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By Lookout Staff

September 11 – A new officer will be walking the beach beat in Santa Monica as part of the Police Department’s new neighborhood policing strategy, police officials announced this week.

Officer Richard Carranza will replace Brent Crafton, who was promoted to sergeant, as the Neighborhood Resource Officer on Beat 1, which stretches along the beach.

The new beat -- which replaces one that encompassed areas east of the bluffs -- was reconfigured late last year as part of Chief Tim Jackman’s plan to bring traditional community policing to the beachside city. ("Police Department Launches New Beat Plan ," October 30, 2007)

The newly drawn beats -- which correspond more closely to neighborhood boundaries and take into better account the city’s geography -- are patrolled 24-hours a day by officers assigned an areas for at least six months at a time.

“Officer Carranza will continue to provide the community with the highest quality law enforcement services and dedicate his skills and abilities to enhancing the quality of life to everyone that lives, works, and plays in the Beat 1 area,” Jackman said.

A Santa Monica native, Carranza has been a member of the department for 24 years, starting as a police cadet in 1984.

Carranza then worked as a police communications operator until he was selected as a police officer in 1994. As an officer, he worked one of the department’s first Community Oriented Policing details as part of the Special Policing District, where he focused on quality of life issues in the Downtown and coastal region.

Carranza also has worked the Transit Services Detail and most recently in the Gang and Youth Intervention detail. He also is a member of the Department's Rifle Team, Crisis Negotiations Team and Departmental Peer Support Team.