Police presence in the Morgan Hill downtown is something both
downtown merchants and the Morgan Hill Police Department agree on:
more is needed.
Police presence in the Morgan Hill downtown is something both downtown merchants and the Morgan Hill Police Department agree on: more is needed.
With the completion of the downtown plan by the Downtown Task Force, many merchants feel that no matter how the area is improved, if there isn’t more of a presence downtown, the vandalism and activities with the potential to escalate into something dangerous will continue, costing merchants money in repair and lost revenue.
“Some people seem to view the downtown as a playground, even after business hours, as the perfect place to hang out with no supervision,” said Brad Jones, co-owner of Thinker Toys and BookSmart. “During the day, I don’t think anyone cares who hangs out, as long as they are a customer sometimes, don’t litter or otherwise dirty the area, and don’t drive away other potential customers.”
The MHPD does not have the manpower to keep an officer downtown on a regular basis, said Sgt. Mark Brazeal, who addressed a group of merchants and others interested in the downtown area at a breakfast to present the downtown plan.
“As a downtown resident myself, I have a vested interest in having one of us down here as often as possible,” Brazeal said. “However, to put someone on duty here means pulling someone off patrol.”
Dan Craig, executive director of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, said the department is aware of the problems merchants and others downtown are facing.
“Another function of our organization is to bring the dialogue between businesses and the police department,” he said. “We are welcoming that and encouraging it. The police will be the first to tell you that staffing levels are low, and it is hard for them to provide the coverage. This is a very real issue that they can’t solve without budget increases.”
Brazeal said the three problems he sees downtown are juvenile crime, loitering and parking/traffic.
“The juvenile crime is minor crime, but nothing is too minor for you (downtown merchants) to call us about,” he said. “We want you to call. These things can escalate … With something like the recent window etchings, that’s done in 30 seconds, and the kid runs away. Unfortunately, you are left paying to fix the damage.”
Jones suggested that if there were a way to monitor certain locations downtown around the clock, police could see who was causing the damage, and juveniles might be discouraged from “hanging around” downtown after business hours.
“If we have the capacity to monitor them or record them on a regular basis,” he said, referring to the possibility of installing web cameras at downtown that could be monitored 24 hours a day. “It would easy and fairly cheep for owners to look at it and see what’s going on. It would certainly help with the thousands of dollars spent on graffiti and broken windows.”
It would also be possible to have police dispatchers monitor the cameras, Jones said.
