The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office had thought that deploying its new Special Services Division – which aims to provide services to the unsheltered while also enforcing the law – to a homeless encampment in the north part of the county last week would have been welcome news.

But Caltrans wasn’t exactly thrilled to find out that an encampment that they were already in the process of cleaning up was suddenly being targeted by the sheriff’s office. That prompted Caltrans to take drastic steps.

According to the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office, personnel that were on-site were served with a cease and desist letter from Caltrans District 10 – ordering them to stop.

In a statement that Caltrans made to area media following the sheriff’s office posting to social media that they had been issued a cease and desist letter, the transportation department said that they were planning on addressing the cleanup next week and had not yet notified those that were staying in the encampment that a cleanup was forthcoming.

 “Caltrans identified this Mokelumne River encampment as a priority for cleanup when the San Joaquin County Environmental Health Department determined that the encampment needed to be removed to protect water quality,” a statement issued by Caltrans to area media read. “Caltrans planned the cleanup for next week so it could work with San Joaquin County Behavioral Health Services to provide those living at the encampment with resources and services for better living situations and coordinate efforts with the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department.

“The premature and unauthorized clearing by the Sheriff’s Department was done before Caltrans could provide its 72-hour cleanup notice to the people living at the encampment or the county could help them find suitable alternative shelter and other services.”

The sheriff’s office claims that it did notify those in the encampment and operated within the parameters of the law.

In a statement that he made to Sacramento news station KCRA 3, San Joaquin County Sheriff Pat Withrow said that he is prepared to fight the matter in court so that he can move forward with cleanups that Caltrans has yet to address.

The Special Services Division is modeled in part after the Manteca Police Department’s Community Resource Officer program which put uniformed deputies in the position to make an impact within the unsheltered population by connecting them with resources, housing, and even estranged families.

Encampments have become commonplace in Caltrans right-of-way throughout California in recent years – exemplified by the cluster of tents currently located along the offramp from Highway 99 South at Manteca’s Yosemite Avenue exit.