Just one week after a group of about 20 marched from city hall to the Long Beach Police Department to demand the firing of Police Chief Robert Luna, another group of nearly the same size with similar demands held a press conference in front of city hall Tuesday.
Much like last Tuesday’s protest, this press conference was inspired by Al Jazeera’s Sept. 18 article, which revealed that LBPD has been using the messaging app Tiger Text on numerous phones issued by the department to discuss case information. The service deletes messages after recipients see them, and they are not recoverable through forensic analysis.
Local activist organizations such as Stop LAPD Spying and the Long Beach chapters of both Black Lives Matter and the Democratic Socialists of America initially took to a nearly vacant Long Beach City Council special meeting to voice their demands. As the council met behind closed doors for a performance review of City Manager Patrick West, activists gathered outside.
The rally began and concluded with a chant that made their demands clear — “delete Chief Luna, delete Pat West, cut P.D.’s budget and reinvest!”
“The use of Tiger Text to discard evidence is not the first sign or the first time that they’ve been abusive,” said Dawn Modkins, a member of Black Lives Matter Long Beach.
The organizers claimed that the investigation into LBPD’s use of Tiger Text is not being conducted by an independent firm because Best Best & Krieger, the law firm which the city contracted for the matter, has represented the city before. According to the police department’s website, the review is being conducted by Gary Schons of the firm. In response, one of their demands is that the city council initiate an investigation by a body with no relationship to police departments.
“We demand to have a space not only to understand how the application was used in all law enforcement encounters with the community, but to also voice our demands in regard to what needs to be investigated and exposed,” said Jamie Garcia, an organizer with Stop LAPD Spying. “Without a public forum, this audit and investigation will not be legitimate.”
Audrena Redmond, a member of Long Beach’s BLM chapter, said that her group is ignoring a recommendation to voice their concerns with the Citizen Police Complaint Commission because they believe that city organization is ineffective and has no enforcement power. Redmond’s group takes issue with the CPCC reporting to the city manager, whom they want fired because of the LBPD issues occurring under his watch.
Anitra Dempsey, executive director of the CPCC, said in an email that she is the only member of the group who reports to West and he is “the final authority on allegations of misconduct.”
“We know that that money would be more better spent in other areas such as affordable housing, mental health [resources], things that actually keep the community safe,” said James Suazo, member of DSA’s Long Beach chapter, during a public comment session before the press conference.
They also demand:
- That LBPD permanently stop using the Tiger Text application, as opposed to suspending its use as the department announced it did, or anything similar to it;
- The city council divest funding the LBPD and instead allocate money to safety and health needs of the community, such as hiring school psychologists and nurses, mental health teams, investing in responses to the housing crisis and vocational training;
- The reopening of all legal cases since 2014, especially those which deal with injuries or killings perpetrated by the police,
- And that the LBPD fund any costs in the aforementioned reopened cases.
“On the side of police cars it says, ‘to protect and serve’,” Redmond said. “I think you’ve heard from the number of speakers here who are saying that we don’t feel particularly protected or particularly served.”