Police Clean-Up Homeless Encampments at Santa Monica Beach

Santa Monica Police Chief Ramon Batista with Officers from the DART team (Directed Action Response Team, formerly the Pier Task Force) enforce public camping. clean-up homeless encampments and offer outreach at Santa Monica Beach on Saturday, August 13, 2022. The line of homeless encampments seen in the background is in Venice Beach. The border between Santa Monica Beach and Venice Beach is referred to as, "No Man's Land" by law enforcement because it borders both cities.
Santa Monica Municipal Code 4.08.095 Prohibition against camping in public places:
(a) No person shall camp in a prohibited public place.
(b) For the purpose of this Section:
(1) “Camp” means to erect, maintain or occupy a camp facility for the purpose of living accommodations.
(2) “Camp facility” means one or more of the following: tents, huts, other temporary physical shelters, cots, beds, sleeping bags, hammocks, or bedrolls.
(3) “Prohibited public place” means any of the following: the public parks listed in Section 4.08.091, public beaches, the Santa Monica Municipal Pier, public streets, public alleyways, public parking lots, public passageways, public rights-of-way, publicly-owned landscaped areas or greenbelts, public educational institutions including properties owned by the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District or Santa Monica College, or other government-owned properties located within the City of Santa Monica.
(c) The City Council may, by majority vote, establish one or more specified camping areas. Such camping areas, if any, may be located in prohibited public places, except that such camping areas shall not be located within public parks.
(d) This Section shall not take effect until March 1, 1995. (Added by Ord. No. 1768CCS § 4, adopted 9/13/94)
The newly formed DART team task force has been instrumental in helping to educate and enforce the City’s safety laws and ensuring safe sidewalk vending practices across the City.
The multi-department Task force consists of Santa Monica Police Officers, Santa Monica Code Enforcement Officers, Santa Monica Fire Department personnel, Santa Monica Harbor Patrol Officers, Public Works, and private security guards.
Santa Monica Close Up is a photo blog by Santa Monica based Photojournalist/Press photographer Fabian Lewkowicz. Fabian is the former staff photographer for the Santa Monica Daily Observer Press, Santa Monica Mirror, Santa Monica, and the Santa Monica Corsair.
Fabian's photographs have been displayed in museums, art galleries, hospitals, department stores, banks, fire stations, police stations, commercial buildings, offices and homes.
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TAGS: Photojournalism, Photojournalist, Documentary, Cinema Verite, Fly-on-the-wall, Observational Photography, Press Photography
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[@nikolauswolff5791]

It takes way to long and nothing happens. This is a joke. You must show up with the cleaning team and remove the stuff right away. Everything else makes no sense. Being homeless is not funny but to litter the beach should be fined very hard. If they can't pay 10 days of jail.

[@brucesumner6993]

Amazing how slow they can move. I bet you put food, drugs, or money out there, they could set a world record getting to it.

[@nothingleft2lose-]

Lol .. 10 days of jail? For being homeless..... Dude do you realize how over crowded the L.A. county jail already is.... They're straight up releasing armed robbery suspects after a day or 2 because it's so overcrowded.... You think they're gonna start jailing the 60k plus people in L.A. county who are homeless for being unhoused? What country are you living in?

[@nikolauswolff5791]

@@nothingleft2lose- Calm down.....

[@JimJones-gd2jy]

Trash all there shet right in front of them. It’s all a game, they don’t give two shets !

[@MarkAnthonyGiven]

THERE IS NO RIGHT TO PRIVACY in a public space. -Louis Brandeis

[@mrbombastic2485]

And you cannot commandier public space as your own. Mr. F-ing Bombastic

[@waltoneames7948]

Its not police officers job to pick up trash on the beach they have sanitation personell that should do that job

[@christianprice2524]

How about picking up your own trash? Oh right dems are retarded

[@Glidescube]

or they can get low level inmates from county jail to do it and get some pocket money for it.

[@pontiacmonkey]

I don't understand why they don't make the bums pick up they own garbage, bag it up and toss it in the city trucks.

[@TruthB7Told]

The only thing I would say, is DON'T go in, or try to use the Public restrooms at Venice or Santa Monica beach, unless you have a strong stomach, for vile, smells and visuals! In other words absolutely, freaking, putrid, disgusting!

[@sissyberkieberkheimer3387]

Make them take what they can carry and get the hell off the beach no if ands or buts just go..

[@tracyrhinehart8693]

WERE DO THE TENTS COME FROM.

