TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Bruce Moe, City Manager
FROM:
Rachel Johnson, Chief of Police
Christian Eichenlaub, Police Captain
Kelly Benjamin, Police Lieutenant
Julie Dahlgren, Senior Management Analyst
SUBJECT:Title
Discussion Regarding Armed Security for Downtown (Police Chief Johnson).
(Estimated Time: 45 Min.)
DISCUSS AND PROVIDE DIRECTION
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council receive the report and discuss and provide direction on next steps, if any.
Body
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
There are no fiscal implications associated with conducting a discussion of this item. However, once the City Council directs staff on this matter, future-funding appropriations may be required.
BACKGROUND:
On September 6, 2022, the City Council requested a discussion regarding hiring armed security for the Downtown area, as Beverly Hills is currently doing to augment patrols in their Downtown area.
Beverly Hills Armed Private Security Program
In 2020, the City of Beverly Hills encountered unprecedented protest activity, including frequent pop-up protests, weekly planned protests and civil unrest. They were also seeing a significant demand on resources due to increasing crime trends. The Beverly Hills Police Department (BHPD) examined a variety of options to enhance its services to further its core mission of keeping the community safe. This included hiring two armed private security firms to provide supplemental security in their Business Triangle, at a cost of $1.4 million for an initial term of two months.
Weekly protests continued and the terms of the agreements with the armed private security firms were extended numerous times. In February 2022, because the City was still experiencing events that required ongoing additional staffing, including animal rights protests, repeated smash-and-grab incidents at various retail stores in Sout...
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