October's Outreach Program in Hesperia Connects Several People with Resources DATE/TIME: October...

October's Outreach Program in Hesperia Connects Several People with Resources

DATE/TIME: October 3, 2025 / 6:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m.

INCIDENT: Outreach Operation

LOCATION: City of Hesperia

SUMMARY: On Friday, October 3, 2025, the Community Service & Reentry Division's Homeless Outreach Proactive Enforcement Team (H.O.P.E.), in collaboration with the Department of Aging and Adult Services, conducted "Operation Shelter Me" in Hesperia. This operation aimed to connect staff with unhoused residents, offering them housing, medical, and mental health treatment services, while enhancing community safety concerns.

On November 5, 2024, California voters passed Proposition 36 titled “The Homelessness, Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act.” The proposition took effect on December 18, 2024, and reforms multiple laws from Proposition 47, which have been responsible for increasing homelessness, drug addiction and theft. Proposition 36 includes several new Penal and Health and Safety Codes that deputies will be able to apply during arrests when appropriate. These new charges can carry enhanced sentencing, as well as prevent offenders from being cite released prior to their court appearance.

During this operation, the H.O.P.E. Team focused on individuals with significant mental illnesses to link them with restorative mental health pathways. The results of the operation are as follow and where Proposition 36 is applied:

• 32 individuals currently experiencing homelessness were contacted by the H.O.P.E. team • 19 individuals accepted referral information to assistance programs • 5 individuals were connected with local service providers • 1 individual was located as a voluntary missing person and released to self. • A 76-year-old deaf woman, recently homeless and living in her vehicle, was found by Hesperia deputies and assisted by the Department of Aging and Adult Services, which arranged her placement in a High Desert shelter. • 3 individuals were arrested for their in-county warrants. • 1 individual was arrest for HS 11395 (b)(1), Two Prior Drug-Related Convictions, a felony in the State of California.

The H.O.P.E. Team and other aligned resources will continue similar operations throughout the County over the next year, thanks to special "Community Concerns" funding, approved by the County Board of Supervisors. This funding allows the Sheriff's Department to address topics of concern, such as homelessness, mental illness, and community safety for county residents.

If you know of individuals experiencing homelessness who need services, please contact the H.O.P.E. Team at (909) 387-0623 or hope@sbcsd.org.

Refer: The H.O.P.E. Team

Station: Community Service & Reentry Division

Phone No. (909) 387-0623

SHANNON D. DICUS, Sheriff-Coroner San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner Department