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Long Beach is California's second-largest port city, where the I-710 (Long Beach Freeway), I-405 (San Diego Freeway), and SR-22 intersect, creating a major traffic hub linking Orange County to Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach. Downtown Long Beach's vibrant entertainment district on Pine Avenue—lined with nightclubs, bars, and restaurants—draws crowds of locals and visitors. The convergence of freeways, harbor commerce, and nightlife makes DUI enforcement a consistent priority. The Long Beach Police Department conducts regular DUI/CDL checkpoints (funded by California OTS grants) and high-visibility saturation patrols. If you are arrested for DUI in Long Beach, you face prosecution by a municipal prosecutor and trial in a specific courthouse—a unique prosecutorial path compared to other LA County cities.
How DUIs are policed in Long Beach
Long Beach has its own Long Beach Police Department, which is responsible for DUI enforcement within city limits. The department conducts regular DUI checkpoints and saturation patrols, with locations determined by reported incidents of impaired driving-related crashes. Funding for these checkpoints comes from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
In the 2022 California OTS Rankings, Long Beach ranked 3rd out of 15 agencies in total fatal and injury collisions, with 5th for DUI arrests (355 total), and 3rd for alcohol-involved collisions (309 victims killed and injured). The OTS rankings help identify emerging traffic safety problem areas, though rankings reflect many local factors and are not determinative of enforcement intensity alone.
The California Highway Patrol (CHP Southern Division) enforces DUI on freeways within LA County, including the I-710, I-405, and SR-22 that run through or near Long Beach.
Who prosecutes a Long Beach DUI—and where
Long Beach is one of the few cities in the county where a city prosecutor, not the District Attorney, handles the misdemeanor DUI caseload. The Long Beach City Prosecutor's office files and prosecutes adult misdemeanors arising in the city, DUI included, out of its offices on West Ocean Boulevard, while the County DA only takes over once a case is charged as a felony. Cases are heard at the Long Beach Courthouse (the Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse) on Magnolia Avenue downtown, in the Superior Court's South District, which also takes in the CHP and parts of the Sheriff's jurisdiction nearby. A felony DUI, such as one involving injury or multiple priors, is more likely to move downtown to the Clara Foltz Criminal Justice Center as the case develops. Ron prepares every Long Beach case for the city prosecutor's office first, since that is who is across the table in the large majority of filings.
Long Beach's own custody classifications, and the city's towed-car lookup tool
Long Beach Police Department holds people at its own jail rather than sending every arrest straight to the county, and it sorts visiting hours by how the case is charged: felony custody gets an afternoon visiting window, misdemeanor custody gets an earlier one, and trustees get a short window of their own. Anyone whose case does end up moving into Los Angeles County custody is tracked separately through the county's own inmate information line rather than through the police department, so it helps to know which system actually has the file before calling around.
Recovering a towed vehicle starts online: the city's FindMyTowedCar tool lets an owner locate which yard has the car before making the trip. Release still requires valid identification, current registration, and proof of insurance, along with payment of the towing and recovery fees, though Long Beach also runs a low income payment plan for residents who qualify and cannot cover those fees all at once.
The A Line's southern end, Long Beach Transit, and the Willow Street DMV office
Downtown Long Beach station is the southern terminus of Metro's A Line, sitting in the middle of First Street between Pine and Pacific Avenues, right at the head of the Long Beach Transit Mall. From there, Long Beach Transit runs its own network of city bus routes out across the rest of the city, so a license suspension in a city this size does not have to mean being stuck at home between court dates.
For license paperwork, the Long Beach DMV field office on East Willow Street handles standard licensing, registration, and document replacement in person, separate from the Driver Safety hearing that decides whether the suspension itself holds up. That hearing has to be requested within 10 days of the arrest; the field office visit comes later, once a reissued or restricted license is ready to be picked up.
Who prosecutes my Long Beach DUI—the city attorney or the LA County DA?
The Long Beach City Prosecutor prosecutes misdemeanor DUI cases in Long Beach. This is unique among LA County cities; some cities (like the City of LA) use a city attorney, while others defer to the LA County DA. Long Beach maintains its own municipal prosecution office that handles DUI, battery, theft, domestic violence, and other misdemeanors. If your case is charged as a felony DUI, the LA County District Attorney will take over the prosecution.
Where will my Long Beach DUI case be heard?
Your Long Beach DUI case will be heard at the Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse, located at 275 Magnolia Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90802. This courthouse handles misdemeanor and felony criminal cases filed within the City of Long Beach. Felony cases (such as a DUI with injury or multiple priors) may eventually be transferred to the Clara Foltz Criminal Justice Center downtown, but initial proceedings typically occur at the Deukmejian Courthouse.
What is Long Beach's OTS ranking for DUI and impaired driving?
According to the 2022 California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) Rankings, Long Beach ranked 3rd out of 15 agencies in total fatal and injury collisions, 5th for DUI arrests (355 total), and 3rd for alcohol-involved collisions (309 victims killed and injured). OTS rankings compare cities by population peer group and help identify traffic safety problem areas. Long Beach's rankings reflect the city's high traffic volume due to freeway convergence, harbor activity, and nightlife, but the rankings do not determine the outcome of individual cases.
Why does Long Beach have more DUI checkpoints?
Long Beach conducts regular DUI/CDL checkpoints funded by California OTS grants through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The checkpoints are positioned at locations with reported impaired-driving-related crashes and are intended to increase public awareness and deter drunk driving. The Long Beach Police Department also conducts high-visibility DUI saturation patrols. These enforcement activities are part of a statewide traffic safety initiative, and checkpoint locations vary based on crash data and seasonal factors.
Will Ron Chini represent me from an office in Long Beach?
No. Ron Chini is based in Irvine, California, and operates out of a single office location there. He does not have a satellite office in Long Beach or elsewhere. Ron defends DUI cases throughout Los Angeles County, including Long Beach, from his Irvine office. He is available for in-person meetings and will appear in the Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse on your behalf.
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