing it with all the officers on his force.
Press-Telegram requests for the projected budgets for both the Police Department and the Long Beach Fire Department were rejected, with the city citing the documents are only drafts and therefore not public information.
But members of the rank and file have said the city's manager's request for 15 percent in cuts for next year would have drastic consequences, including laying off fire fighters and police officers, closing fire stations and all but wiping out lifeguard services.
Among the department's business being impacted by the city's budget troubles is this year's awards ceremony, which for the first time is being co-hosted by the Long Beach Police Department Foundation and is seeking sponsors to save money, http://www.longbeach.gov/
The ceremony, scheduled for June 17, will also be held at night and at the Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center at Cal State Long Beach, both firsts as well.
Batts said he is hopeful the federal government's stimulus package plan will help cushion some of the financial blows, but said he has not been told when the funds will be awarded.
While he was fairly confident in the support promised by the federal government, Batts said his biggest concern is that state measures to provide more public safety funding could fall through, having a drastic impact on local municipalities, including Long Beach.
Another issue of concern for Batts has been the increase in suicides and public shootings, he said Wednesday morning.
Referring to the recent tragedy at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center -- which resulted in Pharmacy Technician Mario Ramirez, 50, gunning down two supervisors, Hugo Bustamante, 46, and Kelly Hales, 56, before turning the gun on himself -- Batts said members of his staff were already tracking similar cases when the murder-suicide occurred.
Just two weeks prior to the hospital shooting, Lt. Steve Nottingham reported to the chief on the disturbing trend of active shooters at public venues, including an incident that resulted in four officers killed in Oakland in late March, Batts said.
"For every week of this year we've had an active shooter (situation in the US)," the chief said.
Batts repeated the statistics on last year's spikes in suicides and added that attempted suicides are up 75 percent in Long Beach so far this year.
To deal with the issue, the police department trains frequently on active shooter scenarios with the Long Beach School District, Long Beach City College and area churches, Deputy Chief Robert Luna said.
All that training, however, could not have predicted Ramirez's April 16 rampage, the command staff said.
"To this date we still don't have a motive," Batts said, noting that the gunman's co-workers and pharmacy patients who knew him all described him as a warm and thoughtful man.
Farinella said the investigation is on-going, and declined to get too deep into the specifics, but said nothing appeared amiss to the suspect's family either.
"He kissed his wife good-bye and went to work as usual," Farinella said.
Friends and co-workers have said Ramirez had been a little down and seemed stressed because he thought he might get laid off during a round of cuts that were rumored to happen in June. They, however, never dreamed the happy-go-lucky Ramirez, whose nickname from one friends was George -- in reference to comedian George Lopez -- would come to work with two guns and carry-out the targeted slayings.
Hospital officials confirmed they laid-off more than 30 people in March, but said there are no plans to cut jobs in June.
They have, so far, refused further comment on the issue.
Friends of Bustamante told the Press-Telegram he too had been depressed about the possibility of losing some of his staff, but was in a great mood in the weeks before the shooting because he had figured out a way to cut costs in the out-patient pharmacy without anyone losing their job.
Department Spokeswoman Karen Owens said the police department is working on a tip sheet for the community that helps identify possible suicidal or homicidal behavior so that the public will be better prepared to spot a problem developing and can report it.
Batts said that two potential harmful incidents have already been averted after members of the community reported signs of a problem to police.
"We were able to avoid two validated cases of potential situations and get the people the help they needed," the chief said.
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I was very pleased to find this site.I wanted to thank you for this great read I definitely enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post.
Informative information and excellent posts you have!
Excellent read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing a little homework on that. And he in fact bought me lunch because I found it for him
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Now and then I'll stumble across a post like this and I'll recall that there really are still interesting pages on the web. ^_^. Thanks.
Now and then I'll stumble across a post like this and I'll recall that there really are still interesting pages on the web. ^_^. Thanks.
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