Downtown Santa Cruz is ‘safer than it’s ever been,’ police say, even as fears persist

Elfin Saffer, assistant general manager of Pacific Wave in downtown Santa Cruz, says he has to kick people out of the store a couple of times each week, sometimes for loitering or disruptive behavior, but most commonly for stealing anything from headphones to clothing. Theft will get a person banned, he said, and confrontations with employees or customers could result in the same.

“They’re not allowed in our store anymore because they’ve stolen or harassed an employee,” he said.

Jacki Truhitte, the owner of the side-by-side Pacific Avenue jewelry stores Super Silver and Golden Bliss, grew up in Santa Cruz. She said that theft has always been an issue at her shops, but has worsened in the years following the pandemic. Truhitte recalled five separate incidents over an 18-month period in recent years in which she pulled out an expensive item from a display case, just to have someone snag it and run: “In 20 years of owning the business, I had never seen that.”

As storefront vacancies rise and the city prepares for potentially thousands of new residents over the next several years, there has been a growing sentiment that downtown Santa Cruz is less safe than it used to be. Threads on social media highlight stories of residents witnessing people yelling and making threats, or feeling scared walking on downtown streets. Others said that they want to limit their time downtown due to what they call unsettling encounters.

Downtown safety was in the spotlight after Rip Curl announced in January that it was closing its Pacific Avenue store, with a manager citing safety concerns as one of the reasons the surf shop was leaving the city center. “It was putting the health and safety of my employees at risk,” the manager told Lookout.

However, the question of whether downtown is becoming more dangerous is divisive even among those who know the city core best. While some downtown merchants say they have experienced more aggressive encounters and brazen thefts in the years following the pandemic, police and other shop owners insist the area is safer than ever. They point to several factors that are fueling public perception that crime is getting worse: more visible mental health crises and drug use on the streets, reports of safety incidents that make the rounds on social media, and a shift in the way people feel about being in busy public spaces after pandemic lockdowns.

Roger Weiss, manager of Streetlight Records, has heard the complaints about people avoiding downtown because of its perceived safety risks. But while he thinks the unhoused population has increased in the downtown over the years, and says he’s noticed more people experiencing mental health crises, his record shop has not witnessed more problems with theft and other disturbances. “In general, I do hear people say, ‘Oh, I don’t go downtown anymore,’” he said. “But I don’t feel unsafe.”

Data on visits to the city center provided by the Downtown Association of Santa Cruz also cast doubt on the notion that many people are avoiding downtown because of safety fears. Visitor numbers largely returned to their pre-pandemic levels, starting in 2021.

Santa Cruz Police Department Lt. Carter Jones, who is in charge of the downtown area from north of the town clock to Spruce Street on the south side, disputes the notion that crime has gotten worse downtown in recent years. 

Jones said he doesn’t think twice about bringing his family downtown, including his elementary school-aged and teenage daughters, and has not had any issues. He added that he rarely hears directly from businesses or visitors about crime and safety concerns, but knows it’s a topic of conversation among the general public.

Data provided to Lookout by the Santa Cruz Police Department shows five theft reports in the vicinity of Rip Curl last year. That compares to two in 2023, none in 2022 and four in 2021.

SCPD data shows a total of 13 reported incidents surrounding Rip Curl’s Pacific Avenue store last year — up from 10 in 2023. That includes the five reported thefts, one drug-related call, one welfare check, one vandalism report, one car crash, one 911 call, two medical calls and one in which a citizen flagged down an officer on patrol. The 10 police calls in 2023 included two reported thefts and two instances of an alarm going off. Police data show no discernible crime trends in the immediate area around the store in recent years – with 12 calls for service in 2022 and 13 in 2021.

SCPD was unable to provide data for all of the Pacific Avenue blocks from Water Street to Laurel Street, but sent Lookout a list of calls for service for one block of Pacific Avenue between Walnut Avenue and Church Street from 2022 until April 2025. Total calls rose about 34% in that period of time.

Calls reporting violent crimes and crimes against people rose slightly. Those include robbery, assault, harassment, fights, and brandishing weapons. Calls reporting property crimes, on the other hand, like burglary, theft, trespassing, vandalism, and alarms going off fell, slightly.

Calls related to substance abuse and health issues rose, more than doubling since 2022. That was largely driven increasing emergency medical calls.

Nuisance calls, which include disturbing the peace, loitering, public camping and calls regarding “suspicious activity,” rose by about half as well. That is mostly represented by noise complaints, which nearly doubled between 2022 and 2024.

Jones said he is skeptical that crime was a major contributor to local businesses’ decisions to leave downtown. 

“It was about one theft call every two months, which is fairly insignificant, and I would go even further and say it’s completely insignificant,” he said. “Having one theft from your business every two months isn’t going to put you underwater, and I don’t think you can point your finger at that being the reason you’re closing.”

Janis Coulter, owner of Cognito Clothing, is from Santa Cruz and lives close to downtown. She said she rarely deals with theft or trouble within her store, on Pacific Avenue between Maple Street and Birch Lane. “I understand everyone has their own experience, and they are valid, but I feel safe downtown,” she said. “I work here, I shop here, and I go out to dinner here.”

