DES MOINES, Iowa — Questions about safety are mounting in downtown Des Moines, weeks after a nine-year-old girl was assaulted in the Skywalk.
The assault took place in the 500 block of Grand Avenue, in a stairwell connected to the Wellmark YMCA, according to police.
Stephanie Madison, who runs Skywalk Barbershop, says she has mixed feelings about safety in the Skywalk.
"Sometimes I feel safe. Sometimes I don't. Just the other day I was walking to work and there was a homeless man over there in the plaza, and he started yelling at me to get off his skywalk, and that I had no permission to be there, that he owned it, and started screaming at me," she said.
"So that intimidated me quite a bit."
Chad Bentzinger, president of the skywalk association says,
"Safety is one of our top priorities, obviously, with the Skywalk," said Chad Bentzinger, president of the Des Moines Skywalk Association. "And so we do oversee a private security contract that's fulfilled by Per Mar security services. And they are on patrol 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
Security Supervisor Will Hunter says his team has a plan in place to ensure safety in the Skywalk doesn't fall on one security officer. The plan is to split the Skywalk up between two security guards.
This is so one person is not responsible to monitor the whole, six-mile section. At night, the guards do joint patrols.
Even with the Skywalk patrol plan in place, Madison wants to see more cameras.
"I would assume that they would start installing more cameras downtown in the Skywalk itself, because we don't own the Skywalk either," she said. "So we couldn't put cameras on the outside because we don't own it."
Cameras are not the only thing that needs attention. Some of the Skywalk lights are in need of repairs, an issue Bentzinger is collaborating on with City Council.
"We rely heavily on those relationships, to communicate to our teams, and then also to property owners," he said. "And that's really the best way in the key to keeping our skywalk system safe and functioning properly."
► Download the We Are Iowa app
► Sign up for Local 5's "5 Things to Know" email newsletter
► Subscribe to Local 5 News on YouTube
WATCH: Des Moines police calls went down in Court Ave. following entertainment zone installment