Motels’ calls to police are down

For a second time this year, Costa Mesa officials are lauding the success of a law aimed at curbing the amount of police attention required at city motels and hotels, saying that it has contributed to a “dramatic decrease” in police calls from the properties.

“The city and motel operators have worked together to make this large decrease in nuisance calls happen,” city CEO Tom Hatch said in a statement this week. “Our motels are safer, and our police officers are now freed up to better serve others in our community.”

However, the most highly touted statistic — a nearly 70% drop in nuisance calls between January and September — is based on a new system of tracking police calls that makes a year-over-year comparison impossible.

Still, the statistics, released Monday, also show a 24% decrease in overall calls — not just those identified as “nuisance” — in the first half of this year, compared with the same time period in 2013.

Costa Mesa police officials warned that the decrease in calls doesn’t necessarily mean decreases in crime.

Costa Mesa Police Department Lt. Greg Scott said that while the agency has indeed received fewer calls for service this year from motel operators, it is “premature to infer from these statistics that the reduction in calls translates into a corresponding reduction in crime.”

“The community needs to know,” he said, “that if any individuals are made aware of a threat to life or property, that they are strongly encouraged to promptly notify the Police Department. This request, of course, also applies to all motel operators.”

Police Chief Tom Gazsi added that, in any case, “improved cooperation by motel operators is certainly appreciated.”

The Excessive Use of Resources ordinance, as the law is known, allows the city to fine lodging establishments if they exceed a quarterly threshold of calls for police service.

The law specifies that the calls be related to “nuisance” activities, which include gang-related crimes, disturbing the peace, drug possession or sale, underage drinking, loud parties and violent felonies.

For several years, officials kept tabs on the overall number of calls from troubled motels, said city spokesman Bill Lobdell.

Those tallies encompassed a wide range of activity that included Fire Department requests, ambulance services and domestic-violence reports, in addition to requests that would be considered nuisance calls under the new ordinance.

When the motel ordinance was adopted in January, the city started tracking the number of calls for service that fit the more narrowly defined “nuisance” call criteria.

Then in June, Lobdell said, the city switched to a new computer system, which meant City Hall stopped actively tracking the number of overall calls from motels in favor of tracking the more specified nuisance calls.

With the system change from June, officials have not been able to gauge the difference between the newly defined nuisance calls — which weren’t broken out from overall call counts in past years — and nuisance call counts from before the law was implemented.

Rather, the city broke down nuisance calls from each motel by the month and the quarter this year alone.

During that time, the city saw a general decrease in nuisance calls from motels and hotels, though statistics for the month of June — and therefore, the second quarter of 2014 — were unavailable because of the computer system switch, Lobdell said.

The third quarter of this year, from July through September, was the first period during which establishments were eligible for fines.

All motels and hotels stayed below their call threshold during that time, according to the city, and all avoided fines.

Still, some individual motels have seen fluctuations at their properties since the ordinance was passed.

Nuisance calls from the city’s largest motel, the 236-room Costa Mesa Motor Inn at 2277 Harbor Blvd., decreased by about one-fourth when compared month to month. The property went from eight calls in January to six in September.

But when compared on a quarterly basis, the Motor Inn’s total nuisance calls increased, from 20 in the first three months of this year to 23 in the third quarter. Under the motel’s “excessive use” threshold of 24 calls, the Motor Inn was one call away from being fined.

Nevertheless, said the Motor Inn’s general manager, Hector Almaraz, Costa Mesa’s major push to improve conditions at troubled motels over the past couple years has spurred improvements there.

“We have been a lot more proactive,” he said.

The Motor Inn’s owners — who have proposed razing the motel and building luxury apartments on the property — have installed electronic locks and gates to help keep out visitors, Almaraz said.

They’ve also doubled the amount of lighting.

While Almaraz said he couldn’t directly attribute it to the excessive-use ordinance, “We’ve noticed a difference here.”

Supporters of the law, including Costa Mesa Mayor Jim Righeimer, Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger and Councilman Gary Monahan, had argued that it will prevent the Police Department from having to act as an expensive form of on-site security staff for motel owners. They also contended that the billing procedures could help recoup the city’s costs of policing the properties.

Critics, including Councilwomen Sandy Genis and Wendy Leece, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Santa Ana-based Public Law Center, have argued that the ordinance would discourage innkeepers and low-income guests from seeking police help in potentially dangerous situations.

Lili Graham, a housing attorney with the Public Law Center, said in an interview this week that her organization still worries about how the law might affect the struggling people who call the motels home.

“Our concern is low-income residents having access to emergency services,” she said. “Everyone should have access to emergency services, if they need it.”

For Righeimer, though, the safety at motels has improved “no matter how you calculate it.”

“The messaging alone is what really changed it,” he said. “We met with all the motel owners and said they’re going to be charged. And now they’re managing better.”

The Excessive Use of Resources ordinance coincides with the council’s goals, Righeimer added.

“We’re going to more holistically work on getting crime down,” he said. “Crime is caused by who lives in your city and who you attract, and we want to make sure our motels do their best to not attract problem guests.”