BATON ROUGE - Crime around LSU has state lawmakers ready to take action. Representative Barbara Freiberg has proposed a crime prevention district around the campus after hearing concerns from business owners and others in the area.

"This bill came to me from residents, from business owners, from LSU officials who are concerned about the rise of crime not only in Baton Rouge but in particular around the LSU area," Freiberg said.

After passing through the House unanimously, it is making its way to the Senate. It lays out the area that the district will be in along with the estimated costs business owners will have to pay. Those costs can be up to $5,000 per year, a price tag that Bengals & Bandits owner Patrick Wilkerson says is worth every penny.

"I think it'd be a great thing for our area. You know being next to campus there's a lot of kids around. The security and safety of our staff and the students next to campus I think it'd be great. It's really an investment in our location. If we had to invest some money and pay some higher taxes to afford that type of security, it'd be well worth it," Wilkerson said.

With that investment, Freiberg says people in the area can expect an increase in police presence, cameras, and beautification projects.

"This would not prohibit or limit in any way the current law enforcement presence, it would just increase what is already there," Freiberg said.

If approved at the Capitol, residents and business owners in the district will have the final vote.

"We don't mind a price increase with higher taxes or anything that comes along with that as long as we able to see some kind of difference being made," Wilkerson said.

"Parents send their kids here from all over the state, all over the country, and they want to know their students are safe here in Baton Rouge, and we want them to be in Baton Rouge safe. This is just one additional step we can take to make sure not only the residents of Baton Rouge are safe but those to come to our city for a time are also safe," Freiberg said.

The bill is set to be heard from the Senate committee on Local and Municipal Affairs but a date has not been scheduled yet.