Candidate for
City Prosecutor; City of Long Beach

BIOGRAPHY OF CITY PROSECUTOR TOM REEVES

Tom Reeves was elected Long Beach City Prosecutor in July 1998. The Long Beach City Prosecutor's Office has an annual budget of $4.1 million, and 40 employees. The City Prosecutor's Office is responsible for prosecuting all adult misdemeanors and infractions in Long Beach. The office prosecutes approximately 25,000 misdemeanor offenses each year. Since taking office, Tom has:

· Created "CALL TO PROTECT" a program that provides free cell phones to the victims of domestic violence and stalking.

· Established an "alternative resolution" program for petty offenders in Long Beach at no cost to the city reducing caseload in the courthouse and giving offenders a second chance.

· Obtained federal grant funding for a "community prosecution strategy" that uses the power of the City Prosecutor coupled with neighborhood organizations to forge powerful partnerships to combat petty crimes, improve property maintenance and eliminate neighborhood nuisances.

· Partnered with the Department of Planning and Building to obtain a three year $1 million dollar State grant for code enforcement. Providing an additional prosecutor and support person to pursue building, zoning and health code violations in the central city.

· Increased grant funding (federal and state) in his office from about $50,000 to almost $600,000, which leverages city funding of critical programs.

· Sued the East Side Longos gang and obtained an anti-gang injunction to assist the police in combating these street criminals and to help shield citizens from their crimes and threats of violence.

Prior to his election, Tom was a Principal Deputy City Attorney in the Long Beach City Attorney's Office. There he supervised a staff of sixteen with responsibility for all city litigation. He was personally responsible for all federal civil rights litigation in both state and federal courts.

Tom is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air National Guard, and presently serves as the Staff Judge Advocate for the 146th Airlift Wing. His military career began in 1966 and he has served almost 10 years on active duty. In 1996-97, Tom was activated for a six-month tour in Bosnia-Herzegovina. There he served as the Legal Advisor for the International Police Task Force in Sarajevo a part of the United Nations effort to restore law and order.

He married Helen in 1970 and they settled in Long Beach in 1972. Helen is an accountant for an aerospace company. They have two children, Melissa - an attorney with a major Los Angeles law firm, and Sean- a computer company employee working with law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. Tom obtained his BA in political science at California State University Long Beach and his JD from Southwestern University School of Law.