Mayor Richardson's Priorities

Rex Richardson believes every Long Beach resident deserves to feel safe — in their home, on their street, and in their neighborhood — regardless of zip code. He also believes real safety isn't just about enforcement. It's about prevention, mental health, youth investment, and rebuilding trust between residents and the institutions that serve them. Long Beach is doing all of it — and it's working.

In 2025, Long Beach recorded:

• A 26% reduction in homicides compared to the prior year.

• A 36% reduction in shootings — down 52% from 2021.

• A 40% reduction in burglaries, including a 50% drop in commercial burglaries.

• Zero officer-involved shootings — the lowest in verifiable recorded history of the Long Beach Police Department.

• The lowest overall crime rate in 20 years.

To get here, Rex:

• Recruited more than 250 new police officers — the largest three-year hiring effort in department history — and opened a new Police Academy training center to host larger recruit classes.

• Delivered a new state of the art police academy training campus with capacity to train 100 recruits at a time.

• Secured Measure A, protecting public safety staffing and preventing more than 100 additional cuts to the department.

• Restored Rescue 12 to Fire Station 12, cutting emergency response times in North Long Beach by three minutes — a campaign promise delivered.

• Expanded fire and ambulance staffing citywide to improve emergency response times for all residents.

• Created the Police Oversight Commission, improving transparency and strengthening accountability.

• Expanded Community Crisis Response teams, deploying clinicians and mental health professionals to calls that need care, not enforcement.

• Created the Roadmap to Downtown Recovery, improving safety, cleanliness, and small business vitality in the city's core.

• Established the Office of Youth Development and launched the S.T.R.O.N.G. Beach plan — addressing crime at its source through prevention, youth programming, and community investment.

Rex understands that real safety means more than crime statistics. It means being able to go to work without fear, send your kids to school knowing they'll come home, and trust that the city's institutions are working for everyone. That's the standard Long Beach is working toward — and hitting.