Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department press release:

On August 17, 2014, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office began a new and unique deployment strategy for its patrol resources. Utilizing a “compressed schedule” that consists of a combination of 12 and 10 hour shifts, the staffing levels allowed for an “overlap day” in which all patrol shifts are scheduled for the same day. The result is an increase in the number of Deputy Sheriff’s that can be deployed for that day and still allow for the normal staffing of assigned beats during the 24 hour period of time. 

This overlap day has allowed Sheriff Downey to address certain geographical areas within the County of Humboldt that require a dedicated presence and enforcement action. The most recent dedicated enforcement occurred on Monday, September 8, 2014. Between 6:00 AM and 2:00 PM; seven (7) Deputy Sheriff’s, one (1) California Department of Fish and Wildlife Warden, one (1) Humboldt County Animal Control Officer and two (2) Program Workers with the Department of Health and Human Services were in the Garberville and Redway areas of Humboldt County. The group spent the listed hours walking the sidewalks of Garberville and encampments of the Redway and Garberville areas, for the purpose of addressing an increase in vagrancy, illegal camping and general loitering in those areas. The Department of Health and Human Services assisted in providing information on services that were available to those in need. 

Approximately six (6) citations were issued to dog owners for various violations of rabies license needs and general dog licensing violations. There were no arrests made during the contacts, but in excess of thirty (30) people were spoken to and admonished of vagrancy and trespassing issues. Multiple warnings were issued with notice of the Sheriff’s Office returning to the area at a later date with possible arrests being made if continued violations were noted. The persons contacted were interviewed by the Deputies and they discovered the majority of those persons were in the Southern Humboldt area for the purpose of seeking employment in the processing of cultivated marijuana. 

Sheriff Downey is committed to continuing these random and regular additional patrols in all areas of the County of Humboldt to address specific needs that normally cannot be addressed with daily dedicated Deputy Sheriff Deployment strategies.