This month the downtown post office in Santa Cruz was cleared by police of what had been a large and regular presence of sleepers at night. The post office had been used as shelter for 6-12 people a night for some time. A homeless man who was sleeping outside of Bookshop Santa Cruz and cited with two other sleepers for trespassing this month said he thought the police were ticketing at increased rate recently to get homeless people to move along before the next rains arrived.

The current enforcement patterns in the City of Santa Cruz are an extension of the homeless sweeps that began in 2012. According to Santa Cruz Police Department statistics, the number of camping ban citations issued by police officers is presently at the same level as when the department dramatically increased enforcement of the ordinance during their widely publicized series of homeless sweeps initiated in the city in July of 2012.

Read More with Photos: Santa Cruz Police Target Homeless Sleepers Downtown | Individuals Displaced in Downtown Homeless Sweeps Join Freedom Sleepers Protest | Santa Cruz Police Continue to "Protect" 75 River Street

Related Indybay Features: The City of Santa Cruz Wages Campaign Attacking Homeless Camps | Criminalization of Sleep is Focus at Candlelight "Tent" Vigil | Sleepouts at Santa Cruz City Hall Advance into 2016