Since early 2024, Second Street has seen a cluster of serious, nightlife-adjacent incidents: a Feb. 18, 2024 shooting during a fight that killed 32-year-old Johnny Santos; a deadly stabbing at Dave’s Hot Chicken two weeks later; two more stabbings in Sept. 2024; a gunshot fired during a street altercation June 1, 2025; a city “trio of recent shootings” that prompted extra patrols in June 2025; and now the Oct. 25 homicide tied to a bar dispute that spilled onto La Verne Avenue.
Despite the spike, there’s no publicly documented, standing liaison program between LBPD and Second Street bar owners – no ongoing safety working group, shared protocols, or published training cadence. What exists appears episodic: periodic “Know Your Limit” outreach walks by LBPD with MADD (August & December 2023) and reactive community meetings after violent incidents.
By contrast, the Belmont Shore Business Association highlights “Clean + Safe Teams” and private corridor security funded by parking revenues – but not a formal, continuous LBPD–venue liaison structure for violence prevention. That gap matters. Research on nightlife management shows coordinated customer selection policies, environmental controls, intoxication prevention, staff training, and rapid-response protocols reduce disorder – but only when they’re implemented consistently and jointly by venues and police…