To: Members of the Long Beach City Council:

From: Long Beach residents and community ​organizations 

Date:  September 13, 2019 
Re: Agenda item #21 for Council Meeting 9/17/19 

OPEN LETTER TO LONG BEACH CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS

This letter is in response to Long Beach City Council's upcoming vote on Tuesday, September
17th on item #21 regarding the Police Officer Association’s request for acceptance of a
proposed addition to their city contract, Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). We as a
community, are extremely concerned about section IX "Public Records Requests".

Long Beach Post's September 10th, 2019 article on this proposal stated that the LB City Council
is set to review and approve the ​Long  Beach Police Department contract which includes ​a 
new  provision  whereby  the  Long  Beach  police  officers would get a heads-up about who 
is  asking  to  see  officers  public  records  of  misconduct  or  times  they  used  excessive  or 
deadly  force.  This  is  a  blatant  undermining  of  Senate  Bill  1421,  the  landmark  police 
transparency  law  that  went  into  effect  in  January  2019.  Senate  Bill  1421  mandates 
disclosure  of  police  reports  and  discipline  records  whenever  an  officer  was  dishonest, 
sexually  abused  a  member  of  the  public  or  where  there  has  been  serious  uses  of force 
such as police shootings.   
 
Section  "IX  Public  Records  Requests"  on  pg  34  of  the  MOU  between  the City of LB and 
the LB Police Officers Association, states that: 
1. If  the  department  determines  responsive  records  exist,  the  department  shall 
notify  the  involved  active  employee  (officer)  on  the  same  day  the  requestor 
obtains notice. 
2. That the involved employee can review the records 5 days prior to public release. 
3. It  further  states  that,  the  involved  active  employee  (officer)  notification  shall 
include:  the  date  of  the  request,  the  requestor’s  name  and/or  organization,  and 
the nature of the information requested. 
 
Approving  the  LBPD  contract/MOU  with  this  provision  would  show  city  of  Long  Beach 
communities  that  City  Council  members  are  in  the  business  of  valuing  police  privilege 
over  legal  transparency,  protecting  violent  police  officers,  and  overlooking  the 
community's  safety.  This  would  be  a  dangerous  mistake  and  unacceptable  to  the 
residents of this city. 
 
Collectively  and  in  unity,  we  demand  that  you  remove  Section  IX  of  this  MOU  before 
voting to accept this MOU. 
In  closing,  this  is  a  community  letter  supported  by  Long  Beach  residents,  in  particular, 
families  who  have  been  impacted  by  police  violence,  their  representatives,  and  other 
supportive  Long  Beach  organizations  who  will  protect  the  public  requests  of  police 
records  under  SB  1421.  You  were  all  elected  as  representatives  to  serve  the  people  of 
various  districts  throughout  the  city of Long Beach. We, your voting constituents, do not 
condone  approving  this  MOU  with  Section  IX  included.  We  do  not  accept  that  you 
would  vote  to  protect  violent  police  officers.  This  is  utterly  disrespectful  and puts Long 
Beach  residents  in  danger.  ​Therefore,  again,  we demand that you remove Section IX of 
this MOU before voting.  
 
Supported by the following 20 organizations AND MORE... 
Black Lives Matter LBC (BLMLBC) 
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) 
Immigrants Rights Coalition ( IRC) 
LA County Public Defenders, AFSCME Local 148 
CSULB Black Student Union (BSU) 
Greater Long Beach, ICO 
Long BeachCommunity Action Partnership (LBCAP) 
Long Beach Coalition for Good Jobs and Healthy Community 
Housing Long Beach 
Council on Americal Islamic Relations (CAIR) 
Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) 
Long Beach Forward 
Sanctuary Coalition: (Latinos In Action, Khmer Girls In Action, Sacred Resistance, 
Filipino Migrant Center, National Immigration Law Center) 
STOPLAPD Spying Coalition 
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) 
Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) 
BlackLivesMater Global Network (BLM) 
National Lawyers Guild (NLG) 
Democratic Socialists of America-Long Beach Chapter (DSA-LB) 
AF3IRM 
 
 
 
 
 

#SanctuaryLB