San Diego police are sending extra officers to the Gaslamp Quarter starting this weekend to crack down on fights and other disorderly conduct that have been roiling the nightlife district.<\/p>\n
The enforcement operation, dubbed Operation Last Call, will increase foot patrols and tactical units in the area to strictly enforce public consumption and disorderly conduct laws, city officials said Friday. The enforcement will first focus on the intersection of Fifth Avenue and F Street, where an especially large number of fights have broken out, according to police spokesperson Ashley Nicholes.<\/p>\n
Officials said the \u201czero-tolerance posture\u201d toward illegal behavior will continue until there is a \u201cnotable reduction in violence and illegal behavior in the Gaslamp.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want everyone coming to the Gaslamp to have a great time and enjoy the best of what San Diego has to offer,\u201d Police Chief Scott Wahl said. \u201cUnfortunately, we have seen an increase in violence and lawlessness that threatens our residents and our officers. Enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police did not provide recent data on crimes such as disorderly conduct in the Gaslamp Quarter. There were 985 reported incidents last year, down from 1,058 in 2024, according to the department.<\/p>\n
Police said assaults on officers in the area have increased by 172% over the past two years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe encourage all parts of our justice system to take a look at how we can collectively address this issue and ensure that individuals know that this behavior is unacceptable and will result in consequences,\u201d Nicholes said.<\/p>\n
In the last few months, multiple fights have been filmed and gone viral on social media. In at least two of the fights, several people can be seen throwing punches at each other and police using pepper spray to try to gain control. In response to some videos, viewers have questioned the use of force deployed by police during the melees.<\/p>\n
During the most recent incident, on Sunday, officers observed a fight break out between two men, and while working to address that situation, they were repeatedly obstructed and assaulted, Officer Colin Steinbroner said. Five people were ultimately arrested on charges including public fighting, resisting arrest, interfering with officers and public intoxication.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur officers continually receive training in de-escalation and in preventing larger public safety concerns, but the reality is that the complexity of the issues our officers are dealing with and how quickly situations can escalate can lead to varying levels of force,\u201d Steinbroner said. \u201cOur officers have an important job to do in the Gaslamp to maintain public safety and deserve to do their work in a safe environment, free from interference and physical assaults.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city also plans to play an active role in public safety improvements by focusing on infrastructure, cleanliness, the public right-of-way and the overall visitor experience, officials said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Gaslamp Quarter is an iconic part of San Diego where people should be able to enjoy themselves, businesses should be able to succeed, and our police officers should be able to do their jobs safely,\u201d Mayor Todd Gloria said. \u201cWe\u2019re also working across the City to improve conditions in the Gaslamp because keeping Downtown safe, clean and vibrant requires all of us to do our part.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Diego police are sending extra officers to the Gaslamp Quarter starting this weekend to crack down on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7,138,4928,181,23,100,74,84,76,75,1696],"class_list":["post-447309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-california","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-gaslamp-quarter","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}