By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Ripon Police use vouchers for homeless
ripon homeless.jpg

How does Ripon handle its homeless and transient population?

Police Chief Ed Ormonde answered that very question at Tuesday’s Ripon City Council meeting.

The City has a voucher program funded by community donations, with police working in partnership with the Ripon Ministerial Association, he said in his report to elected leaders.

The program offers emergency food, shelter, gas, and transportation for those in imminent need.

Ormonde revealed that one anonymous person donated $6,000 to this outreach program. As for shelter, he mentioned a few local hotels as being accommodating to those with such vouchers.

“We don’t have a homeless problem. But we do have homeless and transients (in Ripon),” said Ormonde, who also presented the police department’s 2018 Year End Report.

Police Activity for this past year – in comparison to the 2017 tally – indicated that Calls for Service were down 742, going from 12,471 (2017) to 11,729 (2018).

The biggest increase for the department involved Officer Initiated Activity. Included is vehicle stops for traffic violations, bicycle stops for safety violations, and stops of those suspected of being involved in criminal activity.

For this past year, Ripon reported an OIA of 13,012, which was up 1,254 from 2017 (11,758).

Vehicle / Pedestrian Checks also increased – by 288 – during the past year, going form 2,720 (2017) to 3,008 (2018).

The department’s Community Oriented Policing and Problem Solving of COPPS program, which promotes non-enforcement interaction and dialogue between police and members of the community, had 90 more contacts from the previous year with 1,680 (2017 contact figures were 1,590).

Police also handled fewer crime reports over the past year, going from 1,151 (2017) to 1,114 (2018).

As for the Annual Crime Statistics – local police submit monthly and annual crime statistics to the Department of Justice, in support of the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting program – Ripon was again without a single homicide.

The number of reported burglaries (28) also remained the same as that of the previous year while stolen vehicle reports decreased by one, going from 17 (2017) to 16 (2018).

Reports on rape was down from seven (2017) to three (2018) while aggravated assault was up from three (2017) to four (2018) and simple assault dropped from 84 (2017) to 77 (2018).

The biggest drop off was for larceny, in which reports from the police went from 258 (2017) to 201 (2018).

Ormonde’s report from 2018, in addition, covered traffic collisions, traffic safety, mental health incidents, and those with carrying concealed weapon permits.

For information, log on to www.cityofripon.org.