Colorado Springs police enforce ordinance to clear camps near Fountain Creek

Tucked deep within the wildlands along Fountain Creek Friday were dozens of homeless camps, even though it became illegal over a month ago.

The city of Colorado Springs passed a new ordinance back in July that made it illegal to camp within 100 feet of a waterway. The responsibility of enforcing the new ordinance falls on the Colorado Springs Police Homeless Outreach Team.

Friday, one half of the team escorted KRDO into some of the most hidden camps the public can’t always see. Under the Colorado Avenue bridge were four vacated camps, but left behind were two torn couches, drug paraphernalia and lots of trash.

Officer Mike Palmer said, “A great deal of this stuff ends up down in our waterway and that’s kinda why we have this new ordinance and why we have such an issue with it.”

Officers had been by the day before giving verbal warnings to the dozen people living there, telling them that they had to go.

The farther South officers walked along the creek, the thicker the brush became, making it hard to see what was next. Some tents were hidden in the wetlands along Fountain Creek, and couldn’t be seen unless someone specifically looked for them.

“We have this urban-wildland interface right in the middle of the city, then they’re living in plain sight,” Palmer says.

Behind Las Vegas Street and Spring Rescue Mission was another popular spot for tents to set up, but those aren’t always visible to people walking along those trails either.

The perimeter the public must follow starts at the embankment of a creek, not where the water actually resides.

If someone has already been given a verbal warning, officers will next give the person a ticket for not following the ordinance. Unfortunately, officers say patrolling these camps often feels like a revolving door. The same people who either pay their ticket or serve the time for it end up coming back or new people from out of the state come and fill their spot.