The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) was developed in May of 2017 and is staffed by two full-time deputies and one sergeant. The development of the newly formed team was a result of the growing homeless community within the county. Due to the increased homeless population, the Sheriff’s Office was responding to no less than 700 calls for service each quarter regarding homeless and transient activities.
At the end of HOT’s first quarter in the field, overall calls for service were reduced by 75%. During the summer of 2016, no less than 100 wildland fires had been started near homeless encampments. After the implementation of HOT, the summer of 2017 had reduced wildland fires from encampments to only one fire.
HOT’s primary goals are to improve quality of life within the community, address issues involving drug and alcohol addiction and also foster personal stability and mental health. HOT works tirelessly to maintain constant contact with the nearly 650 members of El Dorado County’s homeless population. HOT hopes to accomplish all of this by working to identify each individual’s needs and partnering with various resources throughout the county to break, and ultimately end, the cycle of homelessness.
In doing so, this will reduce wildland fires and calls for service such as trespassing, public intoxications, defecating in public, visual blight, petty thefts, aggressive panhandling and the violent crimes within the camps. These are only some of the reasons Homeless Outreach Teams are becoming a best practice in regions throughout California and across the nation.
In the eight months that HOT has been in service,
they have placed or housed seven homeless
persons. Additionally they have successfully
facilitated the commitment of 31 transient
individuals to treatment programs or
transitional housing. Their hopes are to protect
the private property owners and break the cycle
of homelessness for those in El Dorado County
who, at some of the most difficult times in their
life, simply need a hand up.
Homeless Outreach Team
Ride Along Program
The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office encourages our community members to participate in our ride along program. This program offers citizens firsthand knowledge of how the Sheriff’s Office conducts patrol related duties and is the most transparent view of the agency. The ride along program provides community members a better understanding of the trials, tribulations and rewards the deputies face daily.
Community members request to ride along for a variety of reasons including Citizen’s Academy participation, participants of the Sheriff’s Office Explorer program, Chaplains, Sheriff’s Office Applicants (sworn and support staff), students and interested members of the community. Anyone interested in a career in law enforcement is encouraged to utilize this program when deciding if this is the type of occupation they could make a career out of.
In 2017...
Explorers
Citizens academy
5
53
Other Agency/ applicants
Citizens
11
...Joined our deputies on Patrol
Explorers
Citizens
academy
Other Agency/
applicants
Citizens
20
83