Burglary arrest points to evolving safety needs in a growing downtown Indio

Indio police arrested a 38-year-old man Wednesday in connection with a string of burglaries and vandalism affecting a half dozen businesses in the city.

Police say at least six businesses were affected, including Fresh Juice Bar on Monday and Indio Florist last week. Both businesses reported that no money was stolen but they suffered damage from broken windows. 

The suspect was arrested and booked into the John Benoit Detention Center in Indio on multiple charges.

The arrest comes after Police Chief Brian Tully assured councilmembers at an Oct. 15 City Council meeting that the Indio Police Department was working hard to protect citizens following a Sept. 10 incident at College of the Desert’s Indio campus in which a woman threatened two students with a screwdriver in a campus bathroom.

At the city council meeting, councilmembers pressed Tully on safety in the rapidly growing downtown area. Mayor Glen Miller mentioned that with the increase of 160,000 people downtown, more businesses and foot traffic goes a long way to keeping downtown safe.

“I found that we can use the word transparent. That doesn’t mean anything. Action means something to me,” Councilmember Ben Guitron said at the meeting. “Believe me, I can attest that what we’re doing now is way better than we were 25 years ago.”

“I just wanted to assure the community that the city of Indio… is safe and secure,” Tully said.

Miller said looking to the future, he expects there to be a more visible police presence downtown with police on bicycle patrols monitoring downtown alleys day and night.

“It’s just going to be a growing economy,” he said. “We’re going to have to have a police presence, not because it’s unsafe, just so it never gets unsafe.”

For now, the city has its Downtown Ambassador Program, which was just approved for another $100,000 in August. Police said using the plain clothes security presence has helped reduce calls to the department.

In June, the City Council approved a 7% increase in the budget for the police department. Police protection makes up the largest portion of the city’s general fund expenditure at $46.1 million. 

The police department currently has three job openings, and recently added a motor officer to the unit to share the increasing workload.

Councilmembers emphasized the importance of community partnership with police. “If you see something, say something,” Guitron said.

Police said detectives are continuing their investigation into the burglaries and actively working to locate additional outstanding suspects connected to the cases.

Anyone with information regarding these incidents is encouraged to contact the Indio Police Department at 760-391-4057 or Crime Stoppers at 760-341-STOP to provide information anonymously.

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