Long Beach Police Department continues to victimize the city's residents

Racism in the City of Long Beach Police Department has been a long-standing issue with how they treat minorities in the city. Since video surfaced back in 1989 of former Hawthorne police sergeant Don Jackson being thrown head first through a plate-glass window, during a routine traffic stop, the city had to pay out $15 million for the actions of their officers, things have not changed. From beatings caught on camera, destroying of surveillance videos and their involvement in the Christopher Dorner case, the Long Beach Police Department remains under scrutiny for their questionable actions.

Jim McDonell was employed in the LAPD, while the department was under a federal decree from November 2000 through May 2013. The LAPD had been under federal investigation since 1996 and the decree came down four short years later. Jim McDonnell was also second in command, to former chief William Bratton, during the 2007 MacArthur Park Rallies, also known as MayDay. The scene rivaled Ferguson, MO, with LAPD attacking protestors and news reporters, mainly Latino, with rubber bullets and batons. The LAPD also paid out $13 million of taxpayers money as a direct result. We can assume this is why Jim McDonnell was passed over as Chief of Police, in favor of Charlie Beck, by former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Unlike the L.A. County Sheriff, who according to the Los Angeles Times, has been under investigation for more than a decade and are currently NOT under such decree. Our County Board of Supervisors are in agreement that the jails are a mess, but were divided over establishing an oversight committee. They voted against 3-2 and was a clear red flag they aren’t in that bad a shape. Well, given they want to rebuild the jail, that seems to be their most tantamount concern.

The City of Long Beach’s ethnic breakdown is approximately 40% Hispanic, 29% White, 14% Black, 13% Asian, and 4% all other ethnicities.

2UrbanGirls has compiled a list of the many flaws of the Long Beach Police Department, while under the tutelage of their leader, Jim McDonnell. It has been revealed the LBPD only investigates approximately 1/2 of child abuse cases the department gets and continues to pay out astrominical amounts for police brutality related lawsuits.

Under Jim McDonnell’s leadership, Long Beach residents continue to feel the wrath of Long Beach Police Department post Don Jackson. In the aftemath of the fatal shooting of Long Beach resident Douglas Zerby, who was killed for holding a water nozzle the police mistook for a gun, the Los Angeles Times had to sue in order to get the officers names. Jim McDonnell claimed Zerby pointed the nozzle at the officers. The Long Beach Police Officers Association was strongly against the idea citing safety of the officers and their families. The L.A. Times eventually won and the city taxpayers paid out $6.5 million.

How has Jim McDonnell changed the culture within the Long Beach Police Department?

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