Seventeen people were taken into custody at Fairmount Park on September 2 after Riverside police, code enforcement officers and other city agencies converged on the 275-acre park to clear out illegal encampments and makeshift shelters. Fourteen of those detained were booked into Robert Presley Jail, while three others were cited and released, according to authorities.
The special enforcement operation, which ran for more than an hour, combined Riverside police officers, code enforcement personnel, parks and neighborhood specialists, and Riverside County Department of Animal Services staff, as reported by the Press-Enterprise. Steven Espinosa said the 17 people taken into custody faced allegations including illegal camping, outstanding warrants, probation violations and trespassing. Authorities have not disclosed the identities of the 14 people booked into jail.
Following the detentions, Riverside code enforcement personnel conducted a comprehensive cleanup of the affected areas, hauling away encampment-related materials, abandoned property, trash, rubbish, debris, drug paraphernalia and other miscellaneous items left behind. The Riverside Police Department said the Fairmount Park operations are part of its ongoing homeless enforcement efforts across the city.
A Park With Olmsted Roots Facing New Pressure
Fairmount Park was originally designed in 1911 by the Olmsted Brothers, sons of Central Park landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, and it holds the distinction of being Riverside Cultural Heritage Board Landmark No. 69, according to PBS SoCal. The park sits adjacent to the Santa Ana River bottom, where homeless encampments have long been an ongoing concern for city officials. Ryan Railsback noted that Riverside has an anti-camping ordinance on the books, and the city provides at least 24 hours' written notice before a standard cleanup.
City staff also provide information on available resources and shelter during these cleanups, per Railsback, and homeless outreach team members will engage with individuals on-site and attempt to connect them with services. Residents who want to flag encampment concerns can call the Homeless Outreach Team hotline at 311.
Part of a Broader Legal Push Since 2024
The Fairmount Park sweep fits into a legal and operational shift Riverside has been building since the U.S. Supreme Court's Grants Pass decision. In October 2024, the Riverside City Council voted 6-1 to pass an urgency anti-camping ordinance banning encampments in public parks, within two blocks of schools and shelters, and in wildland-urban interface zones like the Santa Ana River bottom, according to Patch. That vote came weeks after California Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-1-24 in July 2024, directing state agencies to address encampments on state property and pushing local governments toward similar enforcement policies, as reported by CalMatters.
During council deliberations, city staff reported that Riverside firefighters responded to 848 vegetation and rubbish fires in open spaces in 2023, while code enforcement crews cleared more than 267 tons of trash from riverbed encampments that same year, per the same Patch account. City staff also identified roughly 730 encampments along the Santa Ana River bottom in 2023. More recently, Riverside adopted a July 2026 ordinance requiring outside hospitals, law enforcement agencies and non-profits to give at least 24 hours' written advance notice before transporting unhoused individuals into city limits, according to Inland Empire Community News. Riverside is also one of 13 California jurisdictions with an Encampment Delegated Maintenance Agreement with Caltrans, allowing municipal crews to clear encampments directly on state-owned freeway rights-of-way, a pattern Hoodline previously reported is playing out in San Bernardino and Ontario as well.
Shelter Beds Expand, But Questions Remain
The city has not relied on enforcement alone. In July 2025, the Riverside City Council approved $1.96 million in state grant funding to expand dedicated emergency shelter beds for city residents at the Path of Life Ministries campus on Hulen Place, growing capacity from 15 beds to 45, according to the Press-Enterprise's sister coverage in the HeySoCal report. Path of Life operates an emergency shelter serving single adults in the city of Riverside.
State housing records from the 2025 Point-In-Time Count show Riverside County achieved a 19% reduction in unsheltered homelessness following a 57% expansion in regional shelter bed capacity between 2023 and 2025, per the California Department of Housing and Community Development. Riverside County's Continuum of Care uses an every-other-year schedule, so no unsheltered count was conducted in 2026, meaning the 2025 figures remain the most recent official data available. Even so, advocates have generally opposed sweeps and favored more housing; related coverage appears in Riverside Record.
Fairmount Park's enforcement also lands amid broader attention to the park and riverfront, as reflected in material from the City of Riverside. A police spokesman said multi-agency operations will continue to abate blight and ensure public safety in Fairmount Park, and Espinosa said the city plans more city-wide enforcement efforts going forward.
