Issue: Storefront Police Stations

Long Beach officials recently decided to set up storefront police stations that will be staffed by volunteers and serve as drop-in centers for officers and residents.

Critics argue that such mini-stations will not be effective unless officers are deployed from them. What is the most effective way to bring community policing to the city?

John Deats, Public Safety Advisory Commissioner :

It doesn’t look to me like there’s a whole lot of merit to storefronts. The Police Department needs higher visibility--patrol officers who can

devote roughly 40% of their time to self-initiated patrol. That means going out and meeting people and learning what is normal and abnormal on their given beat, not just dashing from one service to the next. I don’t think storefronts establish any of that because there will not be trained personnel staffing them. I would feel a lot safer having an additional patrol car in the area compared to having people cooped up in a storefront waiting for somebody to bring something to them. I would almost be willing to go out on a limb to say it might work well to have one and only one police station centrally located in the city. I’m absolutely convinced that there’s enough real estate to build a modern, asbestos-free building in the central part of the city, not one that’s backed up against the ocean like it is now.

Alan Lowenthal, Long Beach councilman :

We’re never going to have enough police officers if we use a model that asks officers to wait until a crime is committed before they respond. People in the community know where there are problems. They know when there’s some kind of criminal activity going on. But they have no way of notifying their neighbors. If we’re ever going to solve crime, we’re going to have to deal with real partnerships. Storefronts are the natural extensions of the neighborhood-watch programs. Everybody wants to volunteer. They want to participate in solving the problem. Storefronts staffed by volunteers will decrease the sense of isolation people have living in this town. The greatest deterrent to crime is when people don’t feel isolated from one another but feel connected. We have to make it work because it’s worth saving the communities.

Sgt. Theresa Young, Philadelphia Police Department :

We have well over 20 station locations in the city. All 20 are staffed by an officer. The officer walks the beat around there. They report in there in the morning and have a locker room in the back. They’re a fixture in the neighborhood. I think you need an officer assigned to the storefronts to have some kind of presence. In Philadelphia, we also have a mobile mini-station. It’s a very big thing, like a Winnebago or a trailer. There are desks in there, and places where the officers can recharge the batteries for their walkie-talkies. If people need to come in and make a complaint, it would be just like they’re walking into a police station. If we’re experiencing a drug problem in an area, we can move the trailer up there. We can stay for a matter of weeks or months. The whole idea was to make the police more accessible to the community because the geographical area that we cover is very large.

Helen Elich, United South of 7th Neighborhood Assn. :

We do have a lot of crime in our area, a lot of drug dealing and a lot of shootings. We were right in the middle of the riots. We were basically trapped in our homes for a good part of it. I think the damage might have been less had we had storefront stations. The consciousness of the neighborhood would have been raised. The biggest change we will make in our city with storefronts will be working together as neighbors and people. Using volunteers brings the project down to the level of neighbors working with neighbors. I don’t see it as a panacea, but it’s a mini-step in the direction the police will have to take. The storefronts will offer a little more than police control. They will have bulletin boards. We’re putting folders together with information about health clinics, day care and job opportunities. It will let people know we’re all in this together.