“In a two-day period we ran 68 calls,” for officer assistance, and McLean noted, “Out of those 68 calls, 28 calls were directly related to the homeless…”
A recent dog theft is just one example: McLean said an area homeless woman took a dog, a crime she first denied even though there was a photo of her taking the animal. Finally, she led officers to a drive-thru restaurant where employees said a man had received the dog from the woman.
“And then we got a call, it turned out the guy had dropped the dog off at SPARC,” hoping that the owner would turn up to claim it.
But not all crime has a happy ending.
Several months ago during a criminal investigation SPPD Officers responded to a river encampment where they discovered the frames of about 40 bicycles.
“Of course the frames were from bicycles that have been stolen,” that were being dismantled so the parts could be sold often for small amounts of money to feed drug or alcohol habits.
And with the June 22 River Fire, which destroyed more than 160 acres of river bottom, some encampments were either destroyed or left out in plain view which McLean said has caused a surge of homeless coming into the city to seek shelter.
“And they’re going above Main Street,” into residential areas of the city.
“They’re a nuisance, panhandling, sleeping and defecating behind businesses…they’ve been begging from people that park behind Main Street and use Green Alley to come downtown. I was sitting in my car a while back and a citizen came up and asked me to do something about it…they set up at the Vons center,” at the exits where people must stop before entering traffic to ask for money or approach people in the parking lot as they go or come from shopping.
McLean said some are sleeping in the alcoves of churches or at the Gazebo, on park benches and in bushes.
“We’ve observed them chasing each other,” and fighting including, combat that at times has resulted in serious injury.
“We know some just aren’t just homeless, they’re junkies, drug addicts. They’re hanging out at the parks and driving families away,” using public restrooms for not only cleaning up but also to use drugs…not only is the restroom “left in a mess, but then they also take the toilet paper and paper towels.”
In the Downtown one elderly merchant has been targeted more than once by those that sweep through her store that don’t even care that she’s standing right there.
“We had one that was stealing surveillance cameras,” an act caught on other surveillance systems.
But, all in all, McLean said, “I have compassion for them…it’s not a crime to be homeless. And some homeless are mentally ill” and perhaps self-medicate with drugs and/or alcohol.
“But,” he noted, “it is also a fact that some homeless commit crimes…and they are an issue for this community, not a huge issue but an issue.”
The lack of local services is also an issue: “The sad thing is we don’t have the nonprofits to help them…and it’s also sad that some wouldn’t want the help. And we do have people locally that are trying to help…but it’s definitely a problem.”
In the annual January homeless count there were 20 people reported as being homeless in Santa Paula, a number that has declined dramatically over the years.
But it is also acknowledged that the annual national count — used to determine how much funding local governments get for homeless services — is probably not accurate and that there are more homeless than what is reflected in the survey.
