car parks

Public car parks and surveillance cameras in the city center have been out of use for almost two years. City council unanimously approved $ 1.4 million for a new camera system at the October 5 meeting. The police department hopes the cameras will be installed before the end of the year. In the meantime, according to police, further steps are being taken to protect the area.

During the council discussion, Mayor Whitaker said that neither he nor the other council members had ever received an email regarding a camera failure and that if he or his fellow council members had received such a notice , they would have made it a priority.

However, a city public documents request (R000627-091721) requesting emails regarding the cameras showed only one dated February 2020 from Chief of Police Dunn to all council members, City Manager Domer, Antonia Castro-Graham and Ellis Chang, explaining that the cameras had to be put back, replaced. There were no emails responding to Chief Dunn’s email.

Dunn is currently both Chief of Police and IT Manager.

Retirement Observer Editor-in-chief Sharon Kennedy also sent an email on Aug. 25 alerting every member of city council to the lack of surveillance cameras and the serious security concern for any citizen using public parking. Only council member Zahra responded and, in an August 31 email, said it was a priority and was forwarding the email to Chief Dunn for an update.

Fullerton Police Chief Dunn was invited by City Council at the October 5 council meeting to brief the public on the ongoing investigation into JP23, which resident Samantha Velasquez said she believed being drugged and after leaving the bar she was raped and left in the SoCo parking lot. .

“There have been several people who have made similar allegations to those of the original victim [Samantha Velasquez]Said Chief Dunn. “These investigations take months. We want to get all the evidence. The observer was later said by the Fullerton Police Department sergeant. McCaskill that the exact number of victims reported in this case could not be disclosed due to HIPAA regulations.

“Running in harmony with [the assault, drugging, and rape investigations] is the administrative process which is our entertainment license recourse process over which I have control in my office, ”said Chief Dunn. “This process is ongoing. We work through these [steps] now and I think the public will have a little more clarity on the department’s efforts in the criminal vein and the Fullerton Municipal Code (FMC) vein, which governs the entertainment licensing process.

Asked after the first police department remedy hearing for JP23, owner Jacob Poozhikala said one of the first remedies was removing the drink from the fishbowl, which Police Chief Dunn said is easily drugged. Since then, Poozhikala has also removed the tinted glass that limited visibility and installed a small sign in the women’s toilet that tells women how to protect themselves while drinking.

“These problems [over-intoxication and fights] aren’t JP23 issues, they’re all bar issues, ”Poozhikala said.

Observer volunteers visited the downtown nightlife scene and found several apparent Conditional Use Permit (UPC) violations (for which JP23 had previously been cited) occurring at other bars, including charges of customer coverage at Matador and Ziing. Matador had over 100 people lined up at Amerige’s corner, and Revolucion served drinks in fish jars (large enough to intoxicate five people).

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