Ever since the Orange County Sheriff's Department beefed up its patrols along the Santa Ana River bed, there have been 180 arrests and more than 1,000 contacts with the homeless to offer them resources.
The agency started patrolling the homeless camps along the riverbed in Anaheim, Fountain Valley, Santa Ana, and Orange last month.
Things were really getting out of hand in the riverbed, and residents' cries for help were being ignored because of squabbling between law enforcement and cities over jurisdictional lines.
The number of homeless along the riverbed is about 400 and changes daily. The sheriffs contacted 1,093 homeless people, but 910 of them refused the help.
Undersheriff Don Barnes said in a statement:
“Although outreach is an important aspect of our efforts, a vast majority of the population we contact is resistant to the services we are offering."
The 180 arrests were for robbery, domestic violence, sex offenses, and violating probation or parole.