City, County Take on Homeless Camp

After a long standoff, officers from the County Sheriffs Office raided the homeless encampment outside the county courthouse and arrested five people. The deputies appeared at the camp shortly after midnight on Saturday and informed the people sleeping there that they were violating state law. About half left immediately, while another 17 people received citations for violating California Penal Code section 647e, which makes it illegal to sleep on private or public property without receiving permission from the owner. The five people who refused to either leave or sign the citation were arrested.
By Sunday night, the camp was back, so police launched a second raid in which two people were arrested. One of the arrested was attorney Ed Frey, who had arrived there to help the protesters. Read more at KSBW, Fox35 and the Santa Cruz Sentinel.