BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Downtown Bakersfield is home to several long-standing businesses to shop and eat at, but in recent history, a string of vandalism and break-ins have hit several area businesses.
“Vandalism. They've tried to break in. They've used – it's been hit with bottles twice. Rocks and people. It’s a strong door,” said Tina Brown, owner of Tina Marie’s in Downtown Bakersfield.
Earlier this week, Happy Jack's and Caffeine Supreme were the victims of break-ins with merchandise and money earmarked for charity being taken by the thief.
"This new contract was initiated with the intention of having security guards be out, making contacts with individuals, asking them to move along, and having those interactions with them and at times needing to call in [the Bakersfield Police Department] as necessary to address any interactions where they need that extra police assistance," said Christian Clegg, Bakersfield City Manager.
In January, the City of Bakersfield approved an agreement with private security company Citiguard to monitor high crime areas inside city limits and implemented the program just a few months later. Clegg noted it's unclear whether or not the security measure is working, but they will be taking a deeper dive into it at a later date.
"We're not totally sure yet, just to be candid. We gave it a six-month mark, where we're gonna go back and look at the data and determine: is it having the impact that we want it to have?” said Clegg.
Walking around Downtown there are several businesses, including Tina Marie's, that appear to contract out with different security companies in an effort to keep their business, employees, and clientele safe. Brown noted the business is paying for it out of its operating budget and believes it's a worthwhile cost.
“It's a necessity for us to have security down here. There's a lot of — I've been hearing a lot of horror stories with other businesses in the area. So it's for our safety. I believe we need it,” said Brown.
As time wanes ahead of the city's deeper look into it's downtown security detail, Clegg noted if they don't see the results they expected it will likely be back to the drawing board.
"We could redesign that security program, we could also design more specific security programs, even more focused on our hottest of hot spots may be one of the next steps. Were, as I mentioned, we're going to continue hiring more [BPD] officers and we may just determine that the best thing to do is put those resources towards more policing, even though that is a little bit of a longer timeframe until all those officers are in place," said Clegg. "And we'll look at other best practices that other communities are doing. We're not the only community that's struggling with this challenge and maybe we spend those same dollars on something else is going to have a bigger impact."
