This is a friendly reminder to check your property for trespassers, particularly if you live on a house with stilts or on a steep slope. As the Gander Ridge area of SWHRL can attest, with illegal camps come propane tank explosions and fires.
We encourage you to share this information with your neighbors and look out for one another. People often travel in the summertime, so we also suggest advising your neighbors they have authority to call 9-1-1 to report a crime in progress if they see people camping under your house. Please be safe and call the police to assist – confrontations on steep hillsides could lead to disaster. Officers are professionals specially trained to handle trespasser removal and have authority to identify the trespassers and create a record of the event should the trespasser(s) return.
An alert neighbor spotted a camper with camouflaged tarp.
We have been given the following tips for reporting from our crime prevention coordinators:
If you use the word “homeless,” you run the risk of a dispatcher tuning you out or routing the call to a crisis person instead of an officer. If someone’s under your house, you have a crime in progress – a trespasser, plain and simple. Whether that trespasser is homeless or not is irrelevant, so just stay on message. If you see smoke, of course, report the illegal fire. Whether the person who created the fire is homeless or not is also irrelevant – no need to politicize it.
SWHRL would like to track this sort of activity as well as the response (or any lack thereof) of police, fire and the DA’s Office, so please contact swhrl.safety@gmail.com if you experience this sort of situation.
Your Neighborhood Association is always available to discuss your concerns or try to problem solve with you. Please don’t hesitate to reach out.