In response to the growing threat of fires and crime associated with homeless encampments along the Santa Ynez River, the Lompoc Police Department has spearheaded a campaign to relocate as many of the outdoor squatters as possible. “We talking Third World conditions,” said Police Chief Pat Walsh. “It’s not just a crime issue; it’s a public health issue.”
In the past year, there have reportedly been 28 fires in the dry brush along the city’s riverbank. In the past week, there have been three. Walsh stressed that not one arrest has been made and that his department was deploying the carrot rather than the stick. Enjoined in the effort is Home for Good — a homeless services omnibus group — the Good Samaritan homeless shelter, and Santa Barbara county’s departments of Behavioral Wellness, Public Health, and Probation.
“There’s not any one type of homeless down here along the river bed,” Walsh said. “We try to meet people where they are in their lives.” Walsh said 100 people had been living along the river banks eight months ago; now, he estimated, it’s about half. Still, he said, the number of petty thefts remain unacceptably high. “If you live within half a mile [of an encampment,] anything left in your backyard will be gone,” he said. Rapes have grown more frequent, he added, and some of the squatters have used fire as a way to get back at those with whom they’re feuding.