Palm Springs Police works with community to launch ‘Operation Clean Streets’

Palm Springs Police are actively working to keep the community safe.

On Tuesday, Palm Springs Police announced the launch of Operation Clean Streets. “This is targeted enforcement for people committing crime,” said Lieutenant William Hutchinson.

Police say they've been actively working with the community to help reduce crime. “Listening to community input, listening to what some of their needs were with some of the areas from the the business, in my district to their concerns were.”

Liutenant Hutchinson told News Channel 3 they’re targeting those with warrants and low level crimes, like shoplifting and vandalism.

“We’re watching for that, that type of behavior, and really looking out for that, and really more so to give a presence so that, you know, we're out watching today, that was really important for us. And we're gonna send that message and continue to do operations like this with high visibility and high presence.”

On Tuesday, police made about a dozen arrests, including residents and the unhoused.

Police have also teamed up with the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission and the Riverside County Crisis Response Unit to help with people who are homeless that may be on probation or parole. “We tried to get them some housing or some mental health resources or substance abuse treatment. Out of the 8 that those teams contacted, 2 only accepted the resources.”

Hutchinson said operations are divided into three parts of the city — “The Chief has recently separated Palm Springs into North Central and South areas, and yeah, three lieutenants are in charge of those areas.”

Each area will be conducting “high visibility enforcement operations." “Some of those are going to be again, resource base, some of them are gonna be enforcement base, some will involve undercover operations, and will involve enforcement with our narcotics and gang units. So there's really a lot of different things that will be coming as a result of some of our analysis.”

Although some of the arrests were of the unhoused, Hutchinson reiterated the operation is not targeting the homeless. “Really wanted to make sure that we had a more compassionate approach to with some of those that have a challenging time getting through the system and and navigating those challenges and really saying what can we do with the resources for them.”

Palm Springs Police Chief Andy Mills is expected to lay out the full plan of Operation Clean Streets this week.