Ventura patrol task force outlines outreach, cleanups and challenges addressing river encampments

Commander Ted Caliento of the Ventura Police Department presented the Patrol Task Force’s (PTF) operations to the subcommittee, describing a blend of outreach, enforcement and partnership work intended to address encampments in riverbed areas.

"The patrol task force offers officers [who] spend most of their day actively patrolling and interacting with our homeless population with a compassionate mixture of enforcement and offering services," Commander Caliento said, outlining the team’s staffing and partners.

Caliento gave metrics the task force is tracking: 1,026 calls for service derived from 5,892 dispatch calls and, in June alone, 116 arrests tied to criminal vagrancy or incidents involving people experiencing homelessness. He said the team has issued about 140 administrative citations and made 368 arrests for a range of offenses, and that so far the team has helped reconnect 42 people with family or supports in 2026 and helped house nine individuals.

Caliento described cleanup practices along river bottoms: outreach and multiple contacts before cleanups, posting notices at least 72 hours before closures, coordinated cleanups where crews sometimes remove 45–50 tons of debris per camp, and work with downstream partners to recover stolen property or hazardous items such as propane tanks.

Public speakers and partner agencies emphasized environmental harms and operational constraints. Bahagan Nahabian (for the Wood Clasins Foundation) said private parcels along the Ventura River are repeatedly trespassed and urged more monitoring and an ordinance limiting illegal camping near agricultural parcels. "We can't continue to allow the river to be a lawless refuge," he said.

Captain David Wilson of California State Parks and Daniel Holst of Ventura Land Trust described pairing environmental restoration with human services during cleanups, and both highlighted access and funding as persistent obstacles to efficient trash removal. Glenn Overly cited figures the city manager previously provided — about $25,000 per cleanup and 468 tons of debris since April 2025 — and asked the city to research adjacent property owners who might share cleanup costs; Caliento and other staff described different but related metrics (for example, Caliento referenced roughly 600,000 pounds of garbage removed year-to-date in some slides).

Staff answered council questions about whose responsibility items are when removed: essential items such as identification or prescriptions are stored for up to 60 days and the public posting gives a contact number to retrieve belongings; land-trust partners and outreach teams also assist with recovery. Staff also noted a separate contract with Woods Maintenance Services for encampment cleanup funded through encampment-resolution grants and Measure O allocations.

The subcommittee did not take binding action. Staff said a human services-agency report on street outreach will be available in August and that drone mapping and additional data can be provided to the subcommittee. Several members and speakers urged continued coordination across law enforcement, behavioral-health providers and environmental partners to reduce repeat encampments and protect habitat.

"We have nearly every resource needed to change lives in this room," Council Member Duran said, calling for coordinated, measurable goals for housing placement, restored rivers and reduced repeat encampments.