Private security firm loses contract for Fresno motel shelter after Fesno Bee investigation
Fresno CA March 24 2023
A Fresno private security company will lose at least one contract to provide services at a homeless shelter following a Fresno Bee investigation into safety at the city’s homeless shelters — and it will likely lose others in the coming months as the city takes steps to place more police officers in the area.
The investigation found disturbing examples of force used by the private security firm Pacific Valley Patrol at emergency and homeless shelters owned by the city and public housing authority on Parkway Drive in the years following the coronavirus pandemic outbreak.
In a Feb. 28 Fresno Housing Authority Board of Commissioners meeting, CEO Tyrone Roderick Williams acknowledged The Bee’s reporting and said FHA was working with city leaders to find new security providers. “There’s been some articles written and some concern about where we are with the shelters,” he said. “Both the shelter operator (Turning Point of Central California) and the city are committed to taking on the responsibility of identifying new security firms and they are taking that on as even as we speak.”
McHenry Protective and Investigative Services will take over security at the Golden State Triage Center on April 1, company owner Jeromy McHenry confirmed via email. The firm replaces Pacific Valley Patrol; its chief executive officer, Cristiano Lopes, didn’t respond to requests for comment. “ I think there is clarity that some adjustments need to be made,” Williams said, “and both the city and Turning Point are committed to that.”
The change comes over a month after a Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias, whose district includes nine of the city’s new shelters, called for a new private security vendor, citing The Bee’s investigation.