PRESS RELEASE

Long Beach, CA - Yesterday, the City of Long Beach experienced demonstrations throughout the downtown area. The Police and Fire Departments, along with other City departments planned and prepared for protest activity, with a protest scheduled in front of Police Headquarters, to ensure the safety and well-being of our community. Proactively, the City declared a state of emergency and imposed a city-wide curfew.

The Police Department closely monitored various events as civil unrest occurred in other communities across the nation. The City cautiously anticipated that demonstrations might likely occur in Long Beach as well. Police Department leadership developed an event action plan, which included communication with businesses, organizations, faith leaders and facilities in and around the downtown area. Prior to the scheduled protest, items were removed from open areas that could be used as weapons and law enforcement officers encouraged businesses to do so as well. Hundreds of Long Beach Police officers beyond normal staffing levels were called in to assist. A deployment plan was established to provide staffing for a multi-day response.

The mission of the Police Department is to protect and facilitate peaceful First Amendment activity. Response plans were also developed for unlawful assembly and isolated illegal activity. While most individuals expressed their voices in a peaceful manner, unfortunately there were individuals that exhibited unlawful behavior by damaging property and stealing from multiple businesses located primarily in the downtown area of the city.

Crowd size was estimated initially at 200 people and quickly grew to well over 3,000. As the crowd size continued to grow rapidly, approximately one hour after the scheduled event time, the Police Department initiated the first of several, multiple mutual aid requests through the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Emergency Operations Bureau, the regional process for requesting assistance. Throughout the course of the event, over 100 officers from the following agencies were redeployed to Long Beach based on the request of assistance:  Los Angeles Police Department, Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, Los Angeles Port Police, Seal Beach Police, Signal Hill Police, and Area G Mutual Aid Group (South Bay Cities and Inglewood). Per the State and County process for requesting assistance, once all mutual aid resources were exhausted due to other events in the region, the County and State approved the National Guard to be deployed to Long Beach. 

Multiple subjects were arrested and booked for various charges including looting, burglary and curfew violations. Multiple downtown businesses were looted and vandalized and several police vehicles were damaged. The Police Department will continue to assess and document the impact associated with the events from this evening. Additional statistics will be provided later today.

The Long Beach Fire Department responded to multiple requests for service throughout the evening. These incidents included both medical aid and fire responses. No critical injuries have been reported by community members or city personnel. Fire resources from neighboring jurisdictions were also requested through the mutual aid system. This prevented the rapid growth of smaller fires that may have led to increased loss in our city. Of the fires reported, only one incident grew to the level of severity that required multiple resources and a prolonged fire attack. This fire was located at a clothing business on the 600 block of Pine Avenue.

The Public Works Department continues to assist with emergency board-ups and graffiti removal and clean-up crews will support the community as the City transitions to recovery.  Volunteers are expected in downtown today to assist City crews with clean-up efforts, and we thank them for their assistance. While there are currently no planned demonstrations today, the City will continue to prepare and will respond to any type of critical incident, gathering or civil unrest. A curfew for tonight is planned and further details will be announced later today.

About the City of Long Beach
Home to approximately 470,000 people, the multiple award-winning and innovative City of Long Beach offers all the world-class amenities of a large metropolitan city while maintaining a strong sense of individual and diverse neighborhoods nestled together along the California coast. As a full-service charter city, Long Beach is home to the Queen Mary, Aquarium of the Pacific, several museums and theaters, a highly-rated school district, Long Beach Airport, the Port of Long Beach, as well as many award-winning City departments such as Health, Parks, Recreation and Marine, Development Services and more. The City also has a highly-respected university and city college, two historic ranchos, five hospitals, five golf courses, 171 parks, miles of beaches, marinas, bike paths, and a Bike Share program.

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