Oceanside extends contract for downtown security guards
Oceanside CA September 29 2023 Security guards will patrol a larger area of downtown Oceanside under a $1.9 million contract amendment approved this week by the City Council.
The 15-month extension of the contract initially approved a year ago will add several blocks to the coverage area and increase reporting requirements and training for the guards, primarily in ways to best help the homeless.
Four trained, unarmed guards are on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the downtown core under the contract with Gateway Security Services, Inc. They work with the Oceanside Police Department’s homeless outreach team and with the San Diego Rescue Mission to connect the unsheltered with services.
The guards make about 1,600 contacts a month with residents, businesses and visitors, said Economic Development Manager Michelle Geller in a presentation to the City Council on Wednesday.
About 125 of those contacts are with unhoused individuals, and roughly 25 of those are repeat contacts with the same people, she said. About 90 people a month are referred to social service programs.
“The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive,” Geller said.
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The City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to extend the contract through the end of next year.
“They are doing a pretty good job downtown, I would agree, but it does not mean the homeless have gone away,” Councilmember Rick Robinson said before the vote.
The area patrolled by foot, bicycle and vehicle primarily covers about three blocks along Mission Avenue between Interstate 5 and The Strand, and a wider area closer to the beach along North and South Coast Highway from Neptune Way south to Wisconsin Avenue.
Many homeless people have moved to more inland areas of the city where they continue to need city services, Robinson said. Most of those areas are not patrolled by private security.
“They don’t disappear; they do go to some other place,” Councilmember Eric Joyce said.
Incidents related to homelessness, such as trespassing and vandalism, appear to be increasing outside the patrolled areas, council members said. That could be the result of the patrols, and more could be done to monitor that.
“We really need to address that situation as well,” Mayor Esther Sanchez said.
The security service is contracted through the downtown business group MainStreet Oceanside, which helps to pay for it with $149,000 from money collected by the downtown business improvement district formed in 2019.
Most of the funding for the contract comes from Measure X, the temporary half-cent sales tax approved by Oceanside voters that expires in 2027.
MainStreet is working with the security service to ensure the guards have monthly training sessions to update them on how best to help the homeless and connect them with the services they need, said Gumaro Escarcega, the organization’s chief operating officer.
“We will be reporting (to the City Council) on a monthly basis from here on out,” Escarcega said.
The security guards also serve as ambassadors for the city, providing information to the public and escorting visitors and employees to their vehicles when necessary. Next summer they will staff an information kiosk on Myers Street west of the pedestrian underpass.
The city started the one-year pilot program last October for $1.3 million.
The security guards work with police to stop trespassing, illegal camping and littering, and can appear in court to testify when needed. They have no authority to arrest people, but can detain suspects under a citizen’s arrest until police officers arrive.
