LANCASTER – Homeless people on The BLVD, juvenile delinquency and the “Eye in the Sky” were three of various topics discussed at the “Coffee with a Deputy” meeting Thursday morning.
The informal monthly meetings are organized to create a comfortable atmosphere where community members can meet with deputies from the Lancaster Station to address problems in their neighborhoods.
Thursday’s meeting took place from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Lemon Leaf Café on Lancaster Boulevard and was attended by about a dozen residents. Sergeant Theresa Dawson and deputy Miguel Ruiz from Lancaster Station’s Community Relations Department, along with representatives from Lancaster’s Public Safety Office and the Valley Oasis Shelter also attended the meeting.
Much of the meeting focused on law enforcement’s response to panhandling, loitering and soliciting on The BLVD, Dawson said.
The department tries to balance the needs of the city’s homeless population with The BLVD merchants’ ability to do business, Dawson said.
Many homeless people do not know what resources are available to them, but the Sheriff’s department is trying to change this through outreach, Dawson added.
Valley Oasis representative Patricia Rivetti outlined some of the services available at The Homeless Solutions Access Center. The program helps homeless individuals and families with immediate needs, such as showers, laundry, emergency transportation, food and clothing and placement in emergency and transitional housing.
The program also offers long-term assistance in finding housing, learning living skills, and receiving health and mental health treatment to help individuals move to safety and stability off the streets. For more information on this program, call 661-942-2758.
Residents at Thursday’s meeting were also concerned about juveniles roaming the streets unsupervised and possibly getting into trouble, deputy Ruiz said.
Juveniles on the streets during schools hours could be cited for truancy, and youths on the streets between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., without an adult, could be cited for curfew violation, Ruiz said.
He said residents who witness this activity should contact the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station at 661-948-8466, so that deputies could respond and pick up the juveniles.
The meeting also touched on the effectiveness of the Law Enforcement Aerial Platform System (LEAPS). Ruiz said LEAPS has been a great benefit to Lancaster Station since its launch in August of 2012.
The system is invaluable as an “information gathering tool,” allowing law enforcement to quickly assess potentially dangerous situations prior to responding on scene, Ruiz said.
The Lancaster Sheriff’s Station is looking into the possibility of hosting an upcoming “Coffee with a Deputy” meeting on the weekend, Ruiz said. The change is being explored to accommodate those residents who cannot attend the weekday meetings because of work.
For more information on the “Coffee with a Deputy” program, contact Deputy Miguel Ruiz at 661-948-8466 ext.4029.
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Doc Rivers says
I am afraid my Mayor is delusional and combine that with all around him fearing that if you disagree. It is the condition he insists upon any one he supports in our city or Palmdale.
Turd Ferguson says
I do not know what is wrong with telling the truth.I don not know what is wrong with telling the truth.All I said was this.All I said was this.What?What?LEAPS is invaluable as an information gathering tool?LEAPS is invaluable as an information gathering tool?No!No!LEAPS is expensive as an information gathering tool.LEAPS is expensive as an informational gathering tool.LEAPS cost $90,000.00 a month.LEAPS cost $90,000.00 a month.For what?For what?To find a person hiding in a field that our great sherriffs arrested in an apartment?To let our great sherriffs know that a bad guy was in an apartment?To find a person hiding in a field that our great sherriffs arrested in an apartment?The sherriffs do great work without LEAPS.The sherriffs do great work without LEAPS.They do not need LEAPS.They do not need LEAPS.They could use $90,000.00 a month to fight crime.They could use $90,000.00 a month to fight crime.If you do not believe that LEAPS costs $90,000.00 a month you are wrong.If you do not believe that LEAPS COST $90,000.00 a month you are wrong.This is what the Antelope Valley Press reported on December 6:Officially named the Law Enforcement Aerial Platform System, or LEAPS, the surveillance plane is paid for by the city but operated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. It cost Lancaster $1.3 million in startup costs that include the first 12 months of service.If you divide $1,300,000.00 by 12 months what do you get?If you divide $1,300,000.00 by 12 months what do you get?You get $108,333.33.You get $108,333.333.That is more than $90,000.00 a month.That is more than $90,000.00 a month.But the Antelope Valley Press reported this on August 24:Instead, the plane that goes into service today comes with a $1.3 million price tag that includes the first 12 months of operation. After the initial year, the city will pay $90,000 per month for the system, which was designed by Lancaster-based Spiral Technology. The city contracted with a new company named Aero View LLC, a partnership between Spiral’s Steve McCarter and Frank Visco, a developer and longtime Antelope Valley businessman.You read it right.You read it right.$90,000.00 a month.$90,000.00 a month.For what?For what?Give our sherriffs $90,000.00 to fight crime.Give our sherriffs $90,000.00 to fight crime.Crime is going up since we got LEAPS.Crime is going up since we got LEAPS.Give the $90,000.00 a month to the sherriffs so they can bring crime down.Give the $90,000.00 a month to the sherriffs so they can bring crime down.No to LEAPS.No to LEAPS.Yes to sherriffs.Yes to sherriffs.
