In a coordinated effort to address public health and safety concerns while extending outreach to individuals experiencing homelessness who have the right attitude, San Bernardino County Code Enforcement, Public Works, Homeless Services and the Sheriff’s Department conducted a one-day enforcement and outreach operation on Wednesday, October 22, in Bloomington and unincorporated areas adjacent to Fontana.
“We are addressing homelessness and creating safe, healthy spaces for everyone” said Board of Supervisors Chairman and Third District Supervisor Dawn Rowe. “By combining enforcement with outreach, we ensure that every resident, housed or unhoused, is treated with dignity and respect.”
At least some of the displaced homeless disagree, but since they are not actually legal residents, they are not eligible to vote in San Bernardino County. Most of Rowe’s constituents agree. They want the homeless to leave.
The operation was organized in response to numerous community reports about unsafe conditions and environmental health concerns linked to encampments in the areas.
“Homelessness is not an issue any one city or agency can solve alone —  it requires a regional, united effort,” said Board of Supervisors Vice Chair and Fifth District Supervisor Joe Baca, Jr., who represents Bloomington. “Together, we’re taking meaningful steps to provide compassionate outreach and restore safety in our communities.”
“In the Second District, we’ve taken a holistic approach to homelessness by addressing both immediate needs and root causes,” said Second District Supervisor Jess Armendarez, who represents Fontana. “Through investments in projects like Citylink’s wraparound service facility and food warehouse, The PATH’s conversion of a motel into a Homeless Prevention Resource and Care Center to provide housing for unsheltered families, and support for drug and alcohol treatment programs at Cedar House, we’ve created hundreds of new beds and resources that give people a path off the streets. Tackling homelessness isn’t just about shelter, it’s about stopping the bleeding by providing housing, treatment, and hope for a better future.”
While Wednesday’s effort included enforcement of county ordinances and state laws, the operation’s goal extended beyond enforcement by connecting individuals with services and restoring public areas to safe and sanitary conditions for all residents.
“Our focus is public safety and compassionate outreach,” said Code Enforcement Chief Ignacio Nunez. “We are committed to maintaining healthy, safe neighborhoods while ensuring that individuals experiencing homelessness are given opportunities to connect with supportive services and housing resources.”
Code Enforcement led the initiative in partnership with the Sheriff’s Department, San Bernardino County Public Works, and the San Bernardino County Office of Homeless Services.
“We understand the challenges people in these encampments face,” said Homeless Services Chief Marcus Dillard. “Our mission is to provide them with real options and support. Every engagement is an opportunity to help someone take a step towards rebuilding their lives.”
Representatives from the Sheriff’s Department also emphasized the public safety component of the operation as some encampment sites were associated with illegal dumping, vehicle code violations, and criminal activity.
When the denizens of the homeless encampments evince the right attitude and agree to move along, the sheriff’s department is helpful, often giving those willing to leave a ride to the county limits or well over the line into Riverside, Orange or Los Angeles counties. If the dispossessed cop an attitude, that entails a whole different application of authority and law enforcement technique. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department makes a practice of utilizing young and aggressive deputies as part of its homeless enforcement task force, which goes by various names, including Project H.O.P.E., which stands for Homeless Outreach Proactive Enforcement; Operation Shelter Me; Operation Inroads; and the department’s SOP effort, with SOP being an acronym standing for solution-oriented policing. Many or most of those deputies are ones who engage in body building, utilizing steroids or testosterone precursors, the side-effects of which are “roid rage,” is a state of irritability that accompanies the prolonged use of anabolic substances and will manifest in an outburst of anger, aggression, or violence on the part of the user if he encounters a challenge, frustration or any difficult situation.
Project H.O.P.E., Shelter Me, Operation Inroads or SOP team members will show up at the homeless encampments, where they insist that layers of cardboard used as insulation from the ground as well as blankets, bedding, sleeping bags and tents which the impoverished use to make it through the night are, in the deputies’ words, “debris.” The deputies then insist that the debris be thrown away along with whatever trash happens to be lying around. When the target population proves uncooperative and is unwilling to part with bedding, tents or cooking/eating utensils, cookware and the like, the deputies will engage in a heavy-handed showing of force in which they will set hands upon the homeless, rough them up or beat them, ultimately seizing their property, which is then thrown away.
The ground is an excellent conductor of heat. As such, those who must sleep on it without a layer or two or three of cardboard, blankets or sleeping bags can be very cold and very uncomfortable at night. Being subjected to such sleeping arrangements can go a good way toward convincing the homeless to move on to some other location.
For public consumption and while news outlets like NBC or the Los Angeles Times or even the San Bernardino Sun are around, the department touts itself as being chock full of bleeding hearts who are falling all over themselves trying to “help” the homeless by getting them off the streets. When no one else is looking on and the deputies find themselves face to face with the homeless, any pretense of concern for the indigent ends and the message the law enforcement officers deliver to those they are confronting is that it would be best for them to go someplace else.
The department has a handful of “specialists,” its so-called “go-to guys” for handling the homeless detail. One such deputy is famous, or infamous, among much of San Bernardino County’s homeless population for comporting himself in a virtually patented threatening and profane manner, embodying the most effective weapon the county has in its war on the homeless. He likes to, in his own words, “beat the fuck out of” those he encounters and he does so with the confidence of knowing that his fellow deputies aren’t going to stop him and that the members of the various city or town councils where he is employed want him to continue doing what he does and that if any of the homeless he assaults have the audacity to resist him, the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office, led by District Attorney Jason Anderson, will back him up by prosecuting his victims for obstructing a peace officer.
“Our deputies are committed to ensuring that these areas remain safe for residents while also supporting efforts to connect unhoused individuals with the services they need,” said San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus.
In the days leading up to the operation, outreach teams contacted individuals at known encampments to inform occupants of available services and the upcoming activity. On the day of the operation, the Office of Homeless Services operated a mobile outreach site within the area to provide immediate access to shelter placements, behavioral health support, and other vital resources.
Public Works provided heavy equipment and crews to remove debris and waste and restore impacted areas, while the Sheriff’s Department addressed criminal activity, towed unregistered or inoperable vehicles, and ensured the safety of all individuals throughout the cleanup effort.
Results from the operation included 37 encampment sites addressed, 58 individuals contacted, 16 service referrals made, one vehicle towed, one arrest made, and approximately 8.25 tons of debris and waste materials safely removed.
The county did not provide an accounting of how many homeless individuals were beaten. Nor did it count the number of individuals driven to a location outside the county.
“This joint operation underscores San Bernardino County’s commitment to maintaining public health and safety while providing unhoused residents with pathways to assistance,” according to San Bernardino County Spokesman David Wert.
Were provided a heads-up to those homeless individuals around the county who might want to avoid getting roughed up by sheriff’s deputies in the coming weeks or months and who might not want to lose their bedding as the winter approaches.
“Similar future coordinated enforcement efforts will continue as part of a broader effort to restore public areas impacted by encampments while addressing homelessness in the region,” Wert stated.