Bar Workers Want to See More Police

Belmont Shore’s Second Street has had the critical eye of the public and media, even before the shooting of 32-year-old Jeremy Anthony Spears in late October of this year.

Residents of the area have been asking City Council for a solution, but have only seen a temporary curfew on bars that ended Dec. 7, as well as the promise of additional ideas presented in a future city council meeting.

“Bars get a lot of heat,” Trent Anderson, a manager of Murphy’s Pub on Second Street, said. “I think there needs to be more done on the support side, like with the police.”

Anderson has worked at Murphy’s long enough to see a lot of progress with how bars in the area are managed. Even the more “party style” bars such as Panama Joe’s down the street have been working together to increase safety, such as the recent implementation of a strict dress code to enter the establishments.

One major tactic that Second Street bars have used for the last year is a text chain with all the bouncers and managers. If a patron is removed from one of the bars, all the others are notified via the text thread.

This allows the different establishments to collectively limit overserving patrons and stop people that have already been problematic from entering their doors.

Although the text chain has been helpful, it is not a final solution to the issues in the area.

Gina Apodaca, a manager at Shannon’s Bayshore Saloon, feels that even with recent policy changes, there continue to be issues often out of the bar workers’ hands. One example is a recent physical altercation outside of Shannon’s.

An individual was identified as a problem by one of the other bars. Allegedly, the individual was not drinking, but searching for her boyfriend that she believed was out with another woman. She voiced an intent to physically assault them when she found them. This raised a red flag on the text chain.

When the individual came to Shannon’s, she was refused entry. There was still a physical altercation outside the bar that required the police to be called.

“It took the cops a half hour to get here.” Apodaca said.

Multiple bar workers felt that past years had a higher police presence in the area, and workers even had direct contact with specific officers that worked a Second Street patrol.

Since COVID, there has not been this same relationship with police and the workers do not believe there is any regular patrol assigned to Second Street.

When asked about the lower presence of police in the area, The Long Beach Police Communications Division stated in an emailed response, “While we no longer maintain traditional walking beats along 2nd Street, our East Division officers continue to actively patrol the area. We also regularly have resources from our Neighborhood Safety Bike Team and High Crime Focus Team in and around the 2nd Street area to provide additional engagement.”

Second Street is one portion within the 24 square miles of the city that the East Patrol Division oversees. This patrol area encompasses almost half of Long Beach.

“I know that resources are slim,” Anderson said. “They are probably spread thin.”

Long Beach Police as well as Long Beach City Council must address an entire city of needs and issues. The East Patrol Division alone must address the issues of almost half of Long Beach.

Police being spread thin has been an issue in other areas of Long Beach and Los Angeles County in recent years.

In the past, a common solution would be to hire a third-party security company to assist with maintaining safety. Although they are not police officers, they often can de-escalate minor disturbances and report larger issues to the police. The Belmont Shore Business Association maintains a hired security presence along Second Street and the parking lots of the surrounding area.

The L.A. Metro implemented a similar solution for the crime issues along the Metro rail and bus network. The Metro Ambassador Pilot Program was launched in 2023 to help with maintenance, passenger assistance and safety. In the online Metro statement published March 6, 2023 marking the official launch of the program, the Ambassadors are described as, “Tasked with reporting maintenance, cleanliness or safety concerns directly to appropriate Metro departments for expedited response.” They are not an increase of security presence or police officers, but report safety concerns to authorities and Metro staff.

Despite the increased eyes on passengers and green vests seen at the stations, L.A. Metro systemwide crime has increased over the last four years.

The increased rates of crime on the Metro and Second Street may suggest that increasing the number of people able to report crimes is not a sufficient substitute for police who can makes arrests and completely stop crimes in the area.

“We need beat cops walking the street,” Apadaca said. “That’s what we used to have.”