Venice residents fed up with persistent encampments and public disorder have paid former gang members-turned-recovery workers to patrol neighborhoods, clear tents, and push people away from parks and sidewalks after repeated complaints and perceived inaction by city institutions.
Local business owners and homeowners report hiring a private patrol called Ghost Town Consultants for at least $300 a month to perform property checks, patrols, and to persuade encampment residents to leave. The company is run by Venice natives Bobby Luna and Ricky Myers and employs former gang members and recovering addicts familiar with the neighborhood.
One resident described the situation before the patrols: “We were in a war zone.” That resident, Rose Avenue property owner Rick Swinger, says an encampment nicknamed “Skid Rose” had swelled to an estimated 200 people, and that he and his family experienced threats and violence while receiving little help from official channels.
Swinger recalled injuries and threats and said repeated calls for help went unanswered. He even began attending city cleanup events in a full HazMat suit and helmet to highlight what he saw as an inadequate municipal response to hazardous conditions on public property.
Myers and Luna both point to personal breaks with the street life as motivation. Myers says he first became homeless at 15 and ran with gangs in Oakwood, while Luna battled alcoholism before getting sober. Their knowledge of local people and dynamics, they say, helps them persuade individuals to move rather than using force.
“They come by, and they talk to them, and they get them to move,” Swinger said, adding that the process is “very peaceful.” The company’s staff are unarmed and, according to the founders, focus on conversation and incentives like food, water, and referrals to treatment when possible.
Both founders say they stepped up after incidents that endangered children at neighborhood parks. Myers says parents found needles and drug use near play areas while he was coaching at Penmar Recreation Center, and that conditions eventually forced practices to be canceled. “I was pissed,” Myers said.
Luna described a separate incident where a drug user tried to steal his son’s bicycle at the park, which became a turning point for him. From those moments, they began intervening directly and grew their service from a handful of neighborhood actions to an organized private patrol with roughly a dozen workers.
The local law enforcement context complicates the picture. The Los Angeles Police Department reportedly had about 8,550 officers in July, roughly 200 fewer than earlier in the year, while some leaders have said the city needs about 12,500 officers to meet public safety demands. “There’s no consequences for illegal behavior. The political establishment in LA County has created an ecosystem that is openly hostile towards law enforcement. When you create that environment, you’re not going to recruit and retain cops. … There are not enough cops around to actually make a difference.”
“There’s no consequences for illegal behavior. The political establishment in LA County has created an ecosystem that is openly hostile towards law enforcement. When you create that environment, you’re not going to recruit and retain cops. … There are not enough cops around to actually make a difference.”
Former council members and longtime officers warn that remaining staff are overburdened. “Our officers are so maxed out with responsibilities and duties and lack of personnel,” said one former official, pointing to stretched resources and added duties that leave fewer officers available for routine neighborhood problems.
Ghost Town’s work has its supporters and its critics. Supporters say the team not only asks people to move but hands out food and water and helps connect some individuals with housing and treatment. The founders say they helped a mother living in an RV with three children, including an infant, find housing in the San Fernando Valley.
Critics include homeless advocates who question whether the operation is properly licensed and accuse the patrol of displacing people from one block to another without offering genuine solutions. One longtime advocate labeled the operation “thug security,” a phrase that resonates given decades of public funding and policy efforts that have not resolved street homelessness to residents’ satisfaction.
City officials emphasize that the private patrol is not partnered with local government, leaving residents to arrange and pay for those services themselves. Council offices acknowledge some community members appreciate a presence that keeps sidewalks and parks clearer, but that reliance on paid private patrols reflects a gap between expectations and the city’s ability to maintain public order at the neighborhood level.
For many homeowners who began writing $300-a-month checks, the decision came down to daily realities: tents, fires, needles, and visible drug activity persisted despite calls to the city. With official responses lagging, a growing number of residents have chosen to pay private crews familiar with local street dynamics to restore a measure of normalcy to sidewalks and public spaces.
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