Thomas says
Turd the broken record
QHR says
Instead of giving money to a panhander, I purchased him an In’N Out Burger meal. He threw it in the trash in front of me. Since then, I learned to just give to my church, they will properly dispurse financial assistance to the proper sources in our community.
Frank Rizzo says
I wont even give money to a church, they give out money to so called struggling families to pay their bills while they get welfare, food stamps and other governemnt assistance, Meanwhile they drive around in cadillac escalades.
QHR says
I think the “Coffee with a Deputy” is a great program. Thanks to the Sheriff for working hard to keep our community safe and clean.
Just one comment:
Panhandling is a city wide problem in Lancaster. It is hard to go shopping sometimes without being approached by a panhandler and personal safety becomes an issue. I hope the city can help these people. By helping these people, it makes our city more presentable and more favorable and safer to shop.
A weekend or evening Coffee with a Deputy meeting will be favorable for those that work.
sammy P says
Perhaps we need a new program called “Coffee with a Homeless Person” :)
I have been homeless in the AV and have slept under bridges and in my car and in alleyways I can say without a doubt that the homeless know all about the available programs, food banks and shelters, they simply choose not to use them for various reasons, and the #1 reason is alcohol. San Francisco has the right idea with “wet houses”, homeless shelters where drinking is allowed, because many homeless will not go to a shelter where they can’t drink.
QHR says
So you panhandle so you can get some booze!!! You need to leave this city.
sammy P says
Um… Ya.. I go get my daily booze then head to the library so I can use their PCs to post here. (sigh) I guess I should have made it a bit more clear that I WAS homeless. Now I live in an apartment in Palmdale in a bad neighborhood which is almost as bad as being homeless.
Thomas says
So at least we know the daily routine was to get drunk and then go to the library.
Les says
“These people” usually don’t need help. They prey upon people with a great but fake story that tugs at your heart and you pull out your wallet. Not only does that make you a potential victim of a robbery but you’re perpetuating the activity. DO NOT give to ANY panhandlers!
sammy P says
I respectfully disagree, not everyone gets a fair hand in life and you can’t judge someone unless you have walked in their shoes, some homeless people have lived a life of nothing but misery and hell, no girlfriends, no family that cares, no real friends, just a life full of pain and misery, so if one of them panhandles enough to sit in a bush with a bottle of booze, so be it. For some people, that booze is the ONLY pleasure they get to have in their life, so who am I to say its a bad thing. I have no problem giving a few bucks to a homeless person, it might just buy them some temporary happiness. Think about the hand YOU were dealt in life before you judge someone not as fortunate as yourself.
Darius White says
I must respectfully disagree with #sammyP. Regardless of what the majority is led to believe, life IS fair, it’s just IMPARTIAL. What happens, happens to all of us. We ALL experience (albeit to varying degrees)financial challenges, loss of loved ones, struggling times, etc. However, it’s how we CHOOSE to handle what happens to us that determines our success. In the end, life is all about choices; more specific, it’s about the choices we, as individuals, make that determine our destination.
sammy P says
No, life is NOT fair.. for many people. I understand your point of view, but I feel many people don’t want to admit they were given a hand in life that made things so much easier then others who were not given that hand. Its easier to believe you got where you are through hard work and determination and so you feel every other person not as successful as you is just lazy and made bad choices, which makes you feel better about yourself as compared to them. But I can list MANY hands in life that would make life much harder to succeed in. Mental problems, Low IQ, extreme unattractiveness (ya how many good looking homeless people do you really ever see?) crappy family situation, severe depression. Most people dont see that homelessness is as much a social issue as it is financial, I have met many homeless people that are far too psychically and mentally screwed up to have any social life outside of homelessness, they wouldn’t be accepted in any other circle. Should they get a job at McDonalds so they can afford an apartment so they can sit alone in it? Homelessness is a much more complicated issue then a group of lazy people who don’t want to work. Saying we are all equally gifted is like saying starving Ethiopians have just as much opportunity as we do as long as they are determined and work hard. Sure, we have all experienced hardships and pain, but have you been through so much pain that you just can’t take anymore? So much that you are just a broken shell of what you once were and want nothing more then to crawl in a bush with a 40oz beer to try and forget? No? Consider yourself lucky then.
