Enforcement Model

In addition to connecting to services, the city is responsible for ensuring accountability for unlawful actions. Our approach is comprehensive: we offer supportive programming while enforcing laws to maintain public safety. This includes addressing illegal activities such as camping, unlawful storage of personal property in public spaces, dumping, and chronic nuisance offenses. By balancing compassion with accountability, we uphold our commitment to helping individuals experiencing homelessness while preserving public order and safety.

Problem-Oriented Policing (POP) Team

The Citrus Heights Police Department’s Problem-Oriented Policing (POP) Unit plays a crucial role in addressing homelessness-related concerns in our community. This dedicated team enforces local ordinances, partners with service providers, and works directly with residents to improve quality of life. By combining enforcement with outreach, the POP team ensures a balanced approach that prioritizes both public safety and compassionate solutions.

If you see encampments or other concerns impacting the community, reporting them helps drive action. The POP Unit works closely with residents to address these issues, ensuring a proactive response. To report concerns, email pop@citrusheights.net or call non-emergency dispatch at (916) 727-5500. Your reports play a vital role in keeping Citrus Heights clean, safe, and thriving.

CHPD Patrol Teams

The CHPD Patrol Team plays a critical role in homelessness outreach and prevention. Patrol teams enforce laws related to illegal camping in unauthorized areas, such as public parks, sidewalks, and private properties without permission. They also enforce ordinances around activity that contributes to blight like unlawful storage of personal property, illegal dumping and unauthorized removal of shopping carts. 

Chronic Nuisance Offender Program

A Chronic Nuisance Offender is a person who repeatedly violates state law and/or local ordinances in a manner that infringes on the rights of law-abiding citizens to peacefully enjoy public spaces or exercise their rights to keep their private property secure and safe for their intended purposes and use.

The Citrus Heights Police Department (CHPD) has identified that many of the violations that directly affect the average community member’s quality of life are those that are considered low-level criminal misdemeanors or municipal code violations. Though these violations are considered a low priority within the criminal justice system, they represent a significant nuisance for those in our community. The chart below provides examples of the types of violations commonly seen to impact the quality of life of our community.

Law enforcement and city staff strongly prefer to see offenders take advantage of available resources, but for those who cannot, the chronic nuisance offender program provides consequences for continued bad behavior. The Citrus Heights Police Department works collaboratively with the District Attorney and our own City Attorneys to identify offenders who have committed repeated violations within a rolling twelve-month period. These cases are evaluated to determine the cumulative negative impact on the community. If a person appears to be a chronic nuisance to the community, a case agent is assigned to package these cases together and present a case to the court that best articulates the complete effect of the violator’s actions on the community. The court may then evaluate the best course of action to prevent further violations. This may include incarceration, mandated treatment, or enhanced probation terms.

Trespass Notice Process & Enforcement 

Illegal camping, loitering, and illegal dumping on private property qualify as trespassing. The Citrus Heights Police Department enforces trespassing; below is a description of the enforcement and noticing process:

DIRECT CHPD ASSISTANCE WITH TRESPASSING

• Call the Citrus Heights Police Department (CHPD) and ask for an individual to be issued a written trespass warning.
• If a merchant who calls CHPD to have an officer respond to a trespass issue needs to leave prior to the officers arriving on the scene, the merchant can ask the dispatcher who takes the call to have the officer contact them at the conclusion of the call to provide the merchant with a disposition of what happened.

PRIVATE SECURITY OPTION WITH TRESPASSING

• Property owners and merchants may call their local private security company for trespassing issue assistance
• Private security has the ability to issue the forms to individuals while on duty (Please contact CHPD for trespass forms pursuant to Penal Code 602) 
  • If a security officer is out with a known individual who refuses to sign the written trespass notice, the security officer may write “subject refused” in the signature box and sign their name instead.  
  • Though a written warning is preferred, trespass warnings do not have to be in written format.   A video-recorded or verbal warning will suffice for the purposes of establishing knowledge prior to issuing a citation so long as the verbal-only warning is documented in a report.
  • Once a trespass warning form or above equivalent option has been completed, please forward it to the Citrus Heights Police Department to be uploaded into their records database so officers and dispatchers are aware of individuals who were previously contacted and issued a trespass warning.

ONGOING TRESPASSING

• If a known offender who has been issued a written or documented verbal trespass warning is still on your property and you want them cited and removed, call the Citrus Heights Police Department (916) 727-5500 and advise dispatch of the situation.  The police department will respond and issue a written citation for violation of Penal Code 602(o) or 602(k) or arrest the individual.

PROSECUTION

• The Chronic Nuisance Offender (CNO) program with CHPD tracks repeat offenders.  Once an individual commits five or more municipal code violations, penal code violations, vehicle code violations or health & safety violations over a rolling 12-month period, CHPD consults with the City Attorney.  A wrap-around chronic nuisance offender case will be completed and submitted to the City Attorney or the Sacramento County District Attorney’s office as a criminal complaint seeking more severe criminal charges for offenders who meet these criteria.