The private security firm First Alarm & Security Inc. will continue to provide patrol services for parks in the City of Gilroy for at least the next three years.
At the Dec. 2 Gilroy City Council meeting, the council unanimously approved a three-year contract with First Alarm in the amount of $257,520 for three years, or $85,840 annually.
Under the contract, First Alarm will provide after-hours (10pm to 6am daily) security for city parks, trails, landscaped areas and other public facilities that are closed at night. Their duties include securing gates, restrooms and pools; unlocking gates at tennis courts and other facilities when they open in the mornings; ejecting trespassers and unauthorized vehicles after hours; producing nightly patrol reports for city officials; and working with the Gilroy Police Department if assistance is required for an uncooperative trespasser.
Chief patrol locations for First Alarm include Christmas Hill Park, Butcher Park, Gilroy Sports Park, Hecker Pass Park, Las Animas Veterans Park, Uvas Creek, Miller Park, San Ysidro Park and others. The company will also patrol City Hall, some school athletic facilities and other properties on an “as needed” basis, according to a city staff report.
First Alarm has been patrolling these city parks and properties since 2016. The council awarded First Alarm a three-year contract in May of that year, following a six-month pilot program.
The Dec. 2 city staff report adds, “Over the last 12 months, First Alarm staff secured restrooms 2,920 times, locked gates 1,095 times and asked approximately 4,818 people and vehicles that were in the park after closing hours to vacate.”
City staff added that theft of copper wire from city parks—which was at one time a rampant concern—has come to a halt since First Alarm started patrolling the properties.
Some of First Alarm’s tasks, such as locking and opening gates, used to be handled by police and fire personnel. Thus, the contract allows public safety staff to concentrate on other calls for services.
“It sounds like they’re doing a good job,” Councilmember Peter Leroe-Munoz said before voting to approve the contract at the Dec. 2 meeting.
City staff recommended awarding the park patrol services contract to First Alarm after requesting proposals from qualified firms in October. First Alarm was the only company that submitted a proposal.
The contract with the city does not include on-site security services for the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival at Christmas Hill Park. The Garlic Festival Foundation is responsible for acquiring and paying for those services during the three-day festival.
In its capacity as a contractor for the Garlic Festival, First Alarm is named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed last month by five survivors of the July 28 mass shooting that occurred at the 2019 festival.
