Has the “Police State” in San Jose Killed the Nightlife?

Even though overall crime in 2014 is down from 2013 by 9.1% (see chart below), one would not be able to tell on a Friday or Saturday night in Downtown San Jose. The city appears to be in a Police State.  Cop cars are lined up all along downtown streets just waiting for someone to make a mistake.

It’s enough to prevent people from going out in Downtown San Jose.

On a typical Friday or Saturday night, there can be as many as 35 to 45 officers with their squad cars parked outside nightclubs in downtown.

Many times, last call is early, at 1am. The effort is to evacuate downtown of its nightlife population, as many as 10,000 people, by 2:15am. Streets are closed off, and traffic is diverted straight to the freeway.

Young, hard-working or school-going people want to go out with friends and let off some steam on a Friday or Saturday night. The number of squad cars and the hostile air can make people feel like criminals even though they’ve not committed a crime.  It deters people from going out and slows down the nightlife economy in San Jose, arguably causing millions of dollars of lost revenue a year and ruining the hard-earned weekend night people look forward to.  

To add insult to injury, merchants, themselves, are forced to pay into a “nightlife committee” that funds the extra police “support” outside their establishments, which infringes upon their own businesses and revenues.

 

 

What’s the answer?

Although patrons, clubs, and restaurants are fed up, no one is speaking up

Would you like to speak up?

Here is Mayor Chuck Reed’s email: [email protected]
Or
Tweet to San Jose Police Chief Larry Esquivel @sjpdchief

http://www.sjpd.org/CrimeStats/crimestats.html

https://www.facebook.com/SanJosePD

 

Edited by Flora Richards Gustafson.