Oceanside Patrol Ends Trial Short of Goal, Will Continue

An Oceanside pilot project that hired a private security firm to patrol the downtown area ended this weekend, falling far short of the number of subscriptions needed to keep the program in the black.

But officials at Bel Air Patrols said they will continue their 24-hour watch over downtown, despite generating only $7,000 in subscriptions, short of the $12,000 goal set at the outset of the program.

“It’s a new venture for us, so we have high expectations,” said Bob Sundeen, general manager of Bel Air Patrols. “We feel that this is a viable business venture.”

The program began three months ago, with the Oceanside Redevelopment Agency committing $9,000 to the Los Angeles-based firm for one 24-hour-a-day armed private guard to patrol downtown in a vehicle. It was hoped that enough residents and business owners would subscribe to the service, paying from $10 to $50 a month, to keep it going past the trial run.

Sundeen said that for now the patrol will not cut back on its service and that “we are moving toward that $12,000 goal every day.” About 300 residents and businesses, Sundeen said, have subscribed to the service so far.

It is difficult to tell what impact, if any, the service has had on the downtown, said Police Chief Bruce Dunne, since no statistics are available on how many calls the police have received by Bel Air.

The lack of support from residents and business owners shows they are unaccustomed to paying for a service they have come to expect from the city, said Eli Sanchez, assistant redevelopment director.

“As cities’ budgets are required to cut back because of loss of funding from state and federal levels, policing that is not of the highest priority, such as trespassing and loitering, can’t receive the highest priority response,” Sanchez said.

Bel Air officers made 14 arrests during the three-month program, nine for trespassing, three for assault with a deadly weapon and two for burglary, Sundeen said. No shots were fired by security officers, he said.

It is not clear at what point Bel Air would pull out of Oceanside if it continues to lose money, Sundeen said.

Bel Air already has suffered a setback in neighboring Vista, where it had tried to start a similar program. Only about 10% of the 400 Vista merchants signed up to hire a security officer, despite a survey of the downtown businesses showing increased crime as their greatest concern.

Bel Air promises subscribers that an officer will be reachable by cellular phone at all times and will respond within five minutes.

And Oceanside business owners who are subscribing are happy with the results.

“Basically, just their presence makes anyone who is loitering or selling on my premises just go away,” said Jose Calderon, manager of a fast food restaurant on Hill Street.

Calderon’s restaurant parking lot used to be infested with prostitutes and drug dealers openly peddling their wares.

“I don’t have any more, or at least many fewer dealers parking in my lot now,” Calderon said. “It’s definitely not as much of a problem any more.”

Calderon specifically praised the patrol’s rapid response, “which the Police Department doesn’t have due to their lack of manpower.”