Newport Beach has made it easier for private property owners struggling with people sleeping in their doorways or otherwise trespassing to get help from the Police Department.
Property owners can file a trespass authorization letter with the city, giving police officers the authority to ask people who are trespassing to move along without having to contact the owner, or even seek prosecution on the owner’s behalf.
“It’s easier for us and for the property owner,” said Lt. Brad Miler, who oversees the detective bureau at the Newport Beach Police Department. “It’s a good tool.”
“Sometimes, where it’s a summer home or where people aren’t here all the time, they can file one of these,” he said. “Or a business, we’d have issues where they’re open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and once they close, we’ve had transients come by, and they’ll set up camp. Then they show up at 8:30 a.m. to open up, and there’s these guys there infringing on the private property.”
While the program isn’t totally new, it can be accessed online now.
And, following a recently passed state bill, the trespass letter’s validity is extended for a year, instead of 30 days.
The idea of the trespass letter stemmed from the pandemic when many commercial buildings and even some apartment complexes stood empty, law enforcement officials said.
The program is used by several police departments in Orange County, including by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and the 13 cities that contract for its services.
Since 2020, Sherrif’s Department Lt. Matt Timmins said the program has been a “valuable tool for deputies to better serve our communities proactively and efficiently.”
Miller explained that for a no-trespass arrest, there needs to be a victim to pursue prosecution.
“In lieu of calling someone out at 2 a.m., or having them sign a private person’s arrest every single time, there’s this umbrella ability to enforce that no-trespass statute for 12 months,” he said.
The letter, which is witnessed by a notary, can be kept on file at the Police Department and updated annually.
It lets police officers know they may want to cast an extra eye on a specific location that has experienced issues, said Newport Beach Councilmember Lauren Kleiman, who asked the Police Department for help after hearing from businesses in her Corona Del Mar district, that were experiencing a host of problems.
“Especially businesses with any kind of parking garage or private alcove,” Kleiman said. “One business had a whole slew of camera footage with people using drugs, defecating, urinating. A number of other businesses were having to hire private security because their employees were coming in the morning and finding one or more people were still there in the parking lot and garage areas.”
Kleiman, who is also part of an ad hoc committee working on solutions to reduce homelessness in Newport Beach, said she researched options and how the process could be made easier.
“I saw it was available in other cities in and outside of the county and was available on their websites for the public or business owners to download,” she said. “I mentioned it to our Police Department, and they did have an existing letter, and I don’t know that anyone was taking advantage of it.”
Steve Rosansky, who heads up the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce, said he had been hearing similar concerns from the community about trespassing issues.
“It’s a nice thing for the Police Department to have in their toolbox when people are on properties where they don’t belong,” he said, adding it can also help officers in instances when people are on private properties for “nefarious” activities, such as casing the area for break-ins.
And, it is a tool for homeowners associations to protect their greenbelts and parks. In the past, Kleiman said it might be difficult to get people who are having a party or set up for a sports event to move along. But, the trespass letter would allow for immediate action.
Another example of when the letter could be useful is when homes are for sale, Miller said.
“We’ve had calls where a realtor will call us and has seen a bedroom where someone is obviously living there,” he said. “People watch a house long enough they get to know the routine of the realtors. They’d leave it during the day and then at night, they’d pop back in. We were called and you could tell, this person was living there. There were toiletries and they were sleeping in the bed.”
Miller said the city can also offer resources and outreach when making contact with people who are homeless and taking shelter outside a business or camping out at a property.
“It’s also an opportunity to touch base with those guys and provide some help if that’s what they want,” he said.
Miller said, typically, on a trespass call, the person is warned before arrest. By doing that, the police officers get the person’s information, the time and date of the visit, and that a warning has been given.
“Then, they’ve been put on notice,” Miller said. “If they come back a second time, now we’ll have the teeth to make an arrest.”