You’re walking down a sidewalk or bicycling along the Tidewater Bikeway when you are accosted by someone who is clearly homeless.

In this case, the person being approached and spoken to in an aggressive and rude manner is a woman cyclist.

Such encounters between homeless individuals with pedestrians are not a rare occurrence in Manteca, or many other communities for that matter.

This one happened Saturday.

A woman said she was approached — and harassed and then followed — by “a crazy homeless lady who loudly berated me with obscenities, claiming I was out to get her and demanded to know who I was and why I was on my phone.”

The Manteca resident was on a public sidewalk on the phone talking to her older son when the homeless individual initially approached her.

When she realized was going on, she hung up and took off with the homeless woman in pursuit while continuing to make menacing remarks.

At one point, the woman called Manteca Police.

The police met up with the woman and the homeless lady in the Raley’s parking lot

The officers, according to the woman, talked to the homeless lady to hear her side of the story that the Manteca resident described as a “bunch of psychotic nonsense.”

They then talked to her to get her side of the story.

In the woman’s words, police “made excuses for her behavior citing the First a Fourth Amendment.”

She also said police didn’t write and report or follow up on the woman’s living conditions that was basically camping illegally on a railroad right-of-way.

In the woman’s own words, “the perpetrator got away Scot free and I am left frightened and bewildered wondering if it is safe for me to ride my bicycle in my own town.”

That said, Manteca Police walk a tightrope when it comes to determining whether someone is a threat to themselves or others, regardless of their housing situation.

In the incident on Saturday, officers assessed the situation and determined there was nothing they could legally do based on court decisions and state law.

There was no physical contact that could have constituted a crime.

And while the language of an individual is uncouth, demanding, aggressive or loud, Manteca Police indicate what transpired is protected speech under the law.

Officer Mike Kelly, who is one of two officers assigned fulltime to homeless issues in Manteca and wasn’t on the scene Saturday, noted if officers had arrested the homeless individual given their assessment of the situation they could have been accused of “kidnapping” the individual.

“The homeless situation is not going away,” Kelly said. “The best you can do is manage it.”

And from that aspect, Kelly believes Manteca has been managing it fairly well.

So do other municipalities that have contacted the department and implemented Manteca’s strategies.

The city has set aside 75 beds for the homeless at the emergency shelter at 555 Industrial Park Drive that is almost 100 percent filled.

The police — along with Caltrans — have been able to clear out illegal encampment much faster in recent years thanks to a United States Supreme Court decision.

The city has hired a firm to supplement city crew manpower to clear out encampments.

It does not incur on a daily basis but is happening within days when either police on patrol note issues or people report illegal camping to the city via the government outreach app.

That is in addition to the two homeless officers working to get individuals off the street while enforcing quality of life laws.

Manteca also conducts once a month “quality of life sweeps” with significant manpower — both officers and support personnel.

Those usually take place later in the day and in the evening.

Because of the concentrated manpower and such, illegal encampments that they come across are cleaned out then if homeless don’t pack up and move on.

Those refusing to do so are citied for illegal camping.

Individuals are also checked for outstanding warrants given the act of illegal camping is a legal basis to ask for identification and do a warrant search.

Police Chief Stephen Schluer noted the city has been addressing homeless encampments along the railroad right of way, but noted under the law it is ultimately the responsibility of Union Pacific.

“Being homeless,” Kelly noted, “is not a crime” in itself.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com