Menifee officers make up special crime prevention detail

From left: Deputy Frank Rice, Sgt. Kevin Lamb and Lt. Scott Forbes are dedicated to crime prevention in Menifee. Menifee 24/7 photo: Doug Spoon

As often as Menifee residents are reminded that it takes time to recruit and train the additional Sheriff’s deputies budgeted for with Measure DD tax funds, there is a perception among many that law enforcement in the city has not yet increased.

Meet Deputy Frank Rice, Sgt. Kevin Lamb and the Community Service Officers who have been on the job for months, working proactively in the city’s new crime prevention program.

While city officials await the arrival of four additional patrol officers from a Sheriff’s Academy graduating class this summer, Rice, Lamb and the CSOs are providing specialized law enforcement service in attempts to provide a safer environment for residents.

Rice, who has been an officer at the Sheriff’s Perris station for nine years, is now assigned specifically to Menifee as crime prevention officer. Rather than responding to calls for service, he interacts with local businesses that have previously been targeted by criminals in an effort to make those businesses safer. He also educates other local business owners in ways to deter crime.

In addition, Rice and Lamb – a sergeant assigned specifically to Menifee – maintain constant contact with Menifee’s homeless population, both to address drug abuse and panhandling as well as to show those individuals ways they can get help in proper ways.

“What I’m looking for is patterns throughout Menifee,” Rice said. “I look at the call logs for the day prior. I’m the eyes prior to the enforcement. I’m also the liaison with the City of Menifee, the City Council and businesses. I help start Neighborhood Watches; I go to many community meetings.

“I also work with the homeless. There is a team devoted to homeless outreach for the county. We’re a mini version of that here in Menifee. We’re trying to find them help. Even so, I’m still a police officer and I make sure criminals are apprehended.”

As it is in cities across the nation, homelessness is an issue in Menifee. Complaints from residents about homeless individuals loitering near businesses and panhandling are common. But Lt. Scott Forbes, who supervises police operations in Menifee, made it clear that it is the issues surrounding homelessness – not homelessness itself – that is a focus of Deputy Rice and Sgt. Lamb.

“When you talk about the homeless … we are not dealing with homelessness,” Forbes said. “We’re dealing with crimes related to a certain part of the population. There is no law saying you can’t be homeless. We deal with the underlying issues that may lead to someone being homeless.”

Homeless camps and individuals near businesses receive special attention from deputies. Photo courtesy of City of Menifee

One of the primary issues, Rice said, is drug and alcohol addiction. And that leads to panhandling in an attempt to get the money to satisfy those addictions. Rice’s mission is twofold: to eliminate criminal activities such as drug abuse, panhandling and theft, and to offer the homeless opportunities for rehabilitation.

“We deal a lot with drug use and panhandling," Rice said. "It’s mostly quality of life issues. They have addictions. Their addictions cost money. To get that money, they’re going into the Vons, they’re going into the Stater Bros. They’re aggressively panhandling. We make sure we’re enforcing the law.”

Rice said he believes the increased presence by the specialized officers is making a difference – not only in reducing panhandling and other crimes, but by exposing the homeless to the opportunities they have for a better life. He interacts with individuals on a regular basis and distributes pamphlets with County resources to assist them.

Many of these services are listed on the website EndHomeless.info.

“I think so,” said Rice when asked if he is seeing a decrease in homeless activity in Menifee. “I’m having encounters with the homeless and speaking about the services that are available. There’s rehabilitation, centers to go to for showers, food and shelter.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t click with them right away. So we continuously go out there and give them the pamphlets we have and talk to them. It takes probably 10, 15 times before they even say, ‘OK, maybe.’”

One example Rice points to is a homeless man he has interacted with for several years. After multiple attempts to reach out to him, the man finally agreed to get some help.

“He went to rehab almost almost 200 days ago; today he’s 155 days sober,” said Rice, who still visits the man in the county facility. “He had been homeless quite a few years; he always sat out in front of Vons, at the bus stop. He finally said, ‘Enough is enough,’ with help from Sgt. Lamb, myself, the County, and Molina Healthcare. We personally took him to doctor’s appointments. We were finally able to get him into a rehab center.

