Private investigator Josh Chandler has launched two Seal Beach-oriented community security groups online, similar to the existing Neighbor4Neighbor program. Chandler was inspired to create the security groups, one for residents and the other for business owners, in February. Chandler saw a man relieving himself in public. Chandler called the police and followed him. The police arrested the man.
That’s when Chandler got the idea to create his two groups, which are sponsored by his new business, the Justice Solutions Group.
Sgt. Michael Henderson, the public information officer for the Seal Beach Police Department, said the city’s crime prevention program is the Neighbor4Neighbor program. Henderson said the Police Department does not endorse or condemn Chandler’s crime prevention programs.
At this point, according to Henderson, the local police neither endorse nor reject Chandler’s security councils—they simply don’t know enough about them.
Chandler said the Local Resident and Local Business Safety Councils are not vigilante groups.
He said his goal is to make a stronger community by creating a partnership between the community and the police. “We’re there to report so they (the police) can enforce,” Chandler said.
Chandler pointed out what is widely known: crime has increased in Orange County. “The answer has to come not just from the police but the community as well,” Chandler said.
The idea, according to Chandler, is to use technology so the community can provide police with the information they need.
He said the police are able to determine what is important.
For example, shoplifting could be an indicator of organized retail crime.
“We have an obligation to help our community,” he said.
“We’re all our brother’s keeper,” he said.
He said his goal in creating the safety councils is to create a safe space for the public to report information to the police. Chandler wants to put the emphasis on prevention, because police have limited resources.
Chandler said he understands the public’s frustration with crime and law enforcement because they do not always see the outcomes of police work. As a former cop and a private investigator, he does not always see the outcome of his efforts.
Chandler comes from a family of firefighters. “I’m the black sheep; I became a cop.”
He worked as a Department of Defense police officer for 10 years. He was at one time assigned to Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach.
His business partner at Justice Solutions, Tyler James, was a master of arms in the U.S. Navy. But the partners didn’t meet through the U.S. Navy. Chandler met James through the Big Brothers program and watched James become a man. The brothers are now a working team.
Chandler’s previous private sector work has included being security director at the Grove on LA and Westminster Mall “some years back.” He most recently helping Pacific City get their security program up and running.
According to Chandler, his “Between being a bodyguard for the 1 percent, security management for large commercial properities and investigations, that has been my life since I left the Police Department.”
Josh Chandler is not related to mystery writer Raymond Chandler, whose books had a powerful influence on literature’s image of the private investigator. According to Josh Chandler there are two lines of Chandlers in the United States. His line were politicians; the other line was made up of creators. He sometimes wonders if he was switched at birth.
