Sonoma County hires private security to patrol Guerneville

Private security officers in gray-collared shirts will be keeping watch over the late-night activities of Guerneville on summer weekends as part of an unusual deal with the county to fund downtown patrols.

The revival of Main Street in town and the surrounding Russian River area over the past several years has boosted foot traffic in the unincorporated community of about 4,500. Local business owners say they hope private security will help manage the less welcome sorts of traffic, from loud drunken revelers when the bars let out to homeless people sleeping in doorways.

“Our community is buzzing,” said Debra Johnson, president of the Russian River Chamber of Commerce.

Johnson said the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office simply doesn’t have enough personnel to provide the coverage that merchants and others in town want.

“Being in a rural area, we certainly find it is challenging … managing poor behavior in town,” said Johnson, who has run a restaurant, video store and now a real estate practice for 22 years in Guerneville.

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors in June approved a one-time payment of $35,000 from the county’s general fund to the Russian River chamber. The group has paid for patrols for several weekends this summer, and the county funds will keep a civilian officer from Santa Rosa-based firm SOCO Private Security downtown from about 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., Thursday through Monday for the rest of the summer season.

Supervisor Efren Carrillo, who represents the area, said that he believes it is the first time the county has paid for private security to provide such community-watch service. He said the board wanted to explore whether the model might work in other areas of the county that could use additional eyes on the ground to deter nuisances.

While he wouldn’t elaborate on what other areas might benefit, Carrillo said the approach could assist the Sheriff’s Office, which is still rebounding after years of flat or reduced staffing levels.

“We’re just going to have to depend on creating better partnerships between law enforcement entities, chambers, homeowner associations to address that,” Carrillo said. “It would be foolish to think we would have a city-type police unit in rural and unincorporated areas. The population levels and activity levels don’t compare.”

Sheriff Steve Freitas said that he ideally would have several additional deputy positions based out of the sheriff’s substation in Guerneville. He said that while private security cannot replace the work of sworn law enforcement officers, “the more eyes and ears watching things, the better it is for us.”

“I don’t see private security as interfering with the duties or mission of the Sheriff’s Office,” Freitas said.

For several months, Deputy John Littrell as been focusing on the Russian River area as part of the sheriff’s community-oriented policing program relaunched last year. One goal is to pay additional attention to the area’s homeless population, concentrated in camps near the river, and to address the accompanying health, crime and environmental concerns.

Johnson, the chamber president, said Littrell’s presence is welcome, but businesses want a small-town level of focus that goes beyond what the Sheriff’s Office currently is providing.

SOCO Private Security owner John Iervolino said that he has worked the Guerneville night shift himself. He said the bulk of the work involves encouraging people loitering in public areas like the bridge and plaza to move on and urging disorderly people to change their behavior. He and his staff alert the Sheriff’s Office if they witness any suspected criminal activity.

“We spend a lot of time in verbal judo,” Iervolino said. “We want to de-escalate with the use of words, that’s number one.”

Iervolino estimated that 60 percent of his encounters are with homeless people and he has all officers carry resource guides that can help them direct those in need to services.

“The problem is there’s nothing in Guerneville. In that moment, it’s fruitless, but the next day we hope they take a bus and enter a shelter,” Iervolino said.

He said that some area businesses and homeowners have hired his firm to keep special patrols at those sites and asked that they be included in the weekend patrol routine.

Don McEnhill disappointedly reported that someone had gone into the new downtown Riverkeeper Park since its grand opening a week ago and ripped out several dozen plants from a single location inside the 5-acre site.

McEnhill, who heads the group Russian Riverkeeper, said he’s arranging to have the park added to the security circuit, to ensure someone “can go through there a couple times a night.”

Iervolino is a 1977 graduate of Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa whose parents formerly ran NY Pie pizza at Brookwood Avenue and Fourth Street.

He formed his company in 2013 after several years working for other private security firms. He said his contracts include domestic and workplace protection as well as deals to provide guards in hospitals.

Half of his staff are bilingual English and Spanish speakers, he said. They all receive sensitivity training to work with special groups, such as the LGBT community, and training on mental illness.

While some staff members carry guns for specific assignments, the officers in Guerneville will have only high-powered flashlights, batons, pepper spray and smartphones with cameras.

“We can’t do what law enforcement does, but we can do a lot of things similar to law enforcement that is saving the county and the cities quite a bit of money,” Iervolino said.

Staff Writer Mary Callahan contributed to this report. You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.