[@robert8711]

Welcome to LOS ANGELES TIJUANA 😎

[@hermineaneo]

Good job 👌 police this is a place all over worlds come relaxing

[@lellius]

You can literally discern the border between Santa Monica and LA by the line of tents in the sand.

[@Glidescube]

i used to live in venice in 2011 2012 when homelessness start to get out of control. the boundary is the alley between the 2 apt bulidings in the background.

[@timlee4213]

Let’s not forget these are people too. 🙏🏻

[@leecarey4375]

Would you like us to move them to your neighborhood?

[@yjb19743]

Six cops doing nothing

[@marciapeak893]

Imagine the high rent or mortgage people are paying for a view of tents, trash and all other kinds of junk.

[@brentschmgbert3578]

oh no.pooor rich people..really tragic..tax payer money should be payed to them for compensation

[@sissyberkieberkheimer3387]

What a waste of taxpayers money...

[@KN-eh2fh]

These homeless are lucky to be in America. In other countries, they will be locked in jail or forced to receive treatment in hospital already. Other governments won't let the minority (homeless) ruin the majority (housed).

[@carlosvillegas6113]

Only in United States, the rest of America did not allow this type of behavior. America is a continent not a country.

[@brentschmgbert3578]

tell me the names of countries where homeless get in jail

[@singaanom3305]

Any tents caught by the police should be burned. Prevent not being reused.

[@sallyvella7012]

I just saw five people leave 10 pieces of garbage, bottle caps and not pick them up when they were right by their feet and then walked by little bits of garbage and didn't pick it up, real lousy job of a cleanup, no wonder all of them are overweight, it's the first work they've done in a long time.

[@michaelderogatis4658]

Great Job

[@leonahassell4616]

Every homeless human are not the same

[@leonahassell4616]

Some homeless have mental illness issues

[@monicajennis4458]

Clear all the tents on the beach, the beach is a place for relaxation, because of the tents made the beach seemed very messy and dirty

[@EnchantedSmellyWolf]

And leaving them to live would get worse. Like dirty stuff dropped, fecal, and needles.

[@tazerknight1]

Why did they not go after the other ten tents

[@greggura4048]

I believe they said it's between Venice and Santa Monica that's why they're in a straight row that neither jurisdiction can inforce at the moment. Ugh

[@leecarey4375]

It's like an infestation of cockroachs; you never can get rid of them.

[@travishanes8485]

Wow. Thats a psychopath thing to say about PEOPLE who are homeless.

[@laopang91362]

No illegal occupation of public beaches.

[@yjb19743]

Tax players should be outraged

[@brentschmgbert3578]

im a tax payer and ai dont give a single fuck

[@robert8711]

NANCY PELOSI CALIFONIA DEMOCRAT

[@TRANS.7]

good luck for you police

[@darrenpeterson5381]

sad this is what the police have to do, and taxpayers are paying to clean up behind these dead beats.

[@leonahassell4616]

Homeless humans are not trash

[@davidahyew6582]

why not allow them to camp at your backyard

[@eltinygarcia7358]

Dang, I need to keep an eye out for this guy's, I just moved here from San Francisco, and I have 4 fruit carts and I don't even have any permits, or anything, but I sure make my money every day bout $850-1100 a day!!!

[@robert8711]

CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS

[@cartermcafee4943]

Yes vote demos ticket . Give them a big wet kiss & smile

[@dianeslattery8845]

So nice they get a maids to clean up after them, then scream they want free housing, sounds like a waste of tax payers money

[@aliceangel8768]

They have "NOWHERE" to go, they will be "Right Back" next week. Actually, the police are just "Wasting" their time. What would you do, if you were homeless?

[@paulszyszkowski7245]

Not be homeless

[@judydestefano7082]

Get a job, get off drugs, seek help, take personal responsibility for your faults!

[@kahlrhoam6769]

8 months later, they’re all over the Santa Monica sidewalks. Oh well….🤷‍♂️

[@HITTTAB]

for a city with the 3rd biggest population in north america, maybe the answer is more then just kicking them out of a certain spot, these are people after all, but what do i know.

[@davidstock2713]

Extraordinary amount energy within nearly any prioritized cookie cutter activity, miraculously energy is exempt if employment % is mentioned. Just ask them towards e%, they walk opposite direction. All they have to do is be within backs to on shore wind, them being east location, opposite direction is the board walk, inner city.

[@seabrookcity8778]

I would never ever take my family to the beach in California ever at all never ever at all..

