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Business Owners Working To Improve Safety In Downtown Stockton

STOCKTON (CBS13) — Business owners in Stockton are working together to help keep downtown safe for both employees and the many visitors who shop at stores every day.

Recent crime in the area has some businesses re-evaluating how they operate.

Despite the ongoing crime in downtown Stockton, Jennica Casciaro feels safe going to and from work every day.

“There are a lot of friendly people, a lot of friendly shops, Orlando’s is a really good place to come and get sandwiches or meet some nice people,” she said.

Before she started working at the sandwich shop, she was a frequent visitor who took advantage of everything downtown Stockton had to offer, and nothing has changed.

“There are good things that do happen at the waterfront and a lot of different areas, like port city, the baseball and stuff like that,” said Casciaro.

The Downtown Stockton Alliance is the agency providing economic development, environmental maintenance and advocacy on behalf of the businesses located in the 123 square blocks that make up the downtown district and that includes working with police to keep things safe.

“We have an ambassador team that is out on the street being the eyes and ears for the police department and for ourselves so, that we can report and detour activities that may be occurring on the street,” said Cynthia Fargo, CEO, Downtown Stockton Alliance.

The group monitors crime very closely. Monthly reports from the police department show the downtown district has the lowest rate of armed robberies, assaults and homicides than any other commercial district in Stockton.

“I think it’s summer time and there are people who have their own motives and activities and they are going to undertake that whether it’s here at the Regal cinema plaza, or the theater in Lodi, or San Francisco,” said Fargo.

The alliance continues to have security on patrol in the evenings to help assure visitors that things are more than safe downtown.

“You can’t prevent this, sometimes, when you start to observe it, and it has its own momentum, but you can certainly interfere with it, report and deter it in the future,” she said.

Just recently, the alliance started to encourage business owners to install surveillance cameras. The hope is to provide important information to police.

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