by Mark McDermott
Crime has drastically declined across the board locally in the last year, including nearly identical 44 percent decreases in both property and violent crimes, according to data compiled by the Manhattan Beach Police Department.
MBPD Chief Rachel Johnson presented the data to the council last month. She credited proactive police work and the community’s willingness to work with the department in crime prevention and reporting.
“We have had a significant improvement and a significant crime reduction, but for all of us, because this is a team effort. This is between the community and the police department, to address crime, drive down crime, and work in partnership to keep the community safe,” Johnson said.
Serious crimes, termed “Part I crimes” as part of the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting standards, saw the steepest declines. Year to year, August 2022 to August 2023, compared to the previous year, rape was down by 80 percent, robbery was down 8 percent, simple assaults down by 55 percent, and aggravated assualts down by 30 percent. Property crime reductions included a 52 percent decrease in burglary, a 38 percent decrease in larceny, and a 68 percent decrease in vehicle theft.
Johnson dug deeper into the auto theft numbers to show how the community’s increased vigilance has contributed to the decline. In the previous years, half of all vehicles stolen had the keys in them; this year, perhaps in part due to MBPD messaging, that number dropped to 25 percent.
“So while 25 percent is still too much, this is a significant reduction,” Johnson said. “But we’ve seen, accordingly, a reduction in the number of auto thefts to numbers that are more in keeping with our historic numbers and our five-year average. So that’s great work but still progress to make.”
Her message throughout was that while the data shows progress, it is also something to build upon through increased crime prevention practices.
“In our total Part I crimes this year, we have experienced great decreases, but as we move into the holiday season and as we’re shopping and we’re going out more, I just encourage everyone to continue to practice what they’ve been practicing those keys with you as you move about the community,” she said.
The chief’s report also delved into MBPD’s police activity numbers. In total, officers made 584 arrests, including 231 felony arrests. Alcohol-related crimes dwarfed all others in arrests. Public intoxication was the biggest category of arrests, with 64, followed by 54 DUI arrests. Rounding out the top five were 39 arrests of people with outstanding warrants, 31 shoplifters, and 27 grand theft suspects.
“What didn’t make our list — because who has a ‘Top Seven’ list? — were some really important arrest categories — vehicle theft, we made 23 arrests this year for persons and stolen autos, and we also made 22 arrests for burglaries this year. So while those didn’t make the top five, they were sixth and seventh, and very, very important arrests because those are really the arrests that impact crime in our community.”
In total, 39,615 citations were issued, the bulk of which, 37,135, were from parking enforcement, followed by 2,314 traffic citations.
Two of the most high-profile crimes in recent years were two separate armed robberies that occurred downtown at Pasha Fine Jewelry. Johnson said three of the five suspects in the robbery that occurred in March remain in custody and face a trial that began with preliminary hearings in early October. Detectives have submitted a case regarding the robbery that occurred the previous year and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office is still considering a filing decision.
The overall activity of MBPD, Johnson said, is remarkable for a department its size. Overall, MBPD had 24,482 calls for service, 10,719 of which were dispatch calls in which officers responded to a report from the community.
“But the higher number is self-initiated activity — 13,763 calls for service involving self-initiated activity, and that’s where members of your police department are out doing security checks, on foot beats, making traffic stops and other proactive activity to address community concerns,” Johnson said. “And what this tells me, as your police chief, is when the officers are not on calls, they’re not all at Dunkin Donuts….They’re out making proactive stops using their available time appropriately to address community concerns. And so this is a number I’m very proud of.”
Officers made 6,067 traffic stops this year, and by foot made 30,636 security checks.
“This is, I would think, a fraction of the number of actual foot beats and security checks that we’ve made, but this does tell a story, it does tell how our officers are out there trying to be proactive and be a visible deterrent to crime in the community,” Johnson said.
The importance of proactivity was the chief’s biggest message, both in terms of her officers and members of the larger community. Johnson specifically pointed out one recent example of an officer’s proactivity. After a spate of vehicle burglaries in El Porto, a crime analysis showed that the thieves were going straight to the nearby Manhattan Village shopping center to make purchases with stolen cards. So immediately after one such theft, a detective obtained the victim’s name, and went straight to one of the retailers the mall, and in particular to loss prevention personnel there.
“And lo and behold, you know what happened — the thief came in and tried to make purchases, there and there was our detective,” Johnson said. “That is the hard work and the tenacity of our detectives, but also what happens when we’re able to work together.”
The chief also cited another recent arrest that occurred when a woman called in to report a suspicious person at her neighor’s house. Officers were dispatched, and indeed a burglary was underway, and an arrest was made.
“It was her quick thinking and not questioning what she was seeing and just calling us…that allowed us to catch a burglar in our community and get him in jail where he can no longer victimize our community,” Johnson said. “So please call us if you see something suspicious. I talked to community members all the time and they’re like, ‘Well, I don’t want to bother you.’ Well, we are in the bother business. We are in service to the community and we are here to investigate your suspicions and either confirm them or dispel them. So please call us.”
Johnson said the numbers are encouraging but stressed that work will always remain to be done and vigilance is always key.
“There is no finish line,” she said. “And so while these numbers look really, really good, and I’m very proud of the work our community has done, proud of the work our police officers have done — I cannot stress that enough that we need to look at this, pat ourselves on the back, and remain focused on continuing to drive down crime in our community. Because just like fashion, crime is cyclical. And like high-waisted jeans are back in style, all crimes become new again. We will see waves of crime as we have our time together.”
Councilperson Amy Howorth said the numbers were encouraging.
Obviously, even if we have one crime, it feels really bad if you’re the person,” Howorth said. “But I really appreciate that tenacity and appreciate especially seeing the arrested and the self generated numbers.”
Howorth also suggested that community members save MBPD’s non-emergency phone number (310-545-4566) to their cell phone’s favorites list, which makes it easier to call when anybody sees anything suspicious.
Addressing crime has been the City Council’s top priority. In February, the Council authorized the hiring of seven more sworn officers, at a cost of $1.5 million, and approved of Johnson’s reorganization of the department to include more foot beats and bicycle patrols, as well as the formation of a Crime Impact Group, consisting of a sergeant, and three officers who are tasked with surveillance, following leads, identifying suspects, and composing warrants.
“Someone asked, can you afford this $1.5 million?” said Mayor Richard Montgomery at the time. “The opposite. The answer should be, we cannot afford not to do it.” ER
