San Juan Capistrano hires ‘very needed’ security for Los Rios District, but some question firearms

As a longtime resident of the San Juan Capistrano neighborhood that bears his family’s name, Stephen Rios has grown accustomed to tawdry tourists and pushy photographers. But over the last few weeks, he’s welcomed a new element that he believes is a much needed response to an unwelcome influx of loitering, vandalism and trespassing: private security, patrolling in golf carts, armed with guns and funded by a private-public partnership.

“I appreciate the private security and the cost that comes with that,” said Rios. “And I am pleased that they are armed. I would not want them to be in a dangerous environment without any sidearm to protect themselves.”

Rios’ home, which includes a 226-year-old adobe, is in the midst of what’s now a patrol area for the private security firm Citiguard, Inc. Armed guards from Citiguard have been walking the Los Rios District and adjacent downtown area from 4 p.m. to midnight each day since Dec. 10, funded by a $50,000 contract the City Council unanimously approved Dec. 7, with 25% to be reimbursed by the owners of the downtown Franciscan Plaza parking garage. 

Citiguard, based in the San Fernando Valley’s West Hills, with an office in Irvine,  is to work in San Juan Capistrano through next June in a trial run that City Manager Ben Siegel said is part of a broader effort to encourage downtown business employees to park in newly designated lots away from the garage, which is aimed at customers and diners. 

“As you know, it can be very dark in certain areas along the pathway from the parking lot to the downtown, so the security guard will patrol the area and the parking lots to foster a safe environment,” Siegel said in an email. “We also received some reports of car burglaries and vandalism in the structure, so we are hopeful that the guard will reduce those types of property crimes as well.”

Under the city contract, two guards in a golf cart will patrol the area Thursday through Sunday and one will patrol Monday through Wednesday for the first two weeks, one has been patrolling each night since Dec. 24. The contract approved by the council last month allows Siegel three year-long renewals “based on performance and budget availability.”

Residents and business owners said the issue is, at its core, about the area’s growing population of homeless people. On the National Register of Historic Places since 1983, Los Rios Street has never been immune to crime: Mayor John Taylor was assaulted while walking near his home in 2012, and no was ever arrested. But Rios said the neighborhood is seeing more transients and drifters who drunkenly loiter, fight and vandalize.

The city recently placed a fence around the Montanez Adobe — built in 1794 and on the national register since 1975 — after months of damage, and Siegel told a resident in an October email that he and council members “are also concerned with homelessness in the Los Rios area and the impacts on residents and visitors to our community.”

Three weeks ago, Mission San Juan Capistrano’s front door was spray-painted with graffiti. 

Some agree with Rios that private security is badly needed; others are leery of more conflict and are questioning the necessity of firearms.

“I do think it’s necessary, but I’m just hoping that they definitely have mediation skills,” said Dina Meeks, owner of the Nest specialty shop.

Business owner Rob Quest said security “is very needed” and is part of a business parking plan that includes increased garage prices, aimed at deterring employees and pushing them to the new, more distant lots. 

“You have to give them a reason to park there,” said Quest, whose businesses include the Sundried Tomato and Bueno Bueno restaurants.

Michelle Hure, a physician who owns OC SkinLab on the south end of Los Rios, said she’d love to see a deterrent to crime, which she said a security guard “may start addressing ... but is not the full answer we need.”

“This comes down to accountability and oversight over an armed individual given free rein to wield power and a deadly weapon as he/she sees fit,” Hure said. “I am not comfortable with that, and my fellow residents shouldn’t be either.”

Orange County Sheriff Sgt. Dennis Breckner said the security guards who patrol retail centers, office complexes and other private property usually aren’t armed. Still, ”we deal with armed security quite often, and they’re fully aware of the law related to their limitations,” Breckner said.

Included with the contract approved last month, Citiguard’s proposal to the city lists “power to arrest,” “active shooting” and “fire/life safety” under its scope of services, along with incident reporting, security alarm response, vehicle patrol, special event services and security assessments. Citiguard employee training includes ethics, risk assessment, deescalation, interpersonal skills and “predictive profiling,” according to the proposal.

San Juan Capistrano is one of 13 Orange County cities that doesn’t have its own police department and instead contracts with the sheriff’s department. The 2020-21 contract pays $10.7 million for law enforcement services that include patrol deputies and a substation next to City Hall dubbed San Juan Capistrano Police Services.

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Citiguard‘s proposal touted its employees’ experience, stating that “more than 90% ” of its security personnel are experienced in military and/or law enforcement.

“We are in a new era in which public safety and public relations co-exist to serve the community, and where robust, progressive security guard services and security strategies for the 21st century reduce risks and protect the bottom line,” according to a letter to the city from Steven Barragan, Citiguard’s director of business operations.

Breckner, who worked in private security before joining the sheriff’s department, said the city is “doing right by the taxpayers when it comes to this, because to appeal to deputies to do that same thing would cost certainly a lot more, and frankly that would be a waste of a deputy.”

Breckner said security’s job “is to observe activity and report it to us.”

“It’s not unusual for retail centers to have offsite parking for employees and have security oversee that,” Breckner said. “And that’s not something taxpayers are going to want to pay deputies to do, frankly. That’s not our role.”

Though the pandemic has again shuttered businesses, the Los Rios District and surrounding area have experienced heightened activity in the last few years amid new restaurant openings, renovated buildings and a newly renovated Verdugo Street, which leads into Los Rios. More homeless people began loitering, Rios said, though fewer have been seen in recent weeks since the Montanez Adobe was fenced. Private security will help end those problems for good, he said.

“When the sheriff decided not to do any enforcement because of the 9th Circuit case, they just felt immune and they could do whatever they wanted. The city wasn’t doing anything,” Rios said, referring to Martin v. Boise, the 2018 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that prohibits the enforcement of anti-camping ordinances if shelter isn’t available.

The sheriff’s department has cited that case as the reason deputies won’t enforce anti-camping ordinances in the South County cities, which do not have shelters. 

Meghann M. Cuniff is a contributor to Times OC. She’s on Twitter @meghanncuniff.

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