[@Glidescube]

huntington isnt that bad. californias problems are overblowned in the media. that really bad spots are just that , spots. but NYC has far worse personal crime.

[@ksmith2852]

Not all beaches are like this. Some cities do not tolerate it at all. For some reason Santa Monica seems to lack authority or will to get rid of the problem; maybe their jobs would go away.

[@peraltaisrael2598]

Hobos just move 1 block down.

[@abcderghijk]

To clean up these encampments you are starting at the wrong end.. They'll be backkk....

[@EnchantedSmellyWolf]

And they keep at it until the homeless runs out of resource. It's a matter of time.

[@leonahassell4616]

Law enforcement don't understand

[@עומריאחמד-כ8כ]

قرار ممنوع المبيت على الشواطىء للهوملس ،ابنوا لهم بنايه وغرف كل طابق عشرين غرفه ،والطبقه المحاذيه للشاطىء محللات تجاريه يعمل بها الهوملس بدون مقابل ،معاشهم كل شهر ياءخذونه من الدوله التي يعيشون بها بشكل منتظم كل شهر ،والشرطه في كل مكان ،ممنوع المبيت على الشواطىء ،سيتم وضع توقيت للاءستجمام على الشواطىء وتوقيت للمغادره

[@jkitto2008]

No wonder the beaches are so screwed up. Eight people to remove a homeless guy in his tent. Armed cops picking up garbage. The one cop can't take his hand off his gun. Way to waste the counties resources. I got a feeling your beaches are going to stay screwed up. Especially when the people picking up trash leave garbage behind. 😓. My vacation plans have changed.

[@MultiBiglarry]

Bums.👌

[@blakebortles6098]

all across the once great nation this is happening black winter days jedi mind tricks

[@blakebortles6098]

@@MS-st1zb sometime ago i heard a speaker ( cant recall the name ) said that ppl of the united states will become so poor that food will be given as gifts for x-mas

[@nothingleft2lose-]

Got em

[@rockers7889]

Homeless people want to hang out by the non homeless people

[@ksmith2852]

So much money wasted on doing the same task over and over. Do you really need a dozen people paid by taxes to do this task?

[@leonahassell4616]

These homeless people has no one too speak up for rhem

[@hasukiphun8836]

I'd be itching after those creepy crawlies jump all over you

[@KKrypto]

Must not need there votes

[@leonahassell4616]

Stop putting the homeless down

[@BolsakTeaBagCompany]

🥩🥩🍗🍗🍖🍖🧀🧀

[@rbeygarcia]

Coming on youtube every week for MONTHS to show officers cleaning up encampments at SMP is having the opposite effect of what police intended, I think. It just shows their “solution” is myopic, ephemeral and, bottom-line, not working. Need a pro-active approach, not a reactive one. You’re just playing whack-a-mole.

[@shauntaylor6040]

Again.

[@alextejada9357]

The Nanci Pelosi very to bad person now very so good is a thi Demócrata to bad. Now i like now is a help the people is a very good dona trum is a very good man is a thi help the people is a to the treets of homeles. Donas trum presiden the New ok the people the 2024

[@leonahassell4616]

Anyone can become homeless

[@עומריאחמד-כ8כ]

وهذه القرارات سيتم تنفيذها لاحقا ،وممنوع وضع ملاهي غير قانونيه على ضفاف الشواطىء وهذه قرارات يتم تنفيذها لاحقا ،الشرطه هناك في كل مكان بدون تبرير موقف ،السياحه والاءستجمام فقط عن طريق شركات السياحه القانونيه ،وليس على الشخص اينما يريد السفر على مسؤوليته يحق للشرطه القانونيه التدخل في تلك المواقف واءعطاء مخالفات ديجيتال للمخالفين للقانون حتى لو كانت بسيطه او وخيمه ،القانون لا يحتمل مغفلين مثلكم

[@עומריאחמד-כ8כ]

مثل المخالفين للقانون والذين يعتاشون على حساب الدوله ويقللون خواصهم ان يعملوا بجد واجتهاد ،والذين يذهبون الى العمل ليس لكي يعملوا بل لكي يمرروا الوقت على حساب غيرهم من العمال ،

[@DaysofNotty]

Leave them. Nobody owns the beach. We all just ultimately rent the land we supposedly own anyways. Ffs

[@leecarey4375]

Ok liberal. We'll move them to your neighborhood.

[@llaurita2]

👮🏼‍♂️ Clean up day people. That’s right. Come on, rise and shine. We’re tossing all your shit in about an hour, now pick your asses up and go. Come on already, andele!