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<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
“Stop!”<\/p>\n
Then the kicking starts.<\/p>\n
FOX 11 was there Sunday evening for an exclusive ride-along with Santa Ana\u2019s Quality of Life Team, or QOLT, as police, city workers and outreach teams responded to a citizen call about an encampment outside the DMV.<\/p>\n
At least 11 people were detained and placed into police vehicles during the operation.<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s approach is straightforward: Offer services and treatment. If people refuse help and officers say they are breaking the law, enforcement can follow.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s not wrong. It\u2019s inhumane to leave them here.” <\/p>\n
Santa Ana Mayor Valerie Amezcua defended the arrests when FOX 11 asked about people who believe putting homeless people in handcuffs is wrong.<\/p>\n
“I would say, want to take them to your house? In all seriousness, it\u2019s not wrong. It\u2019s inhumane to leave them here,” Amezcua said.<\/p>\n
Amezcua joined police, city workers and outreach teams during the operation.<\/p>\n
One outreach worker from Team Challenge could be heard telling someone on the street: “Even when it seems dark, it seems hopeless, there\u2019s always light.”<\/p>\n
The team repeatedly offered resources to people living on the street.<\/p>\n
At one point, FOX 11 asked a woman what was holding her back from getting sober.<\/p>\n
“Nothing,” she said.<\/p>\n
“You\u2019re not ready?” the mayor asked.<\/p>\n
“Not ready,” the woman responded.<\/p>\n
11 people detained <\/p>\n
For at least 11 people, the operation ended with detention.<\/p>\n
One woman could be heard yelling from inside a police vehicle: “What am I being arrested for?”<\/p>\n
FOX 11 asked Santa Ana Police Commander Frank Gutierrez what officers were dealing with.<\/p>\n
“Municipal code violations, misdemeanors \u2013 a few have warrants for their arrest,” Gutierrez said.<\/p>\n
Santa Ana officials say people are not being arrested simply because they are homeless. Officers say they are enforcing laws involving conduct such as camping, trespassing and other violations.<\/p>\n
Santa Ana City Council member Phil Bacerra said taking people into custody can create another opportunity to connect them with services.<\/p>\n
“Our city\u2019s approach is to take them to jail, then, upon release, offer them services. The hope would be that they realize, \u2018Oh, my goodness, where am I at right now? I\u2019m in jail. Maybe this is the moment to turn their lives around,\u2019” Bacerra said.<\/p>\n
Mayor Amezcua says the city keeps using the approach because she believes some people will not seek help until they reach a crisis point.<\/p>\n
“And we keep doing it because when people truly reach the depths of hell, they\u2019ll seek out help,” Amezcua said.<\/p>\n
Drugs, trash and cleanup <\/p>\n
As the operation continued, officers searched belongings and documented what they found.<\/p>\n
FOX 11 saw a hammer, masks and needles among items in bags. Officers also pointed out suspected drug paraphernalia.<\/p>\n
Bacerra defended enforcing laws against conduct he says affects other residents.<\/p>\n
“Homelessness is not a crime, but the crime of using drugs, passing out on our streets, taking over bus stops from folks who need to use the bus, those are the crimes in our city,” Bacerra said.<\/p>\n
Then came the cleanup.<\/p>\n
Bags, bikes, pipes and trash were hauled away as crews cleared the area.<\/p>\n
Santa Ana vs. Los Angeles <\/p>\n
Santa Ana officials point to the latest homelessness numbers as evidence their strategy is working.<\/p>\n
The 2026 Orange County Point-in-Time Count found 714 unsheltered people in Santa Ana, down from 871 in 2024, an 18% decrease.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles went the other direction.<\/p>\n
LAHSA\u2019s 2026 count shows the city\u2019s unsheltered homeless population increased 7.9%, reaching an estimated 29,115 people.<\/p>\n
FOX 11 asked Mayor Amezcua what she believes is the biggest difference between Santa Ana and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019re addressing the problem. We\u2019re addressing the problem,” Amezcua said.<\/p>\n
Help offered three times <\/p>\n
Santa Ana says people detained during these operations are offered services at least three times: before apprehension, at the jail and during release.<\/p>\n
For people who are not from Santa Ana, officials say they\u2019re also offered a paid trip home.<\/p>\n
The city says the goal is to get people off the streets while connecting them with treatment and other services.<\/p>\n
Mayor Amezcua says leaving people on the street is not an acceptable alternative.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s inhumane to leave people the way you saw them today. They\u2019re so high they don\u2019t know where they are. They\u2019re so high they\u2019re sitting in feces. They\u2019re just a mess,” Amezcua said.<\/p>\n
Need help? <\/p>\n
Team Challenge was among the outreach partners working alongside Santa Ana\u2019s QOLT team Sunday.<\/p>\n
People experiencing homelessness or struggling with addiction can seek help through local outreach and service programs.<\/p>\n
Resources:<\/p>\n
FOX 11 will continue following Santa Ana\u2019s approach to homelessness and its impact on the city\u2019s streets.<\/p>\n
Santa Ana<\/a>Homeless Crisis<\/a>Orange County<\/a>Instastories<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“Stop!” Then the kicking starts. FOX 11 was there Sunday evening for an exclusive ride-along with Santa Ana\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,1184,19262,2444,100,611,338,425,1181],"class_list":["post-448631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-ca","tag-homeless-crisis","tag-instastories","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-santa-ana","tag-series","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}