Santa Cruz security company partner with city to patrol library, city hall, Civic Center www.privateofficer.com
SANTA CRUZ CA Aug 5 2012 - Security guards recently started patrolling the downtown library, bringing relief to library staff who at times had to act as part-time bouncers to control disruptive patrons.
In a partnership with the city, guards early last month began patrolling the library, City Hall and Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium.
Homeless people and others have long hung out at the library, a safe place to go inside, sit down and use the computer or read or rest a while. It also has one of the few unlocked and free rest rooms in the downtown area. City Hall has also been a popular place for people to hang out.
Janis O’Driscoll, a division manager for Santa Cruz Public Libraries, said a guard has been a need at least since the recession began a few years ago. But a tight budget made it impossible for the libraries to hire their own guards, she said.
“The majority of people use the library respectfully,” O’Driscoll said. “But there was enough of an element of a group that was just making it hard for everyone else and we reached critical mass and had to do something.”
“First Alarm has been fabulous. It’s making such a difference for us.”
The guards are on duty from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, at a cost of about $5,500 per month, said Scott Collins, assistant to the Santa Cruz city manager. The city’s portion is paid from several city departments and from the general fund, he said. The police department was consulted, he added.
“We’re still evaluating at this point, but from what employees and area businesses have said, it’s been really effective,” Collins said. “There were enough illegal and troubling behaviors going on that some employees felt threatened.”
First Alarm guard Guy Woodward was on duty Friday, walking the area, armed with a police radio.
Woodward, a 26-year-old Santa Cruz resident, said the violations he addresses are usually pretty tame – smoking, drinking, sleeping on benches and an occasional incident of theft or fighting.
He said that he goes inside the library too, and that library staff call him if they need him.
And while has been called a Nazi, Woodward said most people are pretty good about stopping the offensive behavior.
“A lot of it is people skills; I can’t be on some kind of power trip,” he said. “But even if it seems like overkill, it’s not. The presence of someone in a uniform really helps. It’s really calmed down a lot.”
People are allowed to sleep on the lawn at City Hall, but not to camp out with a sleeping bag and other items, he said.
At one point, Woodward talked to an older homeless man who was smoking a cigarette outside the front door, in a nonsmoking area. The man quickly put it out.
That man, Jimmie Rodgers, said he has been traveling through Santa Cruz each year for many years. He said the guards are OK.
“They’re pretty nice,” he said. “They seem to be good judges of character.”
O’Driscoll, the library division manager, said the guards have “inspired more thoughtful behavior from everyone who uses the library,” creating a more relaxed environment.
“We’ve been thanked by patrons who say they feel like it’s safe for them to use the benches again,” she said.
Kelly Newman, a library user who lives in the downtown area, said something was needed to quell the crowd.
“People were hanging out like it was a party and I’d complain and the librarians would come and out and shoo them away,” Newman said. “It’s good they have some help, but I don’t know where they all go.”
In the past several years, dealing with budget cuts and large amounts of transients, the city has employed First Alarm officers downtown, on the Municipal Wharf and in the Harvey West area.
The guards cannot write tickets, but can detain troublemakers as any citizen can when it is appropriate, police said.
Police have called the program successful and said the lower-cost guards can free up police to work on more serious crimes.