Frank Rizzo says
Some people just get dealt a [removed] hand, ITs how you play your hand.
Gladys says
I agree with whoever said to NOT GIVE $$$$ to panhandlers. It encourages them to keep coming back and marks you as an easy mark for them and their network of scammers. I report them to security when I see them in front of the stores and at the gas station.
I have known for a long time they were all scammers. The final event was when I offered 2 large bags of recycling (water bottles) and was asked “don’t you have any cash)?
Theodore says
I always give to panhandlers. It isn’t (for me) about what they do with the money. It’s about me giving.
Forewarned says
I have to agree with Gladys. No ca$h. Theodore if you want to “give” than volunteer at the homeless shelter or donate money. But giving ca$h to the homeless only allows them to buy their “drug” of choice.
Gladys says
Theodore, Must feel great to give money for someone’s next hit of dope or bottle of booze. People who really need help, are not out nickle and diming people in parking lots or in the medium between lanes of traffic.
But, for you, it’s the giving.
sikntired says
Graceresources.org, you can have 10$ a month automatically withdrawn from your checking account, painless giving to a very helpful Organization that knows how to help and does.
Gladys says
Mental Health America is another great place to make donations. Household goods, clothing, food, etc.
sammy P says
Not everything as it seems at Grace Resource Center..
Its certainly not the “cure all” for homelessness.
I remember when a local dealership donated a brand new van to Grace, and Steve Baker (Head of Grace) decided that it would be his personal car to take home and drive daily for all his personal needs. Grace does help people, but if you have ever been a person in need and went to Grace for help, you learn very quickly that Steve Baker’s #1 concern is Steve Baker. Having said that, Having Grace Resource Center here is certainly better then nothing.
Scott Pelka says
Why mostly Problems on the Blvd… What about the rest of the city now that crime is up 8% now that the LEAPS plane is such a big help. Seems like nothing is being done for businesses unless they are on that piece of downtown asphalt.
Adam Chant says
I think that because the event was on the BLVD it was used as an example of the homeless/panhandling problem in the community as a whole.
The matter was a lot larger than the BLVD, but because we were on the BLVD it was an easy opportunity for the ladies at Valley Oasis to discuss the needs we have in this community for supporting our homeless.
In fact one of the most important details we got out of this meeting was that on January 31 2013 there will be a homeless census conducted in the AV and they need volunteers to help with the count. Please if you are available on this day to help ( 5:00 AM starting time ) contact Grace Resource or Valley Oasis for more details. This count only happens every two years and the accuracy of it is imperative to helping the shelters better serve the homeless.
Adam Chant says
Scott, as I have said before I use my real name because I stand behind what I say 100% of the time and I will mention here what I mentioned elsewhere. I was misinformed about Aero services being supplemental to the base LASD contract. Specifically Aero support is part of the LASD contract and available for all contract cities as needed based on availability of resources.
It’s to be noted though that like other LASD specialized resources they are not exclusive to Lancaster or even the A.V. We share Aero support between Lancaster, Palmdale and Santa Clarita LASD stations. There has been a big push by local LASD to get their own helicopter in the A.V. but big LASD has not been receptive to it.
This is where LEAPS has the advantage and benefit for the deputies in Lancaster. Where they would have to put in a request (like a 911 call) for Aero support, having LEAPS means that they are already on point with an aerial observer the second the call comes in to dispatch. The LEAPS deputy works next to dispatch. There is a whole bunch of nonessential tasks that LEAPS can and does perform that saves deputy resources for more important services and in some cases protects them by laying out the playing field before a deputy even enters a scene.
Deputy Ruiz outlined an example that occurred this week where LEAPS was utilized. We will probably never read about it in the news because it turned out to be a non-issue.
There was a person with a gun call made near one of the elementary schools in Lancaster and LEAPS was able to evaluate the scene while the dispatcher was on the phone with the caller still. Exactly where the suspect was in relation to the street and school, if there was visual of the suspect(s) (or how many) and how the deputies should respond were all known before a single deputy was even at the scene. With LEAPS observing the scene they were able to verify (or update) the information provided by the caller, tell the deputy where to search and observe for any possible movement in the area that could be a fleeing suspect. There was no evidence of a person with a gun found and it was, as I said, a non-issue.
