SAN DIEGO — New policies could be coming to east county’s largest city as El Cajon looks to address crime at some of its hotels.
Last week city leaders approved a cap on the amount of 911 calls coming from all 18 motels that are part of the Path program.
It will soon restrict them to one call per room for the entire year or risk getting fined.
“We have seen an influx in crime, a lot of petty thefts happening in the neighborhood and a lot of open-air drug dealers running people off and threatening people in the community,” said Mayor Bill Wells, who has been vocal on cracking down the crime in the area.
The move follows a series of 911 calls and last month’s arrests of two sex offenders, one of them was renting a room with a hotel voucher.
“The Department of Justice gives an understanding that you should expect one police call to a hotel room per year,” said Mayor Wells.
He also added that “If a hotel has 30 rooms, we would expect about 30 calls to police during that year period. If we get a significant amount of calls above that, we will be looking into that and investigating.”
Concerns have been raised that putting a cap on 911 calls could discourage people from dialing during true emergencies.
Critics also say stricter policies will only pressure hotel owners to turn away vulnerable residents.
“We just want to make sure that the people that are coming in are people that are in need and are not people who are gaming the system or who should really be in prison,” said Mayor Wells.
This is not the first time El Cajon has tried to fine motels.
The city also tried to fine them after arguing many of them were accepting a high number of homeless people, however, California's attorney general rejected it after deeming it discriminatory.
The new rule still needs a second vote, once it's passed it will take effect 30 days later.