Downtown walking beat praised

Downtown Sarasota Alliance Chairman John Harshman and other downtown merchants and residents are praising the Sarasota Police Department’s revamped Downtown Walking Beat Program.

At Wednesday’s Downtown Sarasota Alliance meeting, Harshman commended downtown walking beat Officer John Neri.

“He’s made an effort to come and meet with business owners on Main Street and let us know he’s there for us whenever we need him,” Harshman said.

The DSA approved sending a letter to the police department to praise Neri and the entire walking beat program, which received an overhaul under Chief Mikel Hollaway’s leadership.

Lt. Randy Boyd, who regularly attends DSA and other downtown organizations’ meetings, said the downtown walking beat has been in place for more than eight years and aims to reach out to residents and merchants downtown.

“While working on a plan to clean up Five Points Park, we asked merchants if they knew who their downtown foot patrol officer was and many of them did not,” Boyd said. “We made changes to the downtown walking beat, formed a different walking group and made a concerted effort to talk to all business owners in the area.”

Boyd said the police department considers it a problem if every merchant on Main Street doesn’t know who his foot patrol officer is.

But Harshman and other merchants said that’s not the case now.

“We have been visited more than once, been passed out cards and know who to call,” Harshman said. “It’s comforting to know we have officers looking out for us at all times.”

Neri and three other downtown foot patrol officers (see sidebar below) make Main Street their priority. Other foot-patrol walking programs exist on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way and in the Rosemary District.

“They are doing what needs to be done out there, and we’re very proud of them for taking ownership of their positions downtown,” Boyd said.

Capt. Paul Sutton, meanwhile, told the Sarasota Observer the downtown walking group officers are just doing their jobs.

“We made some reassignments and are making more of a community effort downtown to act as a liaison between residents and merchants,” Sutton said. “Merchants and residents should all know who to call when they have a non-emergency concern.”

Downtown Walking Beat
Downtown Main Street merchants are urged to call their downtown foot patrol officers if they have a non-emergency issue.
Those police officers are:
• Officer John Neri
• Officer Todd Lantz
• Officer David Dubendorf
• Officer Tammy Featherstone
Those who have non-emergency concerns on Main Street west of Orange Avenue should call 915-1616 and those east of Orange Avenue should call 951-1615. Those with emergencies are encouraged to call 911.
For more information about the program, contact Capt. Paul Sutton at 954-7006.