SAN DIEGO — San Diegans are working to address crime committed against businesses near and around downtown.
The San Diego Neighborhood Coalition met Thursday. Their focus was how business owners and community members can work with the City Attorney's office and police to better address crime in the neighborhoods.
"Seeing more and more problems with homelessness with crime so the communities came together," said Kevin Arnold, the founder of the San Diego Neighborhood Coalition.
The coalition includes East Village, Little Italy, North Park, Hillcrest and Mission Hills. He says break-ins and crime in the area have businesses seeking help.
"One of the business owners on Pacific Highway came into his business and there was a homeless man sleeping in the business. When they asked this person to leave the homeless person pulled a knife on the employees," Arnold said.
They're looking to better protect businesses and hold those committing crimes accountable. City Attorney Mara Elliott explained what types of crimes her office handles.
"If it's theft up to $950 that rests with us, if it's vandalism, graffiti, code enforcement type issues all of that comes to us," she said.
She says municipal code violations such as the no camping ban also go to her office.
"For most encroachment or unsafe camping ordinances cases individuals are cited and released at the scene. If an individual has a recent history of citations they may be arrested and released the same day. Either way they're not serving jail time," said Paige Folkman, the assistant city attorney.
They say the best thing to do is call 911 if you see a crime.
"If you witness a crime report it to the police. We can't start our process as prosecutors until the police have done their process," Folkman said.
Along with making reports, it's extremely important to have plenty of documentation.
"What we ask is to take pictures take videos because our juries now-a-days really want to see evidence themselves," Elliott said.
She says this evidence is vital for their office. The City Attorney will only issue charges if there's sufficient evidence of the crime and they believe it will be convicted. Contact the City Attorney's office, here.
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