Sheriff’s operation helps dozens of homeless residents

The Sheriff’s Community Service & Reentry Division, Homeless Outreach Proactive Enforcement Team (H.O.P.E.) located 39 individuals experiencing homelessness and provided 36 individuals with referrals to programs for assistance on Friday, July 12, as part of Operation Shelter Me in Fontana and surrounding unincorporated areas of San Bernardino County. Eight individuals were linked with follow-up professional services.

Operation Shelter Me aims to connect staff with unhoused residents and offer them housing, medical and mental health treatment services. During this operation, the team focused on those with the most significant mental illness to get those individuals linked to restorative mental health pathways.

While service capacity is limited, the teams will continue to work with this population to get them into services as they become available.

In June 2023, San Bernardino County opted into Laura’s Law, also called Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT). Laura’s Law provides opportunities for court-ordered community treatment pathways for individuals with histories of hospitalization or incarceration, and histories of violence to themselves or others. During the July 12 operation, no subjects were contacted who appeared to be candidates for assisted outpatient treatment.

The H.O.P.E. Team and other aligned resources will continue operations of this type throughout San Bernardino County over the next year thanks to Community Concerns funding provided by the Board of Supervisors. This special funding allows the Sheriff’s Department to direct resources towards addressing topics of concern, like homelessness and mental illness, to county residents.

If you know of persons experiencing homelessness who need services, please get in touch with the H.O.P.E. Team at 909-387-0623 or hope@sbcsd.org.

Additional County Update News – July 18, 2024