Long Beach Police Department

If the Long Beach Police Department has arrested or is investigating you, a loved one or a member of your family, you need to know the bail amount (if any) associated with the offense, the legal and factual requirements to convict one for the crime that allegedly took place, the defenses possible and the punishment a judge can impose if one is convicted of the crime. 

We at Greg Hill & Associates believe it is also valuable for one to know a few more things before interacting with any branch of law enforcement.  It can be helpful to know the size of the police or sheriff’s department, the city’s demographics, the most frequent types of crime the department investigates and just a bit about the city’s history to make one’s communication with law enforcement more meaningful, more savvy and perhaps, more respectful.  This can lead to a better outcome than if one lacks such perspective.

This article is presented with this goal in mind.

Criminal cases involving arrests by the Long Beach Police Department are filed at the Long Beach Superior Court (called the George Deukmejian Courthouse) or, with more serious cases, at the Clara Shortridge Foltz criminal courts building (CCB) in downtown Los Angeles. 

Most misdemeanor cases arising in Inglewood are prosecuted by the Long Beach City Prosecutor’s office.

Over the last 25 years, Greg Hill & Associates has handled dozens, if not 200, cases out of the Long Beach courthouse.  The types of cases have ranged from second degree murder with criminal street gang allegations, serious sex offense cases, to DUI, to domestic violence, to solicitation of prostitution, to shoplifting, to public urination, as well as many juvenile matters at the Long Beach Courthouse.

As might be suspected, the Long Beach Police Department, covering a large city (the seventh largest in the State of California, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022), has more staff and resources than most police departments.  The Long Beach Police Department has eight hundred sworn officers, as well as 1,200 support personnel to monitor the large city, covering 80.35 square miles.

As with any large city, there are certain areas where the crime rate is higher than other areas.  The downtown area, with a high concentration of homeless individuals, has the highest crime rate. 

As of the 2022 American Community Survey, the racial makeup of the city was 34.6% White, 20.1% some other race, 12.5% Asian, 11.8% Black or African American, 1.8% Native American or Alaskan Native, and 1.0% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, with 18.2% from two or more races.  Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 44.0% of the population.

As of 2022, the median income for a household was $80,493, with family households having a median income of $96,970 and non-family households $56,245.

The economic base has changed over the years.  Oil extraction created a boom and continues to fund portions of the city budget.  Long Beach was a Navy town for many years before the base closed.  The aerospace industry has also played an important role. Douglas Aircraft Company (later McDonnell Douglas and now part of Boeing) had plants at the Long Beach Airport where they built aircraft for World War II and later built DC-8’s, DC-9’s, DC-10’s and MD-11’s.  Boeing built the Boeing 717 until 2006 and the C-17 Globemaster II strategic airlifter until 2015.  Even after greatly reducing the number of local employees in recent years, Boeing is still the largest private employer in the city.

On March 18, 2008, Long Beach became the first city in California to heavily restrict residency and visitation rights for California registered sex offenders.  Triggered by a local protest of a multi-apartment dwelling which tenanted several paroled registered sex offenders, and fueled by local radio hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou of KFI”s John and Ken show, city council members voted 7–0 to enact 18 ordinances, of which the most restrictive prohibits residency by all registered sex offenders, whether they are on parole or not, within 2,000 feet (610 m) of any child care center, public or private school, or park.

The new laws made it impossible for any sex offender to be able to live legally in the vast majority of Long Beach.  While several other ordinances restrict the number of registered sex offenders who may reside in an apartment complex, there are no apartment complexes within city limits that are outside of the exclusion zone.  In addition, the ordinances prohibit all registered sex offenders from using any park, beach, or facility that caters to children, such as amusement parks and restaurants with children's playgrounds, or even travel within five hundred feet (150 m) of such places.

For more information about being arrested and possibly facing a criminal case, please click on the following articles: