Sheriff’s Office and Clovis PD working to “abate homelessness”

At the February 14th City Council meeting, a vote of approval was taken between an agreement on the Master Clovis Trails between the City of Clovis and the Fresno Irrigation District.

The FID, is mostly looking forward to working with canals and embankments that surround the city in certain areas with hopes to end the issue of homelessness.

While Mayor Jose Flores commends the deal between the FID and the City of Clovis, he believes that local jurisdiction may be skewed between Clovis PD and the Sheriff’s department.

“There’s gonna have to be some kind of agreement between the two agencies, about who has priority.”, stated the mayor.

He then went on to claim that Clovis PD would be able to go out and assess, but he believes that ultimately this land falls under the control of the Sheriff’s department.

The conclusive hope is that both the Sheriff’s Office and Clovis PD will have some form of agreement that allows a partnership between the two agencies to “abate homelessness.”

However, no matter the debate between who will actually cover the possible crime on these canals and embankments, some Clovis residents don’t have much faith in their property being fully protected.

During the public comment section of this consideration, a number of homeowners spoke up, not in protest, but in major concern over their property.

One resident claimed that in the beginning, trash was the major disturbance, but as the years have gone by, they have claimed to have found used condoms and used needles on their property.

Holding property ownership near these canals has been a nuisance in recent years for some of these homeowners, and their concerns have now grown as the city and the FID have come to this deal.

One of the homeowners’ other complaints came at the expense of jurisdiction between Clovis PD and the Sheriff’s department.

This homeowner claims that if they must contact a law enforcement entity, they are going to contact the Sheriff’s department because Clovis PD would be too far from their residence.

The council assured them as well as other homeowners who attended the meeting that the deal between the city and the FID would assure that law enforcement would be there to take care of both the homelessness and any violent actions that may occur.

However, the property owners there still do not have confidence in this deal that declares to protect their property.

In the end, the vote passed 5-0.

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JT is a recent college grad with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication. He is mainly interested in sports and entertainment but covers a wide array of subjects. He currently writes for the Fresno State Baseball Dugout Club. JT looks forward to continuing his career at the Clovis Roundup and is excited to be working closely with a community that is very proud of its people.