New Crime Rates Called Intolerable : Long Beach Officials Take Little Comfort in Report Showing Smaller Hikes Than ’89

Major crimes continued to increase at double-digit rates throughout the city last year, according to city police statistics released this week.

Crimes against people--including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault--rose 17% last year. The murder rate for example, rose 25.8% as police reported 107 murders last year, up from 85 in 1989.

The increases were less than the rates reported in 1989, when Long Beach recorded the biggest gains in major crime of any California city, but police officials still described last year’s crime rate as intolerable.

“It’s a totally unacceptable level. They’re up too high,” said Assistant Police Chief Eugene Brizzolara.

In 1989, crimes against people rose 39%, including a 46% jump in murders.

Brizzolara said police took several steps last year to reduce crime, including the creation of a gang task force in August that reduced the number of drive-by shootings.

But the measures were not enough to prevent the crime rate from going up, said Brizzolara, adding that crime has increased in major cities throughout the nation. “It’s not just a Long Beach problem. It’s a national urban problem,” he said.

The total number of crimes in Long Beach last year rose nearly 2%, an improvement from the 10% increase recorded in 1989, statistics showed. The overall rate includes property crimes, such as residential burglaries and arson, and other crimes such as forgery, vandalism and fraud.

“That means we did a much better job overall than the previous year,” said Assistant City Manager John Shirey.

Total property crimes declined by 2% last year, although the department recorded a 13.5% increase in the number of arsons.

City officials said that the addition of Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, who were hired to patrol the northeastern and far northern areas of the city, has given a significant boost to the city’s crime-fighting efforts. The deputies have been patrolling one-fifth of the city since November.

The total number of crimes in the northern section patrolled by deputies dropped by 20% in the last two months from the same period the previous year and dropped 11% in the northeastern section. The number of crimes had increased by 3% in both sections in the first 10 months.

“The addition of the L.A. sheriffs has been like a shot in the arm against crime,” Mayor Ernie Kell said in a press release. “Through the redeployment of Long Beach police officers to other parts of the city, each district in the city has felt the benefit of added police protection.”

Councilman Les Robbins said deputies are doing a better job of protecting his northeast district.

“The numbers are staggering,” said Robbins, a deputy sheriff. “How can I explain it? Work ethic--the deputies are working harder.”

Long Beach police officials said they did the best they could with an understaffed department. “I can’t say (the sheriff’s deputies) did a better job, because we didn’t have the staffing resources,” Brizzolara said.

Cmdr. Stephen Bonswor, the city’s liaison with the sheriff’s office, said that during the first couple of weeks of patrols, the Sheriff’s Department assigned more deputies than called for in its contract with Long Beach.

Councilman Wallace Edgerton said: “I think the sheriff’s deputies need to be complimented, but you need to keep in mind that they came in heavily staffed. Our Police Department has been held back and understaffed. It would be wrong to criticize our Police Department.”

City police officials said they are continuing to train and hire more officers. The department has had a high number of vacancies and officers off with injuries.

MAJOR LONG BEACH CRIMES IN 1990 Major crime continued to surge in Long Beach last year, according to statistics released this week by city police officials. Source: Long Beach Police Department LONG BEACH CRIMES

1989 1990 %Chg CRIMES AGAINST PERSONS Murder 85 107 +25.8 Manslaughter 0 1 +100.0 Forcible Rape 243 301 +23.8 Robbery 3,793 4,237 +11.7 Aggravated Assault 3,089 3,825 +23.8 Total 7,210 8,471 +17.4 CRIMES AGAINST PROPERTY Residential Burglary 6,976 6,765 -3.0 Commercial Burglary 1,928 1,930 +0.1 Auto Burglary 7,486 7,299 -2.4 Grand Theft 2,330 2,348 +0.7 Petty Theft 4,586 4,436 -3.2 Bike Theft 2,713 2,379 -12.3 Auto Theft 6,938 7,083 +2.0 Arson 96 109 +13.5 Total 33,053 32,349 -2.1 SUMMARY Total Crimes-- 40,263 40,820 +1.3 Persons/Property Other Crimes* 13,862 14,367 +3.6 Citywide Totals 54,125 55,187 +1.9

* Includes forgery, counterfeiting, fraud, embezzlement, prostitution and vandalism. Source: Long Beach Police Department