5 Legion begins patrolling 3rd st promenade

Legion begins patrolling the 3rd Street Promenade-Santa Monica Daily News 02Dec2023

Following the abrupt departure of Covered 6 only a matter of hours after the contract had been signed at the end of September, DTSM voted to move ahead with a search for a replacement. The decision essentially reset the process back to square one albeit with a significantly tighter deadline for companies to bid on the contract following weeks of uncertainty.

However, a preferred choice quickly emerged and that was Legion Corporation, a Fresno-based company formed in 2012 by former Police Officer Joseph Shelley who served with the San Francisco Police Department for 11 years before transitioning to the private sector.

Shelley himself is softly spoken and his big gray beard and shaved head very much gives him the appearance of everyone’s favorite uncle. Only his behemoth-sized biceps and heavily tattooed left arm hint at a security service-based background. Growing up in Fresno, he says that he was drawn to music at an early age and that same urge to express himself creatively led to a tentative embrace of martial arts. 

Legion officially began operating on Friday, Dec. 1 and going forward, coverage will start at 6 a.m. and run to 10 p.m. daily. The first week will very much focus on training, community engagement and security functions, including patrol and response. According to DTSM, “Operations staff will meet with security personnel weekly, making adjustments to deployment as the needs become better known. We already have a solid understanding of areas that need attention and we expect the needs to shift as the program progresses.”

“The goal that we have in mind is to make our security presence be official and friendly at the same time. So they’re going to be wearing attire that is button-up shirts, they’re gray with black pants and an identifiable blue baseball cap,” Jeremy Ferguson, DTSM Operations Director, said, adding, “It makes them easily identifiable and it’s easy to understand that they’re not police officers. Legion has been very supportive of making sure that their identifier is unique, friendly, but yet official.”

joe@legioncorporation.com

Legion  - Excerpts from SM Daily News

Alyssa Erdley

editor@smobserver.com

 daphne@industrydive.com

Links to full news articles about Legion in SM Daily News

 http://tinyurl.com/Legion-SMPD-10Nov2023

http://tinyurl.com/Legion-SMPD-02Dec2023

“During the final steps [of selection], our first presenter [Legion] reached out to me multiple times. In fact, we’ve met in person five times, they have spent many hours within our business district. They went back and sharpened their pencils and added details to their proposal from data that they had requested from me,” said Ferguson.

From <https://smdp.com/2023/11/10/dtsm-decides-on-new-security-company-set-to-patrol-the-promenade-and-downtown-districts/>

Legion  - Excerpts from SM Daily News 

Legion begins patrolling the 3rd Street Promenade-Santa Monica Daily News 02Dec2023

Following the abrupt departure of Covered 6 only a matter of hours after the contract had been signed at the end of September, DTSM voted to move ahead with a search for a replacement. The decision essentially reset the process back to square one albeit with a significantly tighter deadline for companies to bid on the contract following weeks of uncertainty.

However, a preferred choice quickly emerged and that was Legion Corporation, a Fresno-based company formed in 2012 by former Police Officer Joseph Shelley who served with the San Francisco Police Department for 11 years before transitioning to the private sector.

 Shelley himself is softly spoken and his big gray beard and shaved head very much gives him the appearance of everyone’s favorite uncle. Only his behemoth-sized biceps and heavily tattooed left arm hint at a security service-based background. Growing up in Fresno, he says that he was drawn to music at an early age and that same urge to express himself creatively led to a tentative embrace of martial arts. 

Legion officially began operating on Friday, Dec. 1 and going forward, coverage will start at 6 a.m. and run to 10 p.m. daily. The first week will very much focus on training, community engagement and security functions, including patrol and response. According to DTSM, “Operations staff will meet with security personnel weekly, making adjustments to deployment as the needs become better known. We already have a solid understanding of areas that need attention and we expect the needs to shift as the program progresses.”

“The goal that we have in mind is to make our security presence be official and friendly at the same time. So they’re going to be wearing attire that is button-up shirts, they’re gray with black pants and an identifiable blue baseball cap,” Jeremy Ferguson, DTSM Operations Director, said, adding, “It makes them easily identifiable and it’s easy to understand that they’re not police officers. Legion has been very supportive of making sure that their identifier is unique, friendly, but yet official.”

From <https://smdp.com/2023/12/02/legion-begins-patrolling-the-promenade/> 

Downtown SM Staff

Andrew Thomas, Chief Executive Officer

Ariana Gomez, Director of Marketing & Partnerships

Jeremy Ferguson, Director of Operations & Placemaking

Laura Borsecnik, Special Events Manager

Martin Ronzio-Garcia, Business & Community Development Manager

Fatima Fazal, Public Space Manager

Melody Hsu, Community Engagement Manager

Victor Greenwood, Office Manager

Michael Lin, Data and Research Manager

jeremy@downtownsm.com

ariana@downtownsm.com

andrew@downtownsm.com

For more information, please contac

From <https://downtownsm.com/contact>

 Downtown Activist Attacked in Palisades Park
September 21, 2023 -- John Alle -- a Downtown business activist known for his crusading efforts to fight crime and anti-social behavior -- was hospitalized after being attacked by a homeless man in Palisades Park Tuesday afternoon, according to police.

https://www.surfsantamonica.com/