These Rent-a-Cops Are the Real Thing

Orange County’s first privately funded police substation opened Friday, allowing businesses to buy officer overtime to increase security.

The Police/Business Empowered Partnership program was approved by the Westminster City Council in February. The first customer is Summit Commercial, owner of the Westminster Center shopping mall, where the substation is located.

The agreement with the Police Department calls for Summit Commercial to pay $38,000 for the first 1,200 hours of police overtime, said Police Chief James Cook. The agreement can then be renewed.

“We feel this is on the cutting edge of community-oriented policing,” Cook said Friday. “We want to reduce fears of crime at the center and make the mall a safe haven for residents and merchants.”

The top crime problems at the center are car theft, graffiti, loitering and aggressive panhandling, Cook said.

“Panhandling and graffiti can give the customers and community a sense of fear and foreboding that causes people to shy away,” Cook said. “When that fear is reduced, it enhances business.”

City officials, merchants and police lauded the program, which is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation. As an alternative to private security firms, businesses can buy added protection that comes with all benefits of an experienced police force.

“Our police officers get overtime and they [the center managers] pay for it,” said Mayor Frank Fry Jr.. “The pay is cheaper than a security firm, and they’re getting real police officers.”

Some scholars have raised the question of fairness in regard to the purchase of extra police protection. David Biggs, a professor of criminal law at Western State University College of Law, said the program could set “a dangerous precedent,” by offering blocks of time to private individuals or companies.

Cook said his department examined those issues in drafting the plan.

“It’s an enhancement, not a replacement,” Cook said, adding that the department will continue its regular patrols at the center and surrounding neighborhood.

“We will not reduce normal patrol commitments,” Cook said. “What they are buying is enhanced time for community-oriented policing.”

In addition, police officers working overtime at the center will be available to drop their private duties and respond to nearby emergency calls, Cook said.

The mall is providing the substation at no charge, Cook said, so the program is expected to cost the city only gasoline for squad cars and the small amount of administrative time required for scheduling. Most of the patrols at the center will be conducted on bicycle or foot.

A group of about 25 specially trained officers will provide most of the overtime work at the center on a flexible schedule, Cook said. Each officer is limited by department policy to a maximum of 20 hours overtime a week, he said.

“Because community-oriented policing is project-oriented, we might have three officers there one day, nobody for one day and one officer the next,” Cook said. “Officers will plan projects, like going after car thieves or graffiti, and those with days off would be assigned to the projects. It’s designed to be very flexible.”

Several merchants at the center at Westminster Boulevard and Golden West Street, which includes a Home Depot, an Edwards Cinema and about three dozen smaller retail and food shops, said they welcome the substation.

“The visibility of the officers is reassuring,” said Terry Flynn, owner of Westminster Car Wash. “This is definitely going to be a deterrent.”