“I just saw him yesterday. He’s doing great. It kind of touches my heart. He was OK with us telling his story on Facebook, and we’re showing those pictures to the other homeless. We show them and they say, ‘That’s not him.’”

Thanks to examples like that, Rice said, others may soon accept assistance. That will both help improve their lives and reduce the panhandling and danger to other residents.

“There’s another lady who’s 62 years old,” Rice said. “We contacted Path of Life (Ministries) and HOPE (another homeless resource). They have come out and sat with her for sometimes an hour.

“She has mental health issues and some drug issues. I got a text yesterday that she’s probably going to be housed, at a facility in a different city. That’s great. All these organizations are glad to help us.”

Lamb acknowledges there are many reasons homeless individuals may resist help at first – and not just because of addictions.

“One of the hard things is, most have family in the area, so they don’t want to leave that connection they have with the city,” he said. “Mom and dad don’t want them, their kids can’t be around them because of their drug habit, but they don’t want to leave.”

In addition to interacting with the homeless, Rice and Lamb visit business owners, both those who have been victims of crime and those seeking ways to prevent crime.

“I go through all the areas and make sure I talk to all the businesses that have called in the past,” Rice said. “I make sure they’re happy, that they come up with solutions to deter crime, say lighting. That can be a big issue. We give them different hints on what to do.”

The Sheriff’s Department can also provide business owners with a form they can sign, giving officers the authority to issue citations to trespassers. In addition, Rice and Lamb sometimes go undercover inside businesses to catch shoplifters in the act.

“We had one of those operations at Rite Aid,” Lamb said. "The manager approached us about retail loss -- mainly alcohol. We worked inside the store. As we spotted theft taking place, we notified the special enforcement team outside to apprehend them as they left the store.

“So now they understand. They know, ‘These guys are now going undercover in the stores.’ One frequent thief left the city because he didn’t like getting caught.”

Another part of the officers’ job is to educate the public about how to act if approached by panhandlers. They are supported by the City of Menifee, which has distributed door hangers (left) at local residences with tips about “responsible compassion” concerning the homeless and panhandlers.

“You can always say no,” Rice said. “What I’ve seen is they’re not asking for food or drink, they’re asking for money. People have offered them food and they say, ‘I don’t want food, I want money.’ If you give it to them, what makes them want to stop their habit?

“These people usually are not violent. Just say no. We tell our kids that the whole time they’re growing up -- say no to drugs. Adults can do that, too. That’s the best advice we can give. You can be stern, but also be nice. Most often, they will walk away. If they do follow you, call 911.”

Of course, crime prevention is not confined to local businesses and the homeless. Rice and Lamb spend much of their time working with Neighborhood Watch groups and following up on reports of crime in local neighborhoods.

“I strongly recommend every neighborhood needs a Neighborhood Watch,” Rice said. “There are a lot of things they can discuss and consider to help each other.

“Thieves don’t want to be seen. They like it when it’s dark. They like it when there’s no dogs. And a lot of people don’t realize that leaving things in the car is the wrong thing to do. There’s people who have had their car window smashed for 32 cents because there was change in the cup holder.

“We’ll give them information on how to start a watch, how to protect your home. Nowadays, it isn’t so common for people to know their neighbor. This helps make that happen.”

Both officers urge residents to report any crimes or tips to police, no matter how minor they may seem. They acknowledge that serving such a large city sometimes results in delays in response time. However, help is on the way. Funds generated through the Measure DD sales tax increase has provided revenue to add four more patrol officers. Candidates for those positions are going through the Sheriff’s Academy now.

“The residents voting to approve Measure DD was huge,” Forbes said. “With those funds, the city was able to start a crime prevention unit, enhance the traffic enforcement team, add community service officers to staff the new storefront police station (located in the Cherry Hills Plaza).

“Recruiting new officers is always a challenge. We may receive 12,000 applications. Of those, about 60 pass the background check. Of those, maybe 45 actually finish the academy. Of those, not everyone will complete the training. We may get only 30 deputy sheriffs out of that group to send out to our city contracts.”

Forbes is hopeful that the next graduating academy class July will provide some of those officers, helping provide more law enforcement for the city.