4 Officers Assigned : Police Beef Up Coverage With Balboa Park Office

In its latest effort to bring a heightened police presence to Balboa Park, the San Diego Police Department on Monday opened a new storefront office.

The office, the 10th such facility in the city, is in direct response to what, until recently, was an unusual spurt of crime in the inner-city park, Police Chief Bob Burgreen said at the opening ceremony.

“This storefront will get the situation back to normal,” Burgreen said, referring to the crime incidents at Marston Point.

The storefront, at the end of Presidents Way near the Balboa Park Club, will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Park Crackdown

Extra patrols were assigned to the park in mid-October after 10 robberies, five beatings and a rape were reported.

The patrols, Burgreen said, focused on capturing what he described as a band of 15 to 30 illegal aliens, who would rob and beat park visitors and then escape by running down hillsides near Interstate 5 and California 163.

The Marston Point crackdown resulted in the arrests of three men. Since the patrols were increased, police spokesman Bill Robinson said, crime in the park has been “virtually nonexistent,” although there are still some minor problems on the east side of the park.

Officer Jim Dickinson, a 10-year police veteran stationed in the storefront, said he and three officers will routinely patrol the park during the storefront’s daytime hours. Two other police units also patrol the park 24 hours a day.

“I’m going to meet on a monthly basis with park employees to educate them to report crime activities to police,” Dickinson said.

Dickinson, transferred from a street beat in the Southeast Division, speaks Spanish, which “increases the communication process,” said Robinson. “Many people who live in Tijuana come to San Diego for the weekend and, unfortunately, most officers don’t speak Spanish and that’s a problem.”

Police storefronts are usually set up in high-crime areas, Robinson said. The last one was opened at 735 5th Ave., in the Gaslamp Quarter.

“People shouldn’t have to be afraid to go to the park,” said Councilman Wes Pratt, who attended the opening ceremonies. “The City Council has put a lot of focus on Balboa Park so we’ll all feel safe bringing our children here.”