Long time Grover Beach resident Frank Hernandez commends the Grover Beach Police Department for the peace and tranquility of his town.
“I wish it all stays the same. Because like I said, we never have [had] any problems with anybody around here," Hernandez said. “They respond to the whenever the situation they get together. They seem to do pretty good job.”
Some community members expressed concerns about certain areas that they feel need more attention to prevent crimes such as car thefts or break-ins.
“We hear about car break ins frequently…” Carl Boatman told me.
“We've actually had a couple times that people we know have to climb over the fence to get into our area that have, gotten cars and trucks and taken things out of there as well," Joan Frank said.
According to Grover Beach’s Police Department’s Annual Report, auto thefts were up by 17.6% in 2023 from the year prior. Commander Jim Munro tells me technology like license plate readers like these and city surveillance cameras, have helped retrieve many stolen cars.
“Had we not had the license plate technology, we would not have recovered, many of those vehicles, it has been extremely helpful," Munro said.
He also expressed a recent $543,000 federal grant has marked a significant milestone for the police department.
According to the Commander, the funds will be put towards:
- New community cameras
- New license plate reader cameras, both out in the streets, also in their patrol cars,
- Multi-band radios that allow the Police Department to communicate with State Parks and the Fire Department
With these funds and the integration of newer technology, the Police Department aims to bolster public safety and make needed improvements.
"There are several cameras up right now that are currently not working at all, that have just very blurry pictures that wouldn't be able to be, refreshed as soon as we're going to be able to do those now," Munro said.
He also mentions they were made aware of the grant opportunity by Congressman Salud Carbajal's Office, adding that the application process was pretty competitive.
“Over half $1 million for a small city like Grover Beach, is a huge amount of money and allows us to do some things that, we otherwise wouldn't be able to do," Munro said.
