Taurus Protection Inc. security guards are keeping watch over restaurants, motels and other businesses that closed because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The company is headquartered in Thousand Oaks, but its service area runs from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles.
Taurus Protection Inc. Co-owner Tom Roberts has split his time between Carpinteria and the Mesa since 2004.
Co-owner Shane Quartararo lives in Thousand Oaks. He is a former Los Angeles County deputy sheriff and has over 30 years of experience in the private security industry. The company has been in business for about one year.
“It’s hard times for everyone, right? It’s hard times for us as well, but we’ve applied for the stimulus. We wanna keep our guys employed and some of the businesses we patrol for have closed down. So instead of having our guys sit at home, we figured we could be of service,” Mr. Roberts said.
The program started out with the Eagle Inn, at 32 Natoma Ave., and progressed from there. Mr. Roberts said his team is stepping up to fill the gap between business owners who are quarantined at home and the cops who may be too busy to patrol every closed business.
“We patrol the exterior, interior, make sure doors are locked, windows are locked, and there is no access or entry to the public. We do a daily activity report for the owner and tell them hey you might have a problem here, maybe cameras are being broken or a car parked. We want their areas to be lit up so we’ll document any faulty lighting,” Mr. Roberts said
He encouraged owners to protect their closed businesses by picking up their mail and to drop by the business if possible.
“Pick up anything on the outside that might give someone potentially out there a reason to commit a crime, do a burglary or break into your business. If things are kept clean, your grass is mowed and things are kept up to standards it doesn’t give that person the opportunity to go into your business. They’ll try their luck if they think things aren’t being looked after,” Mr. Roberts said.
He said that the coronavirus pandemic and widespread stay-at-home orders have emboldened would-be burglars and noted that the Santa Barbara Police Department station, at 215 E. Figueroa St., experienced a break-in attempt last week.
“It’s important that you do everything you can and go the extra mile. Maybe have a car outside your business, change the location of it. If someone’s staking out the business, they’re gonna see the movement of the car,” Mr. Roberts said.
Taurus Protection Inc. has been running the free offer for two weeks. Mr. Roberts said the response was lower than he expected, and his team can accommodate more businesses.
“We have a patrol vehicle out there, we can definitely pick up more accounts. We want people to take advantage of it. Especially, we have hours during the day and night where we can hit their businesses and make sure they’re safe,” Mr. Roberts said.
“We’ve got the vehicle, we’ve got the manpower. If we can help, we will help.”
For more information, visit https://www.securitybytaurus.com/.
email: pgonzalez@newspress.com
