Shaken by the shooting death in broad daylight last month of a 17-year-old boy, San Pedro residents were reassured by police officials that all LAPD divisions are in line to receive more officers under new Police Chief Charlie Beck.

Los Angeles police Cmdr. Patrick Gannon and Harbor Division Capt. Billy Hayes also stressed that violent crimes have been declining in the Harbor Area for the past several years.

The remarks were made during a two-hour emergency meeting called by the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council.

"This isn't a finger-pointing exercise," said council Vice President Andrew Silber. "The point is to make sure Harbor Division is getting its fair share of officers. This is a meeting that is about deployment issues."

Council members were alarmed by the 11:30 a.m. Nov. 22 shooting death of Geisslar Alfaro near Cabrillo Avenue and 18th Street.

Two suspects from San Pedro, ages 21 and 19, were arrested later that day.

During his confirmation hearings, Beck pledged to put more officers in all of the LAPD districts.

Gannon, a San Pedro native and resident, also promised to study deployment issues after he's promoted to a deputy chief overseeing all areas south of the Santa Monica (10) Freeway, including Harbor Area communities.

"I'll guarantee you that the first thing I'll do is take a look at staffing levels," Gannon said.

As important as numbers can be, he said how those officers are used and the strategies employed by the divisions are even more key to keeping crime in check.

Hayes told neighborhood council members that while Harbor Division lost officers a few years ago because of a drop in the local crime rate, incidents of violent crime have only continued to go down since then.

"The loss of that 17-year-old's life is extremely tragic," Hayes said. "(But) it's not gang-related, this was a grudge between two individuals. It would have occurred at some point in time."

So far this year, the San Pedro area has logged five homicides, with four of those having been solved and suspects in custody.

"I look back 40 years and we averaged 30 or 40 (homicides) a year," Gannon said.

The recent shooting, Hayes said, "was solved in five hours" with widespread cooperation among neighbors and witnesses.

"In terms of violent crime, you've seen a steady decrease in incidents since 2003 when you lost those officers," Hayes said, adding there has only been one gang-related homicide in San Pedro so far in 2009.

"(Chief Beck) has had meetings with us several times and he's assured us we're going to get some resources back," Hayes said.

New deployments begin on Jan. 3, he said, but he cautioned "it's going to be a slow process."

Hayes also pledged to improve response times, the focus of several complaints Tuesday night.

Kara McLeod, who moved to San Pedro several years ago when she and her husband purchased a Victorian home to restore, said she waited 50 minutes before a black-and-white responded to her call one night when a group of teens were fighting in front of their home.

Gannon said deployment and staffing levels are determined using a complex formula that's been in place for some 30 years.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who attended the meeting, was taken to task by a few speakers.

"The problem isn't with the guys in uniform, it's at a much higher level," said Xavier Hermosillo who has worked with the LAPD in a civilian capacity. "We have to ask what have the people who help allocate the resources done? I want to know what our council member has done."

"I don't mind people pointing fingers at me or blaming me," Hahn said in her remarks at the meeting. " We want to redevelop the waterfront, we want to revitalize downtown San Pedro. It's not going to work if we're not safe."

Hahn said intervention and prevention programs, including more after-school programs, are crucial to finding long-term solutions.

"It's not just about more police officers," she said. "We're never going to arrest our way out of the gang problem."