Long Beach’s police officers are going to be even busier than usual this weekend — as the city’s biggest annual event gets underway.
More than 180,000 people are expected to converge on the city’s downtown from Friday to Sunday, April 14-16, for the 2023 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
The event is a major financial boon to the city and region, creating scores of millions of dollars in economic output in Southern California. But it’s also a complex logistical undertaking for city and race officials — and for law enforcement.
Officials begin working weeks in advance to ensure the event is safe and secure while also guaranteeing police officers can respond to incidents throughout the city. And in the past, the Police Department has succeeded – with few problems arising during the Grand Prix.
LBPD officers, for example, issued just five citations and arrested three people during last year’s Grand Prix, said police spokesperson Brandon Fahey – despite the 2022 iteration drawing a record number of visitors.
And LBPD and race officials have said this year’s event will once again be safe and secure.
“We’re very comfortable with the security plans that we have put in place,” Jim Michaelian, CEO and president of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, said in a Thursday, April 6, interview.
Those plans, he said, “involve the LBPD, the Long Beach Fire Department, our own security contingent and all the others who are involved in that particular process.”
City Manager Tom Modica said in a Friday statement that there are no fears about Police Department openings impacting the Grand Prix.
“There is no concern for the staffing coverage of Long Beach Police Department officers at the Grand Prix,” Modica said in the statement.
But despite those lack of concerns and the association hiring its own security, the Police Department, in particular, faces added complications this year.
First, the Grand Prix isn’t the only event scheduled for…
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