Police Raid of Encampment In Pogonip, Santa Cruz

This Monday at 9 am the Police will be raiding the homes in the Pogonip and likely using Bulldozers to "clean" (damage) the land. I ask comrades to show up at 8:30 at the Green Gate at the top of Golf Club Dr off of River St.

Pogonip Forest is a beautiful home to all sorts of plants, animals, and humans. Many Homeless people make homes and communities in the Pogonip. Several folks are forced to move into the Pogonip because there are no safe areas in town. The levy by the San Lorenzo river or Coral St by the Homeless shelter are heavily policed and routinely ticketed for impending police raid/sweep if personal property is not moved.

This summer of property destruction and forced displacement has been especially brutal as Police raids of encampments have intensified here and across the country. Gavin Newsom made executive order 7/25/24 calling for crack down on encampments across the state, emboldening cops to be more aggressive.

There is not enough safe shelter and some have valid reasons for why they cannot accept temp shelter such as pets, partners, sleep disorders, immunocompromised, etc. There is no where safe to live outdoors with out the threat of Police raids and bulldozers. There is no where to store their survival items and personal belongings during the encampment clean up, so often people lose everything. Even though California civil code § 2080 et seq. mandates storage of items for 90 days, the Police act with out accountability and destroy these people's lives.

Forced Displacement and property destruction is traumatizing to anyone, but especially harmful and pernicious to the large percent of the homeless population who are disabled.

Short Intro to what happens at Police sweep of a Homeless Encampment

-----Many cop cars and 8 or more cops will be there. They will likely put up yellow caution/crime tape and threaten to arrest you if you cross it, but as long as you stay on the right side of the tape you are gonna be just fine. If you get there after the cops do sometimes it is very difficult to get anywhere near the people being swept.

-----parks officers and/or city hired worker will use large equipment including sometimes Bulldozers and massive trash trucks to systematically remove all of the property and survival equipment that has yet to been moved by Monday.
------------they are supposed to keep valuable items for storage and retrieval for 90 days
--------------------they rarely do this, and we need to try to hold them accountable to this state law

-----It is a very traumatic event for the homeless people. By witnessing it, it my be traumatizing for you. It is important to come with the understanding that these sweeps cause emotional and physical harm to the people.

What can an Outsider do to Help?

----- FILM!!!! pointing your camera at police officers is always helpful. Email me any material. Always ask consent of people before filming them. Cops do not count as people. Ask for their badge number and name on camera.

----- Advocate! often police will not listen to the homeless person when they ask for their stuff to be stored, ask to retrieve items from behind the tape, ask for a moment to calm down their animal or themselves etc. Then the dum8as$ pigs will listen to some random outsider who simply continues to parrot and repeat the homeless person's asks at the pigs.

-----Carry Things! Sometimes people need help lifting and carrying items. Partnering up with someone by asking how you can help them is a great way to start helping. Introduce yourself> I like to say "Hi Im Athena, I am not with the city I am just a friend. How can I Help you"

----- Attach Signs and Inform of Rights!! I will be there with these little signs that say "Survival Equipment! Valuable Property" that we can attach to things with safety pins. The hope is this makes it easier to demand storage and retrieval of these items. Its important we explain to folks that they have the right to demand their property is stored as well as ask for a Case Number and Receipt of seized property.


Thank you for reading this far. Email me to get involved with stopping the sweeps, homeless advocacy, and heckling the Mayor to do better for our homeless neighbors.

Athena, member of HUFF: Homeless United for Friendship and Freedom