PHOENIX — People who live in one part of north Phoenix, along with business owners, are putting their money where their mouth is.
After noticing what they call unusual activity in the past few years, the group has come up with an unconventional way to help push out crime.
ABC15 is taking a deeper look at how and what effect it has on an understaffed police department.
"We could tell there was just an uptick of drug-related crimes in our community,” said 19North Community Alliance’s Shannon McBride.
McBride wants to change where she lives, but she's not just hoping for it she's working toward it.
"Let's figure out how do we become safer as a community, by safer I also mean, the people who are hurting on our streets deserves to be safer, too,” added McBride.
McBride runs the 19North Community Alliance.
Recently, the alliance teamed with more than 50 businesses and a few apartment complexes to hire private security to patrol Northern Avenue between Interstate 17 and 17th Avenue.
"We are constantly on the move. We address the issues we come across at the moment and not wait for it to become worse and fester and become a bigger problem,” said Captain Hank Mann with Omega Protective Services.
Melissa Sledge owns a business in the half-mile stretch where Omega Protectives Services patrols.
"We are a prime hangout place for people to loiter,” said Melissa Sledge.
Omega Protective Services patrols the area 24 hours a day seven days a week.
"My office looks right outside the front window, so I see just about everything going on,” added Sledge.
Sledge's business, Sledge Concrete Coatings, is next door to a methadone clinic.
People, she says, often wander onto her property leading her to call the police.
"The poor police department, as much as they try, there is just not enough of them to get out and answer those calls. But, to me, it is urgent,” added Sledge.
And, for the most part, McBride thinks that is what makes it work.
"So, we were able to make those dispatch phone calls locally rather than go to our police and that took some of those phone calls off of their busy plate, so they could deal with the stronger crimes or the dangerous crimes,” added McBride.
McBride tells ABC15 that businesses up and down Northern Avenue experience issues from people who wander and sleep at bus stops, to people who panhandle and loiter.
"That's what we were noticing and that was scary, especially as a woman going to get gas or whatever, it felt unsafe,” added McBride.
During the collaboration's trial run in April, May and June of this year, Phoenix police answered 164 calls for service. Last year, during those same months, police answered 204 calls.
The feeling of safety, Sledge believes, is worth the $3,000 a year she's paying.
"(It's a) Huge value to me for my employees, for our own safety, for our property value, for our customers and clientele coming in,” added Sledge.
Aside from businesses, and some apartment owners, coming in to support the alliance is Phoenix police.
"In my 23 years, what I have seen, is a lot of things seem to tie together whether it be crime or other activities and issues in the neighborhood,” said Phoenix Police Lieutenant Nick Jimenez.
But, even the supporters wonder if the new patrols solve the problem of crime or just move it somewhere else.
"You have the issue of where do the problems sometimes go? Do they spread out? Do they go a block south or a mile south,” stated Lt. Jimenez.
McBride shares those concerns.
"We're saying you cannot, zero tolerance for crime, in my community. I hope other communities do the same. It's the best I can do,” added McBride.
The long-term plan for the 19North Community Alliance is to expand the private security patrols to Dunlap and Glendale avenues to cover an entire district.
But, what about the people being moved?
ABC15 has another report, Tuesday at 6:00 p.m., detailing how the alliance addresses that concern.
