By Jorge Casuso

January 27, 2023 -- Councilmember Phil Brock -- an outspoken critic of local efforts to fight crime and homelessness -- has been appointed to serve on the National League of Cities’(NLC) Public Safety and Crime Prevention Committee.

Brock was elected to a one-year term to the committee that provides "strategic direction and guidance for NLC’s federal advocacy agenda and policy priorities on public safety issues," NLC officials said.

The issues include law enforcement, municipal fire prevention, natural disaster preparedness and homeland security.

“Public Safety and all that it encompasses is the number one responsibility of every public official in our country," Brock said in a statement Thursday.

"Santa Monica’s residents demand that councilmembers focus on public safety," he said. "I’m honored to serve our community on a national scale."

Brock, who wass appointed earlier this year to the Cal Cities Public Safety Policy Committee for 2023, has drawn attention to crime in Santa Monica in his blog, as well as in media outlets.

Last year, he called for replacing Downtown "safety" ambassadors with security guards and providing round-the-clock police patrols to clean up the Promenade ("Brock Calls for Get-Tough Approach to Promenade's Homeless Problem," May 2, 2022).

As a member of NLC’s committee, Brock "will play a key role in shaping NLC’s policy positions and advocate on behalf of America’s cities, towns and villages before Congress, with the administration, and at home," NLC officials said.

“NLC’s federal advocacy committees are a key tool for gathering insights directly from the communities that our members serve,” said NLC President Mayor Victoria Woodards of Tacoma, Washington.

“I am excited to have Councilmember Brock serve on the NLC PSCP committee to ensure every city, town and village in this nation has the resources they need to thrive.”

Other members of the committee are elected officials in the cities of Newark, New Jersey; North Charleston, South Carolina, and Cleveland, Ohio.

For more information on NLC’s federal advocacy committees click here.