I just don’t know what the value of having that kind of information before a deputy is on scene is worth, but also knowing all of the other observable things LEAPS can do it makes it hard to argue the cost. One thing that will always be difficult will be understanding that a lot of what LEAPS does involves pending investigations and that always involves probable cause. Exactly when, where and how it is being used will be guarded until a time that the video evidence is presented in court.
Turd if you TROLL this post with your dribble I’ll ask the staff at AV times to delete it. I appreciate your concern with LEAPS, but repeating something that is false, no matter how many times, is still false.
LEAPS will begin to cost the city of Lancaster approximately $90,000 a month starting in August 2013. It is currently operated under the initial contract of $1.3M that included the procurement of the system and 12 months of aerial surveillance. We all need to take a hard look at services rendered vs. cost when it comes time to approve the contract extension.
Imagine entering a situation as a deputy where all you know is that there is a person with a gun near a school. It is one mile in radius and you have only minutes before you are faced with another school shooting.. For my child, for my friends that have children who go to Taft high school in Bakersfield the cost of LEAPS is probably worth it..
Letlow says
@Adam Chant,
Yours is the most comprehensive description of the LEAPS plane that I’ve ever read. How is it that you know so much about LEAPS? Are you part of law enforcement or part of the company that contracts with the city for LEAPS? If so, then in all fairness, you should disclose that here.
Adam Chant says
I do not work for Spiral, Aero View, LASD or the City of Lancaster nor have I ever. (Though I did complete the LASD Community Academy this last year) I’m just a concerned citizen and Lancaster BLVD business owner that has experience in the industry related to LEAPS. All of the information that I have provided in my many LEAPS reviews is freely available from LEAPS literature, City of Lancaster documentation or by asking those who manage and operate LEAPS the right questions.
Turd Ferguson says
What?What?LEAPS is invaluable as an information gathering tool?LEAPS is invaluable as an information gathering tool?No!No!LEAPS is expensive as an information gathering tool.LEAPS is expensive as an informational gathering tool.LEAPS cost $90,000.00 a month.LEAPS cost $90,000.00 a month.For what?For what?To find a person hiding in a field that our great sherriffs arrested in an apartment?To let our great sherriffs know that a bad guy was in an apartment?To find a person hiding in a field that our great sherriffs arrested in an apartment?The sherriffs do great work without LEAPS.The sherriffs do great work without LEAPS.They do not need LEAPS.They do not need LEAPS.They could use $90,000.00 a month to fight crime.They could use $90,000.00 a month to fight crime.If you do not believe that LEAPS costs $90,000.00 a month you are wrong.If you do not believe that LEAPS COST $90,000.00 a month you are wrong.This is what the Antelope Valley Press reported on December 6:Officially named the Law Enforcement Aerial Platform System, or LEAPS, the surveillance plane is paid for by the city but operated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. It cost Lancaster $1.3 million in startup costs that include the first 12 months of service.If you divide $1,300,000.00 by 12 months what do you get?If you divide $1,300,000.00 by 12 months what do you get?You get $108,333.33.You get $108,333.333.That is more than $90,000.00 a month.That is more than $90,000.00 a month.But the Antelope Valley Press reported this on August 24:Instead, the plane that goes into service today comes with a $1.3 million price tag that includes the first 12 months of operation. After the initial year, the city will pay $90,000 per month for the system, which was designed by Lancaster-based Spiral Technology. The city contracted with a new company named Aero View LLC, a partnership between Spiral’s Steve McCarter and Frank Visco, a developer and longtime Antelope Valley businessman.You read it right.You read it right.$90,000.00 a month.$90,000.00 a month.For what?For what?Give our sherriffs $90,000.00 to fight crime.Give our sherriffs $90,000.00 to fight crime.Crime is going up since we got LEAPS.Crime is going up since we got LEAPS.Give the $90,000.00 a month to the sherriffs so they can bring crime down.Give the $90,000.00 a month to the sherriffs so they can bring crime down.No to LEAPS.No to LEAPS.Yes to sherriffs.Yes to sherriffs.
Turd Ferguson says
The Rexbots are here!The Rexbots are here!Do you have to spend your money on the BLVD?Do you have to spend your money on the BLVD?Ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha!