With summer quickly approaching, members of the Beach Alcohol Task Force met Monday, May 17, at the Pacific Beach Recreational Center to discuss pressing issues regarding alcohol-related nuisances in Mission, Pacific and Ocean beaches.
Facilitated by District 2 Councilman Kevin Faulconer, the 14-member task force has begun to create consensus over how to go about creating a safer, quieter and more sober beach community.
At the top of the list of possible solutions: more law enforcement. Task force members discussed ways to increase funding for more police officers through the Maintenance Assessment District, or MAD.
According to the Web site for the City of San Diego, a MAD allows property owners in a given community to pay for and receive services the city might not regularly be able to provide, including funding for extra officers in the Pacific Beach area.
The group also explored the idea of contracting with off-duty officers to patrol beach neighborhoods for added security.
“Nothing stops crime like a uniformed police officer,” said police Lt. Brian Ahearn.
Community members are currently studying San Jose as a possible example of how to increase officer presence.
San Diego Police Chief William Landsdowne said San Jose has had a program for 30 years that allows off-duty police officers, in uniform, to act as private security detail for large events ” with all the resources of the city at their disposal. However, the program does not allow for off-duty officers to work at nightclubs because of possible conflicts between the city and private security companies, he said
“The system works well without any additional cost to the city,” said Landsdowne, who served as chief of police in San Jose before coming to San Diego about four years ago.
Barring any legal conflicts, a similar program implemented in Pacific Beach would require changes in the union contract as well as put additional restrictions on the contracted officers.
One restriction would be that officers wouldn’t be able to make any arrests. Police would have to call on-duty officers, who would then have the final decision as to whether any arrest should be made, Landsdowne said.
Officials acknowledge that such a program in the beach areas could cost plenty. Landsdowne said that as of four years ago, the costs often average $35 per man-hour for a minimum of four hours.
One community member took issue with the possibility of paying for the extra police through a MAD fee.
Pacific Beach Town Councilmember Marcie Beckett said that funding the extra enforcement through a MAD fee would be unfair to the businesses that don’t contribute to the problem, and that the fee would put an undue burden on businesses that are barely eking out a profit as it is.