Local Police Departments Respond To Rise In Homelessness

Homelessness is on the rise in Riverside County. While its growth is slowing year by year, police departments on each end of the valley are putting much of their effort into helping that pattern continue. "We go out there on a regular basis, and we try to contact our homeless throughout the day," Palm Springs Police Lieutenant Gustavo Araiza shared. "One of the issues is trying to identify out of those homeless, which ones are chronic homeless, which ones have been in the Palm Springs area for a longer duration of time. We try to provide them services and at least point them in the right direction and get the resources that they need." "It’s not against the law to be homeless," Indio Police Department’s Public Information Officer Benjamin Guitron said. "We continue, right now, our partnership with Riverside County to have a therapist from social services. Our CORE program is a model program, which helps those that want to get back on their feet that have realized what they need to do. We work with the court systems and we work with probation." In the desert, Palm Springs, Indio and Desert Hot Springs are seeing the biggest populations with Indio sheltering the most of any city. Police point to two common problems they’ve seen in this population over the past year. "Substance abuse and mental health tend to be two of the biggest issues that lead to this problem," Lt. Araiza said. But their efforts are working. "Back in 2012, it was more than what we have now," Guitron continued. "It seems that we’ve been able to help over 500 to 600 homeless either get the help they need, reunite with families, and go back to where they lived before they ended up in the Coachella Valley." And more work is going to be done. "It’s a never ending plan with us," Guitron said. "We’re gonna look to see what other services we can add to do other things and thinking outside the box because it’s a constant, ‘What can we do?’" "We’re getting to a point where we’re gonna kind of refocus," Lt. Araiza shared. "So really identify what our priorities are as far as location, and then continue with our mission and try to provide those services, find alternate housing, and then arrest the criminals that are out there." And they are asking for the community to help. If something seems wrong, especially during the hot summer months, call your local police department because that call could save someone’s life.