Manteca, we have a problem.

It’s a homeless problem.

And while homelessness and the issues they cause are indeed a problem, that isn’t it.

The problem is how the city is approaching homeless issues.

First and foremost they are acting as if establishing a navigation center is the only essential investment needed to deal with all homeless issues that impact the quality of life in this town that is on the verge of being a city of 100,000 souls.

The other is the fact there is an assumption at 1001 West Center Street that the community’s concerns are somehow not that big of a deal. They believe their fears are overblown.
It is why as the city is still unraveling its financial accounting mess they are getting ready to ask the people elected to give this city direction to plunk down $500,000 for yet another downtown study.  That is $500,000 that for one year’s time can put three more officers on the streets.

How do we pay for the subsequent annual expense of three more officers? Simple, stop studying things to death and spend the money for things that people can count on like more police. We know that is not going to happen because it’s in the DNA of bureaucrats. And quite frankly, some of that DNA lingers in the council majority that all had lengthy careers with this city.

Let’s be clear on one point. Not all of the public’s interactions with the homeless that are frightening, break standards of civility and decency, or even raise to the level of an unlawful act generates a full-scale police report. That runs the gamut from petty thefts to sexual attacks that start with unwanted bodily contact and escalate from there.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way let’s touch on what a law enforcement officer with an outside jurisdiction who is raising his family in the neighborhood west of the proposed homeless shelter/navigating center witnessed recently.

Keep in mind this is not only happening on South Main Street but all over this city. It may not be as rampant as in Oakland, Stockton, Modesto, or San Jose but it’s happening here. And for those in Lathrop and Ripon don’t get too smug. That’s because if there isn’t a stepped up effort across the board to deter and prevent crime as well as increase enforcement, those communities sooner or later will be where Manteca is today.

Last month after hearing a planning commissioner suggest the role of the city is to make the future shelter site as inviting as possible for the homeless so they will seek help while nicely glossing over the realities that exist today, the law enforcement officer in question stopped by the Jack-in-Box on South Main at 8:51 p.m.

It was there he saw a homeless individuals smoking a meth pipe near the drive thru window. The officer, by the way, is trained to recognize various drug paraphernalia and what they are used to consume.

The officer called Manteca Police as the homeless guy stood directly in front of his car yelling at him incoherently. Thanks to the magic of smartphones there are images of the encounter.

The officer stayed at the fast food place until a Manteca Police officer arrived at 9:41 p.m. That was 50 minutes later. By that time the homeless guy had moved on. While assuredly they were handling other calls, keep in mind this was a Tuesday night which is not exactly a hot time for crime.

The officer in questioned echoed what others have been saying now for almost a decade, politicians have repeatedly campaigned on, and city management has given nothing but lip service to addressing. That is the need for more officers.

People could care less about staffing ratios. They don’t want a department that is 100 percent reactive. Yet that is what every city council and every city manager since 2009 has allowed to be the case.

Talk to the rank and file. They will tell you a large share of their calls deal with homeless issues. Rest assured, for now anyway, few are elevated to the level of walking down the street brandishing a weapon, homicide save for one or so where the perpetrator was likely another homeless individual, or full-scale assaults that also tend to be homeless on homeless.

The awful truth we keep ignoring is this: Once a homeless shelter is put in place it is abundantly clear Manteca Police will be ill-prepared as in understaffed to bring down the hammer on those among the homeless who clearly will refuse to play by the rules set down by the 9th District Court of Appeals.

That means Manteca, pardon the expression, will once again have executed a project that is half of a horse’s patoot. They will have put in place a successful strategy to get homeless off the streets that are willing to do so while allowing the lawless ones who refuse to follow any rules to multiply and start sucking the lives out of neighborhoods.

What Manteca doesn’t need right now is a city manager trying to repeat his downtown magic from stints in Livermore, Ceres, and Turlock as a higher priority than beefing up the Manteca Police Department.

It is a sad state of affairs to know the Ripon Police Department in a city of 18,000 has a secure enough police station to withstand an armed assault by a deranged individual that happened several years ago as opposed to the pathetic excuse we have as a police station less than 60 feet from the city manager’s office.

Toby Wells has a lot on his plate. But nothing should be a higher priority than the safety of this city and the lives of the men and women that serve to protect it.

Yes, the fact the city has for two years budgeted money to help make the headquarters marginally more secure by placing bullet-proof glass in the lobby and has ended up doing nada didn’t start on Wells’ watch as city manager.

That said given Wells’ unspectacular impact on Turlock homeless issues there is a real good chance what Manteca is embarking on with the navigation center is going to be less than stellar addressing the other side of the homeless coin which is the meth smoking and similar behavior in public places families and children visit.

And while the homeless may be a daunting task no one has the answers for, it needs to be an extremely high priority to tackle from all angles.

A wise man by the name of Charlie Halford once dismissed the idea of sinking more money into downtown as simply being a way to make it a more inviting place for the homeless to sleep and hang out. What he meant is clear: You might as well as burn the money the city ends up putting into downtown if you don’t address foundational issues first.

We don’t need to make downtown a priority ahead of the police department.

What we need is not just the homeless shelter/navigation center but also a more robust police presence in Manteca.

It can’t wait until a navigation center is in place.

Those near the homeless site have every reason to fear it because the city has given them no reason not to.

If they see meth smoking and other wanton behavior of the homeless go somewhat unchecked now, they understandably see it getting worse with a shelter coming near them.

It’s a delusional for this city to act as if the concerns being expressed are from delusional people.

Unlike almost the entire city senior management team that yells “yabba dabba doo”, punches the clock and heads out of Manteca, those that live here don’t have that luxury.

 This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com