Homeless face eviction

Petaluma police said recent efforts to control homeless encampments has already shown results. During a second sweep of the camps on Tuesday, many were found to be abandoned.

“It appears the first enforcement act cleared out most of the camps,” said Officer Dan Miller.

Officers investigated about nine camps Tuesday and, while four arrests were made on various charges including trespassing and possession, the camps, mainly along Petaluma River and transient routes like the railroad tracks, were abandoned. A similar sweep last week led to eight arrests. Police are increasing patrols at the camps after three homeless men were found dead within 30 days in Petaluma.

Officers give transients information about where they can find a safe place to sleep, but remnants of their camps remain as a blight along the river. During the recent sweep, some camps were littered with trash and personal items, such as piles of wire and cable, barrels of olives, a set of golf clubs and bicycle parts, much of which police said were likely stolen.

“The people that have nowhere to go and just lay down a sleeping bag or a tent overnight are not the people we are that concerned with,” said Petaluma Officer Ryan Debaeke. “It’s the people who drag all sorts of trash and garbage. It might take only a couple of weeks to build them up, but it’s a big effort to clean them out.”

Debaeke said the Petaluma camp was created by a homeless couple who were recently notified by police that the camp had to be taken down and cleaned up. Instead, police said, the couple abandoned the camp, leaving behind piles of trash, clothes and other items, including a bathtub, a wheelchair, a tent and several road signs. The ground was littered with pieces of aluminum foil with black burn marks on them, which Debaeke said addicts typically use to smoke opiates. A rooster and a chicken waddled around the camp, pecking at pieces of Styrofoam and the entire area smelled like urine.

The camp will likely flood during the next rains Debaeke said.

“We’re looking at a mountain of trash going into the river,” he said. “It’s a big problem obviously.”

(Contact Elizabeth M. Cosin at elizabeth.cosin@arguscourier.com)