By reporting suspicious activity, neighbors and residents play a key role in the prevention of crime (and swift apprehension of criminals, when crime does occur).

What is "Suspicious?"

Suspicious activity may include: 

• Someone going door-to-door with no apparent reason 
• Someone walking down the street trying car door handles or looking into windows of parked cars 
• A stranger walking into a neighbor’s back yard 
• People ringing door bells and walking away quickly 
• Transactions taking place from a car window or trunk 
• A stranger loitering in a residential area for an extended amount of time

What Phone Number Do I Call?

There are two numbers available for our residents to call for police services. Depending on the issue, the matrix below may help when deciding which number would be best. This is merely a guide and each incident varies. However, common sense should be exercised when summoning public safety resources.

911 = Emergency

• In progress crime
• Life threatening issues
• Child in danger (i.e. locked in a car, appears lost, etc.)
• Property at risk of being stolen, damaged or destroyed
• Drunk drivers
• Traffic collisions with injury
• Suspicious activity
• Missing persons

(310) 545-4566 = Non-Emergency

• Any incident that does not require an emergency response

What To Do If You Observe Suspicious Activity...

While observing a behavior or incident that you feel is suspicious, call the Manhattan Beach Police Department. The following information is important to note:

• Where is this happening? (address, cross streets, landmarks)
• What are they doing? (lurking, loitering, trespassing, stealing, etc.)
• How many subjects are there?
• What do they look like? (sex, race, hair color, height, weight, clothing)
• What are they driving? (make, model, color, license plate, and/or oddities)
• Which way did they go?

Be proactive in your neighborhood!  Talk to your neighbors if you see:

• Garage doors left open 
• Newspapers/mail stacking up 
• Cars left unlocked
• Personal property left in vehicles 
• Unsecured homes (windows open, doors unlocked)

Am I Bothering the Police?

No, you are never bothering the police department when you call to report an incident. MBPD encourages residents to call whenever there is a feeling of suspicious activity, an unusual occurrence, something out of the ordinary and/or when an obvious crime has occurred.