Police and some downtown merchants make a distinction between actual criminal activity and someone merely causing a disturbance or acting erratically as one reason for the disconnect between the public’s perception of crime and safety and what is actually happening on the street.

“We spend a lot of time focusing on negative behavior, maybe people with mental health issues,” Jones said. “So when people mention that there’s more crime downtown, the numbers just don’t support it.”

The city is no stranger to zany characters of all kinds, Truhitte said. But she thinks the downtown seems to be witnessing more people with substance abuse and mental health problems. Encounters that make her feel unsafe have gradually become more common — she has been hit and spit on in recent years. “It’s not that things didn’t happen before, I just feel it got a little more violent,” she said: “It’s a scary kind of vibe shift. We want Santa Cruz to be weird, funky and different. That’s what makes it Santa Cruz.”

Even if property crimes like theft are not increasing, some businesses say the substance abuse and mental health crises have an effect on them regardless. Saffer, who grew up in Santa Cruz, says that shoplifting is nothing new. He previously worked as the district manager for O’Neill and estimates that he’s caught more than 1,000 people for shoplifting in the 25 years he’s worked downtown. “Customers will sometimes ask, ‘Do you have to deal with this every day?” he said.

He sees a connection between those who are struggling with substance abuse and more aggressive behavior and theft, though he doesn’t place blanket blame for those issues on the downtown’s unhoused population.

Coulter points to the popularity of cellphone cameras and social media for helping fuel the perception that crime is getting worse. With everyone on the internet, it’s easy to find out whenever anything happens, and people see negative interactions more frequently, she said. She also thinks the pandemic, with its lengthy lockdowns, has also skewed people’s perception of the neighborhood: “We were so isolated and in our own little bubbles for a few years, we became less used to seeing a lot of different people.”

Jones said he believes that downtown is “quite frankly, safer than it’s ever been,” in part because there are more resources downtown than ever before. 

The Santa Cruz Police Department is working closely with the county sheriff’s office, and particularly the county’s focused intervention team — a group of law enforcement personnel and mental health clinicians who aim to connect those in need with support services. The long-empty Logos building is being finalized for a temporary police substation, which is also likely to increase law enforcement presence in the area.

The passage of Proposition 36 in November is also expected to further decrease crime downtown, he said. The ballot measure substantially increased penalties for drug and theft offenses that used to be considered misdemeanors, which Jones said were being treated like “a slap on the wrist over and over again.” Now, he said, offenders can face jail time beyond probation for the same offenses. Within hours of the law taking effect, Jones said Santa Cruz police arrested someone for a drug-related crime violation of Prop 36.

Under Prop 36, repeat offenders of drug possession are required to enroll in a court-mandated treatment program, which can reduce penalties, but a failure to comply can lead to a three-year prison sentence. If a person is caught selling, transporting or manufacturing drugs like fentanyl, meth or heroin, they will be handed a state prison sentence. Business owners and law enforcement personnel heavily supported the ballot initiative, but opponents fear it could harm efforts to reduce mass incarceration and address systemic inequities in the legal system, while creating a new war on drugs.

Jones added that a June 2024 U.S. Supreme Court decision known as Grants Pass, which allows local governments to criminalize encampments and sleeping on public streets, is not affecting how local law enforcement agencies deal with unhoused people or encampments.

“We’ve been advocating for getting people the resources they need, because they’re not going to get back on their feet without help,” he said. “I don’t believe that not providing resources and only going the criminal route is the solution to that.”

One of those resources is Encompass Community Services’ downtown outreach program. The program employs three outreach workers and two case workers who have lived experience with homelessness, substance use disorder or mental health issues and who respond to concerns from downtown businesses about people believed to be struggling with homelessness and mental illness. Downtown ambassadors, concierge workers managed by the Downtown Association, are also in direct phone contact with the outreach workers, allowing them to provide assistance and connect someone in need to services when necessary.

Lily Perry, Encompass’ operations manager for adult outpatient programs, said that businesses may contact the outreach workers if they believe someone needs their help. Workers can then come downtown to meet with the person and offer them food or clothing, or connect them to any number of supportive services related to housing, health care, substance use disorders and mental health. Perry recalled a young woman living on the San Lorenzo River levee who was paired with a housing case manager through the outreach workers, and was eventually able to get housed and began addressing medical conditions that had destabilized many of her past housing situations.

Workers also hold sessions at the downtown library on Mondays and Fridays from 1 to 3 p.m. to set people up with services like detox, mental health treatment and housing case management. Perry also pointed to the program’s “homeward bound tickets,” which assist someone return to an area they are from if they have better social support in that location. 

Outreach workers are able to connect with unhoused or otherwise struggling residents on a personal level, and “they’re able to do it in a really incredible non-stigmatizing, trauma-informed manner,” Perry said. “People know that if they are looking for resources, these are safe people to talk to and will be able to direct them to the right places.”

However, the outreach workers do not respond to criminal incidents, which are still handled by the police department. 

Some business owners say that they’ve seen the various agencies involved in downtown working to help people and businesses, and believe that they are succeeding.

“I have two young kids and I talk to a lot of parents who won’t come downtown,” said Truhitte. “And I’m telling them that I promise it’s getting better, because I see an improvement.”

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