Fresno homeless task force changes how business is conducted

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The homeless task force has a new tactic. Fresno police say the latest effort involves pushing people out of parks after hours, and officers say their strategies are successful.

Action News spotted a group of homeless people at Roeding Park and near the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. While that's not illegal, what is illegal is when those same people are still in Fresno city parks after 10 at night.

Sgt. Robert Dewey heads up the task force and said, "Homeless have the right to use the parks just like everyone else does. If it's open during business hours, and they're not committing any crimes, they're not breaking the laws, there's no reason to call us at all. We're not concerned about them using the parks; we're concerned about them using the parks as their home".

Dewey says lately he's had to change how business is conducted. They're coming in early, visiting four to five parks a week and making sure no one is there before six in the morning. That means waking people up and citing them. "We offer them services and tell them where they can get housing, shelter, food, that type of thing," said Dewey.

If property is left behind, people will have 90 days to pick it up. Dewey says they've gotten calls about people sleeping in parks in every part of town with the exception of Woodward Park and cites its unique layout. Dewey says the 1-year-old task force is seeing success in its mission. "I think we've been really successful. The whole point of it was to make sure encampments didn't come back downtown and we've done that; we have no encampments downtown, we have no encampments anywhere in the city of Fresno," said Dewey.

He also says the shopping cart ordinance that was passed earlier this year has helped the task force quite a bit. They've recovered 2,500 carts which he says was a crutch for some people. "What I think we have done is try to make it a little bit more accessible to get the services they should have been getting in the first place," said Dewey.

He says it's recognizing that police can't "solve" homelessness but they can certainly help.