Mercedes Ortega (left) moves some of her belongings from Commercial and 15th Street to another location in the outskirts of downtown on July 31, 2023.
Mercedes Ortega (left) moves some of her belongings from Commercial and 15th Street to another location in the outskirts of downtown on July 31, 2023. / Photo by Ariana Drehsler

More than a month after San Diego police began enforcing the city’s homeless camping ban, the city has yet to finalize a written guide for officers on how to enforce the new law.

Voice of San Diego’s Lisa Halverstadt has repeatedly requested the document that a police captain told the City Council in June the department would use to teach officers how to correctly enforce the ordinance. City staff have said the document doesn’t yet exist.

City spokeswoman Ashley Bailey said a draft training bulletin is now going through a city approval process that includes legal review. She said the department has concluded it should issue a training bulletin before officers throughout the city enforce the new law.

For now, Bailey said, that means only officers in the department’s Neighborhood Policing Division who focus on homelessness-related issues are enforcing the law. 

“The department has provided extensive guidance to officers in the Neighborhood Policing Division who are currently enforcing this ordinance,” Bailey wrote in an email. “Officers citywide have not yet been instructed to enforce the ordinance.”

Bailey said the training bulletin will be posted on the city’s website when it’s finalized and issued.

Lisa is a senior investigative reporter who digs into some of San Diego's biggest challenges including homelessness, city real estate debacles, the region's...

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3 Comments

  1. Just arrest the vagrants for theft.
    Pardon me my good fellow – could you tell me where you stole …err purchased that fine shopping cart? And that carbon fiber bicycle with electronic shifting , does Cervello take EBT now?

  2. Arrest them! Every “regular” person in the city wants them all locked up. This reporter and paper = nuts trying to make this more difficult for SDPD and the city because they don’t agree with it. If you treat this like a blog, so will your audience.

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