Following recent attacks in Lavender Heights, the historically LGBTQ+ district in Midtown Sacramento, and the formation of a volunteer citizen safety patrol for the area, a local security company will now patrol the district 24/7.
Mayor Kevin McCarty arranged for the company, called HQ Security, to provide a patrol at all times near K and 21st street, where local nightclubs Faces and Badlands are located.
The security company already provides services for the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, but will expand their services to cover Lavender Heights at no cost.
McCarty said that a man who was attacked recently, Joseph Sais, worked at city hall.
“That hit close to home. That’s not why we’re stepping up, because of where he worked, [but] because he was a citizen of Sacramento,” McCarty said.
McCarty did not attend a safety forum held last December after Alvin Prasad was attacked in an alleged hate crime. Prasad later died of the injuries he sustained during the attack.
“I didn’t know about the meeting, we’re here today,” McCarty said.
There was also a volunteer citizen safety patrol formed earlier this month at a training attended by police, Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum and community members.
At that meeting, Pluckebaum said that the city doesn’t have enough resources to patrol the area any more than police already do. The mayor echoed that sentiment at a Monday morning press conference.
“We don’t have enough public safety officers in the city of Sacramento,” McCarty said. “From now, today to when I was last on the city council, [Sacramento has] grown by over 100,000 people and our sworn officers have decreased by 100.”
Terry Sidie, long time owner of the nightclub Faces, said that he’s no stranger to experiencing hate. He also owned a gay bar called Bojangles, which opened in 1976, before he opened Faces. He said that the bar was attacked in 1979.
“I was at Bojangles when they shot at us from the freeway,” Sidie said. “There are people that will try to hurt you at times.”
Aaron Zeff, the owner of HQ Security, said that their patrols will shift to accommodate times when more people will be in the area.
“We have at least four cars on in the central city, 24/7,” Zeff said. “During peak times we could have eight vehicles… In law enforcement, having a visual presence is a significant piece of providing security.”
Zeff said that they’d be maintaining patrols for as long as they’re able.
“I am a business owner, a property owner in Midtown,” Zeff said. “When you have skin in the game, you’ll do anything you can.”
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