Southeast : Gang Crackdown Pays Off, Police Chief Says

Long Beach’s increasingly sharp focus on street gangs may be the biggest factor behind new FBI statistics that indicate the city is becoming safer, Police Chief William Ellis said Wednesday.

The figures, comparing the rates of various crimes during the first half of this year with those from the same period in 1994, point to decreases virtually across the board in Long Beach. Only arson was reported more frequently this year.

Ellis cited changes in his department’s anti-gang unit, including heightened attention to the city’s most violent neighborhoods and more cooperation between gang investigators and homicide detectives.

“We’ve seen a downturn in the numbers of violent crimes that gangs have been involved in,” Ellis said. For instance, he said, 37 murders were committed during the first six months of this year--a 25% drop over the same period last year.

Gangs also figured into a 15% increase in arson, Fire Chief Harold Omel said. FBI figures show there were from 99 arson fires for the first six months of 1994, compared to 116 so far this year. To some extent, Omel said, Molotov cocktails have replaced drive-by shootings as a means of gang retaliation.

But Deputy Fire Chief Rick DuRee attributed much of the rise in the number of arsons to economic desperation, with insurance payoffs seen as an escape from financial worries. However, he added that both years’ figures may be unreliable, since many suspected arsons are hard to prove and may be placed under investigation indefinitely.

Mayor Beverly O’Neill suggested that Long Beach’s two new police substations, along with recent neighborhood watch and community-based policing programs, account for much of the reported drops in crime.

“We are making great progress,” O’Neill said.

But the FBI figures were not enough to impress Gary Fuqua, president of the West End Community Assn., a homeowners group formed five years ago to address safety issues in one of the city’s most dangerous areas.

“Maybe I don’t notice a [police] helicopter flying over as often, but it still does,” Fuqua said, referring to the frequency with which the aircraft patrol the area.

Although he applauded recent community-based policing initiatives throughout the city, Fuqua said city officials need to pay more attention to high-density residential neighborhoods where the worst crimes thrive.

Until now, he said, city-subsidized urban revival has aided mostly the city’s business and retail districts.

“In the neighborhoods, it doesn’t come together that fast,” Fuqua said.