Outreach programs emphasize community policing

Bob O'Donnell, a police volunteer with the YANA program, checks on a Menifee resident.

By Doug Spoon, Editor

The Menifee Police Department is using several programs to be proactive in reaching out to residents, including elderly individuals in need of special care and the homeless.

Last month the department launched the You Are Not Alone (YANA) program, in which volunteer police officers make regular checks on seniors who are living alone and may have special needs. Participants apply for entrance into the program, including relatives of seniors who are requesting regular welfare checks on their loved ones.

“The mission of the program is to promote security for the City of Menifee’s older adults living alone and peace of mind for their families,” states the department’s website.

Volunteers make contact by phone or in person on a regular basis. If contact cannot be established, the person’s relatives on record are notified. If necessary, a report is made to a regular officer to follow up.

The program is designed to provide support for isolated people, who are at a higher risk for exploitation from predators who target older adults, according to the website. In addition, isolation can cause individuals to develop hoarding behavior, leading to unsanitary and unhealthy living conditions.

“This is not just to offer services, but to let the person know they have support,” said Lt. Christina Reveles, who oversees the program. “People are afraid to live alone and illnesses can go unchecked. The volunteers are from our community, and they care about the residents here.”

Volunteers attend a six-week academy and wear a uniform when making visits. They do not provide medical assistance but can pass along information in order to help individuals.

“This adds the human element to our work,” said Captain Eddie Gutierrez, who oversees operations at Menifee PD. “We want people to know we’re here for them. It’s a harsh reality that a large amount of the community has no one. We show how to be that conduit for them to others in the community.”

To qualify for the YANA program, participants must be a Menifee resident and complete a registration form. For more information, email DG_PD_Volunteers@menifeepolice.org or call 951-723-1596.

Menifee PD has also used a proactive outreach program to work with homeless individuals in the city. Officers assigned to the Problem Oriented Policing (POP) team establish connections with the homeless and offer them a variety of resources to make their lives better.

“We address the homeless as residents,” said Sgt. Chris Perez, who supervises the POP team. “The only difference is others are housed and they are not. We contact these individuals on a daily basis, get to know their names. Some of them refuse help, but we continue to contact them and we have seen results with some of them.”

Perez said he has seen a marked decrease in homeless individuals in the community. On a recent ride-along to some of the sites where the homeless have been known to hang out, a reporter saw only one such individual. Most of those areas have been cleaned up as well -- clearing brush and improving lighting where individuals try to hide.

That principle is known as Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED). The City of Menifee has used this concept in several places in the Cherry Hills Plaza, where complaints about the homeless are most common.

One such area is behind the former Bank of America building on Cherry Hills Boulevard, where the homeless would sometimes gather on benches near overgrown vegetation with minimal lighting. The site, which will eventually be the home to additional City and Menifee PD employees, now is much less of a “hiding place”.

The CPTED concept is used in many areas of the Cherry Hills Plaza parking lots and around large buildings. If homeless individuals are encountered there, they are given a series of warnings before a trespassing citation is issued or other action is taken.

Entrance to areas of local reservoirs have been closed off with fencing, and regular patrols monitor local parks. Motor homes are not allowed to park on the street for more than 72 hours. Holes in fences surrounding the abandoned North Golf Course are repaired and the area is patrolled.

“The ones that are choosing to stay around because they feel comfortable there, we build a rapport with them and listen for cues,” Perez said. “We want to know what’s keeping them comfortable and then try to make changes so it’s not so comfortable for them to stay in the same lifestyle. That’s the hard part – trying to figure out what makes them so comfortable in staying there.”

Perez said sometimes the problem is as simple as a person’s lack of funds to go back to their home state or city. Occasionally, a bus ticket home is purchased and the individual is not seen in town again.

“We’re not just the heavy-handed arm of the law,” Perez said. “Not everyone we meet is thrown into handcuffs. This is part of a creative way to reach all parts of the community.”

In addition to assistance in finding housing, members of the POP team and the department’s Homeless Liaison Officer, Rochelle Hunter, provide resources for sober living and mental health assistance. Those who need help may be assisted by the county’s HOPE team (Homeless Housing Opportunity Partnership and Education).

“It’s a different approach to policing,” Perez said. “Our goal is to be community friendly. People buy into these things when we’re on the sites full-time. And about 85 percent of our offices live in or near Menifee. They’re invested in these programs.

“We have to change people’s way of thinking. Of course we still enforce the law, but sometimes a different approach works best.”