The Eureka Police Department, Humboldt County County Sheriff’s Office and City of Eureka visited the PalCo Marsh area behind the Bayshore Mall yesterday to remove traces of homeless camps. EPD recently announced officers would do less enforcement on a specific area of the marsh, just north of the Bayshore Mall. Campers were told that they must […]
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Measure Z Funding for Eureka Aims to “Restore Hope”
The city of Eureka has been approved for $400,000 in Measure Z funding to address homelessness, as part of a project titled “Operation Restore Hope.” The majority of the money, $242,000, will go toward funding positions for two police officers to work with the county’s Mobile Intervention and Services Team. MIST is a collaboration between […]
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Homeless in Humboldt Update: Death, Drones and Rallies
A drone video of the PalCo Marsh, known to some as “The Devil’s Playground,” shows camps still firmly entrenched in the wooded area just behind the mall, an area where the Eureka Police Department is preparing to cite and arrest campers. EPD is encouraging people to move north, to the flat area adjacent to the […]
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Multiple Agencies Push Homeless Campers to a “Safer” Place
Kathleen Hytholt doesn’t know where she’s going to go. Hytholt has been living in a makeshift shelter in the greenbelt at the corner of Sixth and T streets in Eureka for two months. She has been homeless for three years. The young people in the camp call her “Mama Kat.” Their kids call her “Grandma […]
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UPDATED: Hoopa Officer-Involved Shooting; Eureka Homicide
2nd UPDATE: The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has identified the officer who fatally shot a 47-year-old suspect near Weitchpec on Sept. 4 as Sgt. Seth Ruiz. Ruiz remains on paid administrative leave from the Hoopa tribal police department, pending the outcome of a multi-agency investigation. See the full press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s […]
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Stop. Shop. Robbing is so 2012.
Quirkily-captioned security cam stills of local ne’er-do-wells still flutter above the cold case, but the notorious Stop and Shop — aka the “Stop and Rob” — on Wabash and B streets hasn’t called in an actual robbery for the last three years. Owner Lee Ok Boon was vague about why the store hasn’t lived up […]
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EPD Chief: Shooting Appears Justified
The preliminary findings of an ongoing multi-agency investigation indicate Eureka Police officer Stephen Linfoot was justified when he shot and killed 22-year-old Thomas “Tommy” McClain shortly after midnight on Sept. 17, Police Chief Andy Mills said at a press conference this morning. Mills said McClain was defying officers orders and reaching for a replica handgun […]
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#Communityengagement #entrapment?
Two government agencies dove into the Twitterverse this past week, one looking to gather public input 140 characters at a time and the other seeking to increase traffic safety by doling out messages commonly read on handheld portable devices. First, the county of Humboldt, with a community meeting planned for Thursday to identify priorities as the Board […]
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Mills’ Plan for Policing Eureka
In the face of some notable crime rates, new Eureka Police Chief Andrew Mills is overhauling the department, instituting a massive reorganization that will change both the way residents interface with the department and how its commanders are held accountable. Mills, who came to the city in November from San Diego, said his plan is […]
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EPD Standoff Ends Quietly with Bull Horn
An hours-long standoff in Old Town Eureka with an armed suspect ended peacefully this morning. Eureka Police Chief Andrew Mills said his officers were called to Second and C streets shortly after 11 p.m. to a call reporting a gunshot. Mills said a 26-year-old male, later identified as David Geter, was at his residence and […]
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Sheriff, Eureka Chief to Talk Late-Night Jail Release Policy
The county’s top law enforcement officers and church leaders will meet Wednesday, Feb. 26 to discuss the Humboldt County jail’s policy of releasing inmates late at night, when few services are available to them. The jail’s policy came into question after the high-profile killing of Father Eric Freed and was addressed in the Journal’s cover […]
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EPD’s Harpham calls it a career after 56 years
Today, for the first time in 56 years, Eureka Police officers took to the streets without Murl Harpham in their ranks. “It’s really the end of an era for the department,” said Mayor Frank Jager, marveling at Harpham’s career, which spanned six decades and saw him fill in as the department’s chief on four separate […]