A Sunday morning shooting that took the life of a 17-year-old boy last month in San Pedro is putting new focus on policing in the waterfront town.

An "emergency" meeting to discuss the issue has been called by the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

"We're looking for our leaders to step up and take some action to add some more police officers to the Harbor Area," council President John Delgado said. "We've long been pushing for more police officers in the area. Unfortunately, it took something like this to happen."

Geisslar Alfaro of San Pedro was shot at around 11:30 a.m. Nov. 22 near Cabrillo Avenue and 18th Street.

Two suspects, ages 21 and 19, both from San Pedro, were arrested six hours later after police found them hiding in a nearby apartment.

"What's disconcerting is that this can happen in broad daylight, during a Sunday lunch time," said Andrew Silber, vice president of the neighborhood council and the owner of a downtown San Pedro restaurant. "I don't want us to accept such an event as inevitable, where we just grit our teeth and carry on."

The meeting, which will be held at the Croatian Cultural Center, 510 W. Seventh St., is open to the public and designed to quiz city and police officials about how the area can be better protected.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn and representatives from the Los Angeles Police Department's Harbor Division are expected to attend.

"I'm hoping what it won't be is a case of their giving us 'good' reasons why nothing can be done about this," Silber said.

Specifically, Silber wants to know if at least some of the city's newly sworn police officers will be assigned to the Harbor Area.

"We're a bit concerned in the neighborhood council that Harbor Division may not be getting its share of the newly recruited police officers," Silber said.

While other parts of the city have higher crime rates, he said, the Harbor Area needs to be included in any allocation of new officers.

"Putting police on every corner isn't practical and nobody would like that," Silber said. "But the fact that someone was shot and wounded in an alley and then followed into an intersection (where the fatal shots were fired) no one should have to die that way."

Silber said he wants the police to ensure the community is as safe as possible.

"I just want to make sure San Pedro's getting its fair share of whatever limited resources are available," he said. "We're trusting people in high places to deploy police where they're needed."

Delgado said the LAPD in the past has been responsive to pleas for more police presence in affected neighborhoods. But he noted that Harbor Division as a whole has lost officers over the past couple of years after crime rates dropped. The officers were transferred to areas where crime had increased.

"We've always voiced the opinion that we'd like those police officers to return to this area," Delgado said.