By Robert J. Hansen | OBSERVER Correspondent
In a vacant lot on Del Paso Boulevard next to Sunland Liquor, where a shooting injured two adults and two children earlier this month, a band played and free food was being offered on a recent Friday night.
Despite the shooting and a string of burglaries that have plagued businesses on the boulevard, Dimitri Godamunne opens the gates around the lot so the Del Paso community can come together.
“Just a little positive activity,” Godamunne said. “It’s what the community needs.”
Godamunne said the community has learned to rely on each other after years of the city’s neglect, whether resources or police protection.
Last week, the Del Paso Boulevard Partnership and a nearby collision center were broken into. Slow police response time led to Howie Ditkof’s resignation as partnership chairman.
“The thieves certainly knew that the Sacramento Police would not respond to business burglar alarms in any timely manner and that they had plenty of time inside the collision center,” Ditkof wrote in his resignation letter.
Ditkof estimated damage to the collision center at about $100,000.
“The recent experience of others in North Sacramento, it certainly appears that the City of Sacramento has decided not to provide the essential city service of police protection to business and property,” Ditkof wrote.
When Fred Adams’ clothing store, Universal Clothing Boutique, was burglarized, Sacramento police were seen driving past the store as the suspects stood in front of the window they broke through.
“All they had to do was stop,” Adams said.
He added that just driving by isn’t a presence.
“Pull over and park. Talk to people,” Adams said. “Get out and talk to business owners and see how they’re feeling.”
Adams wants to see the right kind of policing, not just more police.
“How hard is it to pull over and ask how you are doing?” Adams said.
John Blair, whose printing company was broken into three times last month, said he doesn’t think he would be able to make it without the community’s support.
“I wasn’t able to make rent,” Blair said. “Community support is the only way we’ve been able to do any of the things we’ve been able to do out here.”
Blair was upset to learn that the police apparently didn’t respond quickly because he didn’t pay a $30 city alarm permit.
“A lot of these business owners don’t know and weren’t told they need to have paid for an alarm permit,” Blair said.
Blair said when an alarm company notifies the police, the police check to make sure the alarm permit has been paid.
Ditkof said he was told by a Sacramento police captain that the long response time was because the collision center hadn’t paid its alarm permit.
The Sacramento Police Department said business owners have every right to be upset about the burglaries and other property crimes.
“Moreover, in recent weeks, we have increased our patrols in our business districts along Del Paso Boulevard, and our North Problem-Oriented Policing Team is investing considerable time in working with our business community,” an SPD spokesperson said in an email. “Moving forward, we will continue evaluating our response strategies and working with our business communities to protect life and property while solving problems.”
The city has had an alarm permit ordinance since 1985. It was adopted to reduce the number of false alarms within the city, according to the police department. The department said it receives more than 26,000 security alarm calls each year, of which approximately 97% are false.
If an individual or business does not pay for an alarm permit, their account is suspended, police said.
“This means the police department will not be dispatched to alarm activations unless there is confirmation of a crime or attempted crime, beyond the alarm activation itself,” the spokesperson said.
According to city data, 199 burglaries have been reported between January and April in police district 2, which encompasses Del Paso Boulevard.
Police data said 82 firearms have been seized out of police district 2 and that the city has had 136 shooting crimes.
The Sacramento Taco Festival started looking for a new location to hold the annual fundraiser and postponed the event scheduled for May 21 in lieu of the shooting and Adams’ store being burglarized.
Launched in 2012 on Del Paso Boulevard, organizers say it is difficult to hold it any longer on the boulevard.
“This is very frustrating for organizations like ours that try to bring good things to this neighborhood, only to have that goodwill undone because of incidents like this,” said event organizer Mina Perez, President and CEO of the Vida De Oro Foundation.
Those at the Friday event said the recent incidents are why the festival should have stayed.
Councilmember Sean Loloee, whose district includes Del Paso Boulevard, said what happened there is very disappointing. “Thank God there were no fatalities, especially when you’re talking about children,” he said.
Loloee was not pleased when he found out police drove past the suspects who burglarized Universal Clothing Boutique.
“For the officer to drive by when we have two characters with their hands behind their backs,” Loloee said. “When they look like minors out at that time of night, I expect the police to stop and see what they’re doing out there.”
These incidents show why police need to be more involved in the community, said Loloee. He added stealing from a small business creates so many problems for the family running their business.
“We need to do better as a neighborhood,” he said.
Loloee has asked Police Chief Kathy Lester for more patrol officers on the boulevard, hoping increased presence minimizes such incidents.
Loloee thinks the discussions around police reform over the past few years have made things worse.
“When we’re telling the police you can’t do this, you can’t do that, only respond to these calls,” Loloee said. “I think we need to go back and stop listening to emotional people and their rhetoric about the police and demand the police to do their job.”
Loloee said when planned future developments are built, increased pedestrian traffic will attract more businesses, creating more opportunities for the people of Del Paso Heights.
Daniel Savala, executive director of the Del Paso Boulevard Partnership, said police should focus on “problem-oriented policing.” The partnership provides services such as graffiti and litter cleanup to approximately 313 properties with 158 property owners, according to its website.
“The officers who are out there getting to know who the bad guys are … stopping that stuff before it turns into a shooting, is what we haven’t had enough of,” Savala said.
Savala said he sent a letter last year to the City Council saying that increasing the police budget won’t necessarily help the boulevard unless there is a focus on community policing. He said the partnership has an off-duty police program that is collecting data on the impact of community policing on Del Paso Boulevard.
Adams feels more secure now that security is patrolling after business hours rather than during the day.
“Since that happened, they used to be out here in the daytime but now they’ve changed their shifts to 5 p.m. to 6 a.m.,” Adams said. “Now we actually have people out here watching the buildings at nighttime.”