BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – When it comes to addressing crime on the streets of Bakersfield, police and civic leaders can read reports, crunch statistics and analyze trends, but there’s nothing quite like taking a street level view.
That’s exactly what city leaders did Tuesday afternoon on one particularly challenging stretch of Union Avenue. They got together and took a walk.
Assistant Police Chief Brent Stratton said the department realizes it can’t just arrest its way out of some challenges, so they bring in others.
“With the support of city hall, the city council, and bringing public works and the fire department, code enforcement, the police department,” he said, “(we are) able to look at an area holistically and see what are the things we might be able to do to improve the quality of life in a certain area.”
17 News visited some of those areas as well and asked business owners and their workers what they thought.
How can the city make safe this notorious section of Union Avenue – known to some as the Blade for its prostitution and human trafficking?
“Maybe some trash bins would be something that would help around here,” said Nitho Hernandez, who sells cars at Deal Time Auto Sales. “(More street) lights would be one thing. Trash bins, lights, and maybe just patrolling the area a little bit more.”
Greg Flanagan, who runs Econo-Air, a family business since 1977, says continued police presence – and enforcing existing laws – were key.
“Police presence, I would think, would be the number one factor,” he said. “But you also need to have a hot line, something like that.”
And then, he added, enforce those laws with teeth.
“Our legal system needs to go after people,” he said.
Ahmed Taher, who has worked at the Smoke Island Smoke Shop for three and a half years, said things are already improving.
“The last couple months are way better,” he said. “Way better than the last summer. We had somebody come in the store with a gun (and was) hiding in the back room from the police. We have a lot of fights over here. The prostitutes is a problem in the back, ‘cuz they crazy, you can’t stop nothing,” said Taher. “Even sometimes when I call the police, they don’t come. You feel, like, safe when you work over here.”
That should be welcome news for Bakersfield police, to know their presence is making an impact. Merchants we talked to off camera said homelessness and loitering outside their doors still leave them uneasy.
Do city officials have an answer for that? We’ll see.
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