Stockton police, city staff to talk homelessness policy with council Tuesday

The Stockton City Council plans to take another step toward possible changes in how the city enforces its homelessness laws following a sweeping U.S. Supreme Court ruling , a councilmember and the city's spokesperson said.

Officials from the city manager's office, as well as the public works, legal, police and economic development departments, are set to brief the council at the Tuesday, Aug. 27 session, which is open to the public, according to District 3 Councilmember Michael Blower.

“We will be reviewing the entire policy for consistency with (the) federal ruling, including our capacity and the resources needed to implement any changes,” city spokesperson Connie Cochran said Monday.

What did the Supreme Court decide?

The upcoming meeting will mark the second time that city staff members have briefed councilmembers on the issue since the Supreme Court ruling in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson .

On June 28, the court held that cities can legally cite and jail homeless residents for breaking anti-camping laws, even if the cities lack enough shelter beds to offer their homeless populations a viable alternative.

City Manager Harry Black explained the decision to the council at its July 9 meeting.

"As a city, we have numerous rules on the books that deal with camping," he told The Record at the time. The ruling "frees us up to be able to apply all the rules that have been on the books," he said.

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It remains to be seen how the Take Back Our Parks plan — a strategy Black announced at the July meeting, specifically targeting encampments in parks — will fit into the city's broader response.

“The project has been in the concept phase in anticipation of the (Supreme Court) decision," police spokesman Officer Omer Edhah said last month. "(It) will be vetted operationally and logistically in the near future."

A police spokesman didn't return a call for further comment by deadline Monday.

The Aug. 27 meeting will also mark the first time councilmembers have met on the topic since Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order urging local governments to clear encampments .

Have there been more encampment cleanups since the ruling?

As of Monday, it's unclear if the Stockton Police Department has changed its approach to citing homeless residents in the wake of the Supreme Court.

Stockton ordinance bans camping and storing personal belongings near many types of infrastructure , including parks, roads, bridges, water sources, public utilities and train tracks. City law also bans structures that block sidewalks or streets .

So far, it appears there hasn't been an uptick in encampment cleanups.

The Stockton Police Department carried out 37 cleanups in the six weeks prior to the decision, and 34 in the six weeks after, according to police spokesman Officer David Scott.

Point-in-Time Count: Homelessness in San Joaquin County has doubled

The police and public works departments together carried out five regular, large-scale cleanups in the six weeks before the decision, and four in the six weeks after, according to Cochran. The city also did 21 smaller cleanups in the six weeks prior, and 19 in the six weeks after.

City departments often work together on cleanups, Cochran said. There may be overlap between the cleanup numbers the police department and the city as a whole provided.

In the six weeks before the decision, the California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, carried out eight cleanups in state right-of-way areas in Stockton, according to Bob Highfill, the region's encampment coordinator. In the six weeks following, the agency carried out three more.

The Aug. 27 study session is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at city hall, Cochran said.

Record reporter Aaron Leathley covers government accountability. She can be reached at aleathley@recordnet.com or on Twitter @LeathleyAaron. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https ://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow .

This article originally appeared on The Record: Stockton police, city staff to talk homelessness policy with council Tuesday