Strikes Management Outlines Security Plan

Booze, violence and noise were a few concerns brought up by community members Wednesday night at a follow-up meeting regarding security at

Co-owners and Jim Falls held the meeting to brief community members and city officials on new safety measures they have put in place at the bowling alley since the group first met May 3.

“Security has kind of been our lives for the past couple of months,” said Burcham.

One of the main steps noted was the addition of Larry Jenks, who formerly worked as a police chief in Lincoln and a Placer County sheriff’s deputy, to the security and management staff. Jenks was brought over from the bowling alley's Rocklin location.

Management said they had also boosted security in the parking lot, a key demand of residents, by adding patrol units and improving lighting. Two uniformed private security officers in marked, lit cars will patrol the parking lot every Friday and Saturday as well as occasional Thursdays and Sundays.

The facility has also more aggressively enforced curfews and alcohol regulations, Falls said. Wristbands are provided to those 21 and older, and if anyone is seen drinking alchohol who lacks a wristband, their entire group is asked to leave the facility, he said. Management can also confiscate wristbands of patrons who are drinking excessively.

“This is not the same as a small bar. Our facility is 75,000 square feet – all of which is approved for alcohol,” Falls said. “We don’t serve anything in styrofoam cups. We use all clear cups so we can see what people are drinking.”

Though community members and city officials were pleased with the improvements, some neighbors said they were still concerned about rowdy partying from the venue spilling over into surrounding streets.

“We’re not just cranky neighbors,” said Patrick Simpkins, who lives right across the street from Strikes. “All of a sudden our little neighborhood in Laguna West is becoming something we are all concerned about.”

Simpkins said he was worried about being "fenced in" by businesses selling beer and wine as more merchants in the area applied for alcohol licenses.

Neighbor Shaida Samimi said she had noticed improvements with the new security measures but was still bothered by noise from music and motorcycle engines late into the evening. She was told she could call Jenks directly with any problems.

The meeting was the second in a series that began after at the bowling alley in March that sent several people to the hospital. Since the group first met, broke out in the alley's parking lot—this time an attack on a gay man that police dubbed a hate crime.

Strikes owners said the new security measures would likely not have prevented the second incident, which took place June 5, since it happened so quickly and involved only a single punch.

Laguna West resident Sean Edgar, who helped organize the meetings, said he is hopeful the new policies will have an impact.

“It sounds like they are communicating better now,” Edgar said. “Hopefully the proof will be in the pudding.”