New Beverly Hills Police Chief Holds Town Halls About Crime

Beverly Hills CA

13 December, 2021

1:53 PM

Description

BEVERLY HILLS, CA —Chief Mark Stainbrook, the recently-sworn-in Beverly Hills Police Department Chief, held in-person and virtual town hall meetings Sunday where he addressed the rise in crime in the area and answered questions from concerned residents, ABC 7 reported. According to KTLA, Stainbrook confirmed that robbery rates and violent crime rates are "way up from 2019." The station said residents have been particularly concerned about recent spikes in home robberies and smash-and-grab burglaries in Beverly Hills and surrounding Los Angeles communities and by the murder of Jaqueline Avant, the wife of famed music executive Clarence Avant. Aariel Maynor, a parolee with an extensive criminal record, was arrested in connection with Avant's death. "We're being impacted by something that's going on regionally, that's going on statewide, that some places, is going on nationally, and that's the increase in violent crime," Stainbrook said, according to ABC 7. The Beverly Hills Police Department, ABC 7 reported, has nearly tripled its number of private security guards patrolling its streets, and five new officers recently were sworn in. KTLA reported that Stainbrook also had met with several local business owners, that the department was monitoring 2,000 security cameras across the city and that Beverly Hills police were working with other law enforcement agencies in an attempt to slow crime rates and catch criminals. "We're working on using new technology," Stainbrook said. "We just flew our first drone mission (Saturday night), we have cameras, we have automated license plates readers, we always use technology to enhance what our officers and security staff on the ground do." Stainbrook also had a warning for criminals, according to KTLA. "We will go after you and do everything we can to put you in jail if you're going to commit crime in Beverly Hills. It's as simple as that," Stainbrook said.