• Neighborhood Watch Meeting: Homeless Issues

The most recent neighborhood watch block captains meeting had a presentation about homeless issues. Something that is an increasing problem, not only for Wildomar and the region of SWRivCo, but the state and the nation too. 

Officer Robert Glaser leads the meeting centered on homelessness.

First thing to remember is that being homeless is not against the law.

The next thing you should keep in mind is that your compassion, if you're the type that wants to give money, food, clothes or even water to the homeless, makes YOU part of the problem in 2018.

Many well intentioned people give money to the homeless, but as it was stated by officer Robert Glaser, "Stop handing out money." 

He went on to say that if you'd like to help, which is a good and noble idea, then donate to local charities that are working in unison with local authorities and using current methods of approaching the homeless issue. 

Have you heard of this?

A well known scam is where a woman will parade out small children in order to induce you to give her money, or even diapers (which are then just taken to Walmart for a refund). 

These are NOT homeless people. 

According to the information at the meeting, they are Gypsies that come in from Orange County. They often drive up in a high end car, then get into their "homeless" appearance/costume and proceed to make many hundreds of dollars.

This is not only a scam, it's illegal, and when caught the children are turned over to CPS. If you see mothers using their children in such a way, be strong, and don't give them anything. Call the police instead.

In the past, providing food, clothing and small amounts of money was a good approach, but those days are gone, and most of today's chronic homeless aren't cut from the same cloth as those 10 years ago.

A startling statistic that I heard involved homeless vets. The stat given on legitimate claims of being a homeless vet was estimated to be about 10%. That means, 90% are lying to you when they say they're a homeless vet.

Officer Glaser knows the homeless in our area, most by name, and he estimates that there are about 150 between Lake Elsinore, Wildomar and the unincorporated areas. When I asked him the number in Wildomar, he said it was around 15.

After the meeting I showed officer Glaser this photo I'd taken the other day in the Stater Bros parking lot. He immediately recognized him and said, "That's Mark. He recently lost his wife".

A new non profit that is dealing with the homeless issue, that is working hand in hand with the local cities, is known a The SWAG (Social Work Action Group). I have a request into them to do a "Better Know A Local Charity" blog and hope to have that ready in the next few weeks. 

Other things to remember:
Don't enter any homeless encampments on your own. The police are trained for such situations and are armed and usually have back up. In addition to physical dangers from confronting people on "their" turf, you could also be exposed to hazardous things like Hepatitis C.

The meeting had plenty of other concerns raised; such as property crimes.

It may seem simple, but it was reiterated over and over, if you see something suspicious, call it it. 

The nonemergency number to call is 951-776-1099. You should add this to your phone so you can use it if necessary.

You want to make your home less of a target. Don't do things that will invite burglars to think your home is an easy target. It was said that if you get a new TV, break up the box and put it into the trash where it's not advertising that you just made a new purchase to passersby. 

A key factor that was stressed by the officers was: DON'T JUST "REPORT" IT ON FACEBOOK.

Though they do look at some of the local facebook pages, they don't monitor them. If you're having an issue, call the police first, and post on social media last (if ever).

It was also suggested that you can call your city council member to report issues too.

Something I hadn't really thought of before was what constitutes a crime? If someone slashes your tires, and you don't report it, it is NOT considered a crime. Oh sure, you were done wrong, but legally speaking, it's only a crime if you report it.

This patch is on the sleeves of those contracted to patrol Wildomar.

Another nugget of brilliance I mined from the meeting about social media was when you see discussion of an alleged crime in your area, ask them if they've contacted the police yet, and what's the status of the investigation. 

More than one example of a serious crime, that was bandied about on local facebook pages, was shared by the attendees to the officers in the room.

Incidents that were said to have happened the previous Friday night. Things that would have gotten a priority 1 status and therefore would have been known throughout the station.

The officers drew a blank on the claims. Things that were melting some of the facebook pages, apparently didn't even get called in. 

If you're witnessing a crime, call 911 and report it. Facebook may be a place to get likes, but it's not the place to flag down a first responder.

It may be hard to believe that people would post erroneous info on a topic so important as public safety, but it happens all the time. Most often such posts come with noble intentions, but as a thread grows, often the details can get distorted and take on "facts" that aren't actually facts.

Use this link to visit the Wildomar Rap facebook page.

Some of you may know that I'm running for city council, and that Wildomar will be having a measure on the ballot asking the voters to approve a one cent sales tax increase. The council has earmarked this potential money for public safety, roads and code enforcement.

Districts 1,3 and 5 will be on the ballot this year.

How will you be voting on it?

I've never met a person that likes taxes, but I've also met very few people that don't want (demand) better services in Wildomar. 

The average person here wants our community to be safe(r), and we currently can only afford sheriff services that are at the 2011 levels (that's WITH the $2M in VLF funds restored to the budget that had been taken since 2011), our population has increased by 3,000 people since then. 

As it was, the 2011 levels weren't what they should have been for a population the size of Wildomar.

If we want better, we are going to have to pay for it. One of the allures that Wildomar had when we were unincorporated was the lower tax rates compared to areas like Murrieta and Temecula.

Well, we do pay lower tax rates, and it's very obvious too. Again, we all loath taxes, but we all seem to want the first responders to be top notch, even if we don't budget for top notch... not to mention roads and other amenities too.

Anyone else see the disconnect here?

If we want to talk about ancient history, the run up to Wildomar's incorporation, I wasn't in favor of becoming a city. Even with my eyes closed, I could see that we didn't have the tax base to properly pull it off. 

Other cities have big ticket items like car dealerships, big box stores (and not just one called Walmart), they may have big entertainment draws (like an old town, wineries, movie theaters, Dave & Busters, etc) that bring in tax dollars.

Wildomar has none of that. 

Our big ticket item is basically wrapped up in our eight gas stations, and the smattering of restaurants we have. 

Again, that's all ancient history, and we are a city now, and there's no reason to think that'll ever change. Time to move forward, but that takes a bigger budget than was originally forecast when we became a city.

At the neighborhood watch meeting, we learned about Lake Elsinore's POP Team (Problem Oriented Policing) and sanctioned citizen patrols they have there. If we'd like such things in Wildomar, we are going to have to pay for them.

When asked my opinion on the coming ballot measure, asking for an increase in local sales tax, I tell people to vote their conscience. If they are dead set against taxes (I'm generally in that camp) then vote against the measure. 

Just do so knowing that you will also be voting to keep public safety measures at a barebones minimum with little actual hope of increasing coverage.

There was a recent 5%-7% increase in costs associated with Wildomar's police coverage... just because... aka inflation. 

The same principle applies to the gas tax repeal: Prop 6. 

I love the idea of letting Sacramento know how disgusted we are with their incessant desires to raise our taxes. 

We already pay too much in this state!

I get it and concur, but again, just remember... a vote to repeal the gas tax, is actually a vote to keep Wildomar's failing roads from any chance of improvement in the foreseeable future. 

The legislature set it up that way, and if we repeal their 2017 pride and joy, known as SB1, they will be looking to punish us, especially so in SoCal. Just brace yourself for that reality if it gets repealed.

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If you cannot bite, never show your teeth.
– Chinese Proverb

Wildomar Rap suggests not bearing your teeth even if you can deliver a rather impressive bite. Everyone loves surprises. ☺

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