For the first time in six years, the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) is being forced to make budget cuts.
To help the City address its projected $58.2 million deficit for fiscal year 2027, every City department has been asked to identify potential cuts. For LBPD, this meant a $19.5 million reduction, which Chief Wally Hebeish said will result in fewer officers patrolling the streets and considerably less resources for teams that focus on mental health and homelessness.
This dip will be the biggest reduction in the department’s history. LBPD’s budget has more than doubled over the last 20 years, including a 9% increase last year. Their last budget reduction was a 1% cut in 2020, followed by a 5.6% increase the following year.
Hebeish said their priority, when deciding where to make cuts, was to keep their response times to priority 1 calls (the highest level of emergency), currently around 5.6 minutes, the same.
Police officers responded to 187,000 calls for service in 2025. According to statistics shared by LBPD at Tuesday night’s budget hearing, overall crime in the city went down 17% last year, specifically:
- Shootings down 37%
- Murder down 23.7%
- Robberies down 19%
- Violent crime down 9.2%
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Proposed Budget Cuts
The Police Department has proposed eliminating 56 positions in its workforce, though some are currently vacant.
These positions include community-serving roles such as police officers, community service assistants and members of the Neighborhood Safety Bike Team, as well as administrative positions such as clerk typists, mental health professionals and leadership roles.
On the mental health and homelessness front, four Quality of Life officers are proposed to be cut, which would slash this team in half.
Quality of Life officers are trained to interact with residents experiencing homelessness and to connect people to resources. The team doubled from four officers to eight in 2023, months after the City declared homelessness as a local emergency. In 2022, the team made over 9,100 contacts to offer services to people experiencing homelessness. This led to nearly 400 people receiving temporary housing and around 40 people receiving permanent housing, according to the City.
Long Beach resident Jamiel Campbell said that after being homeless for eight years in the city, it was the Quality of Life team that helped him overcome homelessness. He urged the City to refrain from making cuts to this service.
“I would probably still be homeless or possibly dead honestly, if it weren’t for two police officers that advocated for me and said, ‘Young man, your life is worth saving,’” Campbell said. “One morning I woke up and said, ‘I can’t do it,’ and two officers were standing outside of my tent. My first concern was, ‘Oh my God, I’m about to be arrested,’ but instead one of those officers crawled in that tent … he took me to treatment that day. It’s eight, almost nine, years later and I’m sober, happy and homed.”
Results from the most recent Point in Time Count showed a 3% rise in homelessness in Long Beach in 2025, with roughly 3,729 people experiencing homelessness. District 4 Councilmember Darly Supernaw also advocated for the Quality of Life team to remain at full capacity.
Mayor Rex Richardson’s budget recommendations propose restoring four patrol officers.
The 13 eliminated patrol officers will be spread across four divisions so the impacts do not fall on one part of the city. The department’s overtime budget will also be reduced by $2.68 million, which Heibish said will impact investigations into certain crimes, such as property damage.
Elmer Gonzalez, a special service officer with the LBPD, said his wife has worked in the department for 13 years, first as a clerk typist then as a confidential secretary.
“Now, after 13 years of service and working her way through the City, her position has been identified for reduction because of the budget,” Gonzalez said. “This creates tremendous uncertainty for our family. We both work for the City and our plan was to build our careers here and retire from the City. My wife is not alone; she is one of many IAM [Local 1930] members facing the same uncertainty. We understand the City has difficult decisions to make, but please remember these are not just decisions on a spreadsheet. They are people’s careers, families and retirement plans.”
A handful of requests in one-time funds were also proposed:
- $22 million in loans to complete the construction of a crime laboratory to examine evidence related to firearms, controlled substances, toxicology and patent prints.
- $7 million in Measure A funds for a police recruitment academy. Officers hired through this academy will be fully trained by 2028, in time for the City to host many Olympic events.
- $5 million to replace a helicopter, which the department will pursue grant funding for first and is requesting the City to cover the rest. The department’s two helicopters are both 23 years old, Heibish said.
- $5 million in loans to complete the construction of a DNA laboratory
- $1.5 million in loans for repairs to the East Division Patrol Substation’s HVAC system
- $795,000 for overtime for traffic enforcement and LA River weekly cleanups.
Tuesday’s budget hearing did not finalize LBPD’s budget, and details may change over the next few weeks. Long Beach has to finalize its 2027 budget by Sept. 13.
