Hiring the additional seven officers will bring the total number of sworn positions at MBPD to 72 from 65.

“The safety of our community is our first and highest priority and these changes to the police department will help the city achieve our goal in keeping our residents, visitors, and businesses safe,” said Mayor Steve Napolitano in a statement. “Council shares the concerns of our community regarding rising crime and we're adding the resources to address it - more officers, more patrols, and more support. I’m confident that the police chief’s proactive strategies to increase staffing levels will have a positive impact on the community.”

“I want to assure the community that my number one goal is to keep Manhattan Beach a safe community so residents and visitors can enjoy all that our small beach town has to offer,” said MBPD Chief Rachel Johnson in a statement. “With the increase in staffing levels along with community support, collectively we can deter criminal activity. While the additional officers will increase the safety and security of the city and provide continuity and oversight in programs that impact quality of life, I would still like to ask residents to be part of the solution by being aware of their surroundings and taking the ‘If you see something, Say something’ approach.”

The new positions would be divided into a Crime Impact Group in the Detective Bureau (three new officers), and a Bicycle Unit (four new officers); as well as a civilian police supervisor, administrative assistant, and background investigator.

The Crime Impact Group will support investigative efforts in the Detective Bureau through conducting surveillance, following leads, identifying suspects, composing warrants, and making arrests as appropriate.

The year-round Bicycle Patrol will aim to enhance engagement within the community, providing highly visible patrols in both the residential and commercial areas, while also patrolling areas difficult to patrol in vehicles, such as the bike path, high-density traffic locations, and small streets/alleys.

"A bicycle patrol would allow [officers] to slow down and see more things than you can see in a car," Johnson told councilmembers. "You see more people in the field through bicycle patrol."

City Council also approved an increase to the bonus structure as part of the recruitment incentive program to recruit lateral officers and trainee candidates.

However, even before those new hires are complete, Johnson assured the community that MBPD is fully able to carry out its core functions.

"[These new positions] will enable us to respond to requests for more community engagement. This will also help us when we need additional staffing," Johnson told councilmembers. "We are certainly able to do that now, but this will increase our bandwidth and capacity to do that more efficiently."

The total cost for the positions would be $1,494,887. 

To pay for the measure, Finance Director Steve Charelian indicated that the costs could be paid for in part by taxes from 2019's Measure A, which approved up to a 14 percent Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) on hotel stays.

Currently, Manhattan Beach has only implemented a 12 percent TOT, so the city has room to add another 2 percent on to that tax, said Charelian. "[Measure A] was based on public safety, so this is a perfect fit for that measure," he said.