COSTA MESA : Police Will Enforce Anti-Scavenging Law

The Police Department will start enforcing the scavenger ordinance, which prohibits people from picking through trash.

The board of directors for the city’s sanitary district announced the stepped-up enforcement at its monthly meeting last week. Violators can be fined up to $100.

Robin B. Hamers, the manager of the district, said the police have promised to crack down on what has become a widespread problem in the city.

“As of now, we have an active Police Department enforcing the scavenging incident,” said Hamers. “And we plan on sending more complaints over to the department and suggesting which (scavenger) routes they should look out for.”

Many residents have complained in the past two months about the scavengers, who go through the garbage in search of recyclables. Some double park their cars and pickup trucks, causing traffic hazards, while others conduct their searches in the middle of the night, waking residents, he said.

One woman told Florine Reichle, the assistant manager of the district, that scavengers had sifted her trash, found old checks from a closed account, then wrote hot checks around town until police arrested them.

“The problem is more serious than it seems,” said Reichle.

Though the anti-scavenging ordinance was adopted by the city in 1992, it has not been rigorously enforced, officials said.

Board member Roy June said it is important that the district monitor the citations after they are issued by police, then follow up on the court appearances to see what fines are levied by judges.

“These guys will accept citations all day long if it’s only 10 bucks,” he said.