Recent attacks in the Lavender Heights district has led to the formation of a community patrol in the area. Groups of lavender-vest clad volunteers will help people get home safely from the bars and clubs in the area.
A victim of one attack that happened on August 30, Joseph Sais, said that he won’t let these attacks stop him from going out in Lavender Heights, a historically LGBTQ+ neighborhood in Midtown. He attended the patrol training that was held Wednesday evening at Mango’s Sacramento.
“Regardless, I’m not going to stop living my life,” Sais said. “Seeing the amount of people here has made it known that hate like this shouldn’t happen in Lavender Heights.”
Captain Robert Young with the Sacramento Police Department attended the community patrol training, and he said that the team of officers that patrol Lavender Heights and other entertainment districts are spread thin, with five officers patrolling these districts in Sacramento.
“There’s only so many of us to go around,” Young said. “If we have a large, for lack of a better term, bar fight that breaks out on Second or Front Street, sometimes those large incidents can pull 10 or 12 officers.”
Community Service Representatives from Sacramento Police Department advised patrollers not to intervene if they see an attack or confrontation, but to call the police if they see a crime taking place.
Some community members called for more police presence in the area. Neil Galimba, a business owner in Lavender Heights, said that he’s talked to a number of people who have been victimized by hate crimes in the area who don’t report the crimes to police.
“I’ve discovered four more victims I didn’t know about, and I told them we have to file a report, otherwise the city doesn’t know these things are happening,” Galimba said.
Phil Pluckebaum, the city councilmember who represents the Lavender Heights district, attended the patrol training. He said that he would like to see more officers patrolling the area as well, but the city doesn’t have the funding.
“The bad news is we’re, as a city, in a position of making cuts. We just made $66 million worth of cuts in the last budget. We have another at least $35 million to make in the next budget,” Pluckebaum said. “The likelihood of getting additional funding for any service in the city right now is pretty dire.”
Zachary Basler, Vice President of the Sacramento Stonewall Democrats, leads the community training on September 9, 2026.Ruth Finch/CapRadio
However, others were made uncomfortable by the police presence at the meeting, and at the prospect of more police presence in the area. The history of LGBTQ+ rights has been fraught with discrimination from police after raids on gay bars, from the infamous Stonewall Riot in New York in 1969, to the lesser-known 1966 Compton’s Cafeteria Riot in San Francisco, to the 1979 police raid on a gay disco in Sacramento that helped inspire Sacramento’s first Gay Pride Parade.
In the community patrol training, Sais called for meetings and other training for the community patrols to be held without police presence, so that more community members who feel uncomfortable with police presence would still be able to volunteer for patrols.
“There are queer voices that may not be heard, and with us making sure that we bring the communication style back to the community and finding alternative pathways,” Sais said. “We could find ways to reach individuals that still have systemically been abused by the police system.”
Zachary Basler, the Vice President of the Sacramento Stonewall Democrats, has spearheaded the effort to start these patrols. He said that he’s seen an outpouring of support for LGBTQ+ people in Sacramento.
Patrollers will walk with bar patrons to their rideshare or walk with them to ensure they can get home safe.
“I really see a big lifting-up of everybody and camaraderie happening and it’s … a beautiful thing to see,” Basler said. “I’m sorry that it’s happening under these unfortunate circumstances.”
One attendee of the meeting, Jo Collins-Carter, said that she came out to support her community, and that as a victim of attacks because of her identity and orientation, she wants to prevent any more violence coming to her community.
“I don’t want anyone else to go through the pain and struggle of recovering after something like that,” Collins-Carter said. “I still deal significantly with the repercussions of that, and if I can help prevent [that] or at least be present for someone in their time of need, it might change, might make a difference.”
She said that a patrol like this is a way to connect with your community.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to become close with your community if you’re not familiar with those in it and what organizations already exist,” Collins-Carter said. “This is a good jumping-off point to become involved and aware of those around you and how they both can help you and you can help them.”
Basler, who will be organizing further patrols in the future, said that there will be people patrolling Lavender Heights this weekend. Interested volunteers can reach him to sign up by calling or texting him at (415) 299-7027.
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