The city of San Diego and the office of District 3 Councilmember Toni Atkins have teamed up to launch a series of community public safety forums to address the sharp increase in crime, especially pedestrian robberies, within the last several months in the North Park, City Heights, Hillcrest and Balboa Park areas.

“They tend to single out people who may appear to be vulnerable, including senior citizens and local residents leaving restaurants and nightclubs in the area,” Atkins said at a press conference outside of the City Council offices on Nov. 20. “Stopping and solving these crimes is one of the police department’s highest priorities right now.”

City Attorney Mike Aguirre said he will launch a special task force to work directly with Atkins to address these crimes in her council district. Following several rapes and attacks in Mission Beach on Oct. 15, Aguirre said he put into place some additional protective policies and procedures and plans to do the same for District 3.

“We will be attending the community meetings and we are going to be pouring substantial resources into the efforts to try and make sure that we have restored the community to the level of safety that we need to achieve,” he said.

The first meeting will take place on Monday, Nov. 27, at 5:00 p.m. at The Center, located at 3909 Centre St. in Hillcrest. The second meeting will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 29, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Park Recreation Center, located at 4044 Idaho St. A special meeting of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership for employees and volunteers of Balboa Park will take place on Monday, Dec. 4, at 8:30 a.m.

A final meeting will take place on Wednesday, Dec. 6, at 6:30 p.m. at the Metro Career Center, located at 3910 University Ave. in City Heights. This will also be a special meeting of the Mid-City Police Advisory Board.

A series of four robberies took place in North Park last weekend: three pedestrian robberies on Nov. 18 and one on Nov. 19, according to a San Diego Police Department watch commander’s log. The Western Division is investigating all cases.

“We’ve seen an unusual spike in crime in these neighborhoods,” San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne said at the press conference. “We’re putting together a comprehensive plan to go after the persons who have committed these crimes.”

Sergeant Frank Hoerman, who works in Western Division’s Investigations Unit, said there have been 49 pedestrian robberies in the Western Division since Aug. 1. Lansdowne said 10 arrests have been made in connection with a series of these robberies.

During one crime, which occurred in North Park at the intersection of Lincoln and Florida streets, the SDPD reported that a 57-year-old white male was walking to his house and was confronted by an African-American male, who appeared to be between 30 and 40 years old, 6 feet tall and 190 pounds. The suspect was wearing a hat and a white hooded sweatshirt, was armed with a large, dark-colored handgun and demanded cash.

On Nov. 18, three 70-year-olds were walking to their car at the intersection of 29th Street and University Avenue in North Park when they were confronted by two African-American males between the ages of 16 and 18, according to the watch commander’s log. The teenager was also armed with a large, dark-colored handgun and demanded cash.

Another street robbery occurred on Nov. 18, involving a 37-year-old Hispanic female victim who was walking to her house at the 3700 block of Arizona Street in North Park and was confronted by an African-American male, according to the log. The suspect was described as 5 feet, 4 inches tall and wore a dark hat. He was armed with a large silver handgun and demanded cash.

On Nov. 19, a 43-year-old white male was walking at the corner of Iowa Street and Lincoln Avenue when he was confronted by an African-American male in his 30s wearing a baseball cap. The suspect was armed with a handgun and demanded money, but the victim was able to run away.

The Gay & Lesbian Times has previously reported on multiple robberies and assaults involving gay victims in the Hillcrest area since July.

“There have been loud voices coming out of Hillcrest more recently and there is a concern on the part of some in the gay and lesbian community that maybe gay people are being targeted for these crimes,” Atkins said. “There are people from the LGBT community that have been assaulted and robbed, but I want to caution people: It is affecting everybody – senior citizens, from young to old…. I don’t want citizens to be lulled into the perception that it’s only one community that’s being targeted, because if you feel that way, you can become a victim by thinking ‘oh, it’s not me that people are targeting.’”

Atkins said plans to launch the Stonewall Citizens Patrol will be formally announced at the Hillcrest town hall meeting on Nov. 27.

The Stonewall Citizens Patrol was formed by American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER) in partnership with the SDPD, in response to the escalating violent attacks within the Hillcrest area. It is being supported by Atkins and local businesses.

Stonewall Citizens Patrol chair Bob Lehman recently met with the police department to organize a training session scheduled to take place on Monday, Nov. 27, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at The Center immediately following the town hall meeting.

The patrol was originally instated to monitor the areas of Balboa Park, Hillcrest and North Park during Pride next year, but will now begin patrolling the area after the first training has been completed, Lehman said.

Atkins said the main focus of the community forums is to discuss how people can remain safe in the different neighborhoods of her council district.

“These are different communities with different dynamics, different types of pedestrian orientation, so I want everybody to be safe,” she said.

In the SDPD’s Mid-City Division, which includes parts of District 3, Capt. Guy Swanger said there have been 45 street robberies in the last 60 days and that 40 percent of those robberies have occurred in parts of District 3, in the areas between El Cajon Boulevard and University Avenue.

“We are working with our neighboring communities in the Mid-City division because the crime has pretty much gone up and down a corridor,” Western Division Lt. Margaret Schaufelberger said. “We’re going to be working with our other divisions to put together a comprehensive plan in order to arrest them.”

Lansdowne said one of the inevitable results of living in a big city is crime, but managing and curbing it is what these forums will be about. He said there has been a 15-percent increase in robberies citywide, but that the violent crime rate is down overall.

Many of these crimes involve toy guns, which are readily available, Lansdowne said.

“I think it’s important to point out to young people who get a hold of these guns in a robbery, they’re looking at five to 15 [years in prison], and there’s no reduction in those sentences,” he said. “Their entire life can be changed forever because of the careless act of using these toy guns and thinking that it’s not dangerous. It’s very dangerous for them and very dangerous for our officers to respond to these calls.”