BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — The Bakersfield City Council has approved an agreement with a private security company that will work directly with the Bakersfield Police Department to patrol areas in the city that are most impacted by crime.
According to Neighborhood Scout, a website that monitors municipal statistics, including crime data, Downtown Bakersfield is one of the most dangerous areas of the city, but it's not the only area susceptible to crime.
Now, a private security company named Citiguard will be working locally with BPD to reduce crime in the areas that most need the extra patrols.
Bakersfield business owner Cassie Bittle says her restaurant, KC Steakhouse, has experienced vandalism and other petty crimes since 2018, and she's not the only one.
"I don't think there's a business, non profit, church, school that hasn't witnessed or seen or had to deal with some level of crime or any kind of issues at this moment, so it's definitely something we're all experiencing," said Bittle.
Bittle says that following instances of petty crime, she's added cameras, as well as additional lighting and security.
Sergeant Robert Pair with BPD says the new agreement is designed to help target the kinds of crimes Bittle and other business owners are experiencing.
"There are crime issues that are affecting our business community, and what this will do is a visible deterrent for criminal activity, and supplement police services, and trying to impact those quality of life issues that are affecting our community," said Pair.
The $1.1 million dollar agreement will focus on preventing crimes like theft and vandalism in retail areas, allowing for BPD officers to focus on ongoing criminal investigations.
City Manager Christian Clegg says that under this agreement, Citiguard will provide 12 unarmed patrol units around the clock across high crime commercial centers in Bakersfield, with Citiguard personnel reporting anything they witness to BPD.
"There's actually two aspects to that. One is sort of organized retail crime, where folks are targeting retails for theft, but it's also lower level vagrancy vandalism in our commercial areas that's also plaguing our local businesses," said Clegg.
This agreement began as a pilot program back in 2019 to provide additional private security to the Bakersfield area due to a lack of adequate staffing in the police department. The council has now approved additional funding to retain and expand the pilot program to cover the entire city as needed.
BPD says they will determine the most in-need locations by calculating local crime trends as they change over the course of the year, but to Cassie Bittle, it seems like those locations might just be everywhere, and all business owners like her have had so far to stand against it is one another.
"Crime is everywhere. It doesn't matter if you're downtown, if you're in the southwest part of town, or if you're on the east side, or if you're in another city in California," said Bittle. "With the way we've changed our criminal justice over the last ten years, we're definitely feeling the effects, but here in Kern County, in Bakersfield, we're really working together to form that strong community that we need to get through this."
