SAN DIEGO – The San Diego Police Department recently told the public that slow but incremental progress is being made on enforcing ordinances on oversized vehicles and vehicle habitation in beach and bay neighborhoods.
Capt. Steve Shebloski, and Sgt. Mike Wallace from SDPD’s Neighborhood Policing Division clued coastal residents in on the latest developments with enforcing the city’s Oversized Vehicle Ordinance and Vehicle Habitation Ordinance at an event co-hosted by Pacific Beach Town Council and held at Liberty Station Conference Center on Aug. 21.
“Your presence and partnership are essential as we work together to address the challenges surrounding vehicle habitation and enforcement,” said Charlie Nieto of PBTC in introducing and thanking SDPD for participating in the community conversation on OVO and VHO enforcement.
“Everybody here is taking time because they care about their community and neighborhood,” said Shebloski. “We’re very transparent with what we do, and we want everyone to understand what’s going on.”
Pointing out that homelessness is “an issue that affects every community,” Shebloski reiterated that being unhoused is not a crime.
He added that the Bloom settlement, a compromise agreement between the city and vehicle dwellers who sued challenging city ordinances against living in vehicles, has set new standards for how OVO/VHO ordinances are to be enforced.
“Between 2 and 6 a.m. [OVOs] can’t be parked on the streets in the city, and they can’t be within 50 feet of an intersection at any time because of visibility issues,” Shebloski said. “Between 6 and 2 a.m., it is not illegal.”
Of the Bloom settlement, now in effect for three years, which was resolved in 2024, Shebloski said, “Officers can go out and do OVO enforcement, but safe parking options have to be available.”
Citing one example, Shebloski pointed out that OVO enforcement was precluded in Point Loma before the recent opening of the H Barracks Safe Parking Lot near Liberty Station.
“Legally, we couldn’t do enforcement,” he said. “Now that H Barracks is open, we can do enforcement because an overnight, disability option is available.”
Wallace, who is actively contacting OVO residents in the field and enforcing OVO/VHO ordinances, said his primary job is to inform residents of the rules and their options. He repeatedly engages OVO owners, issuing warnings and offering them an opportunity to correct their behavior and live within the law, before citing them for non-compliance.
He added that his persistence pays off, saying most OVO owners ultimately comply rather than being ticketed.
Shebloski discussed SDPD’s strategy for tackling oversized vehicles under the new amended rules. “We don’t want to ambush or carpet-bomb anybody with tickets,” he said. “We want to explain to them what we’re doing and get people, compassionately, to safe parking if they need it.”
Noting that Neighborhood Policing has “absorbed responsibility” for enforcing the OVO ordinance, Shebloski said: “When it comes to homelessness, I need experts like Sgt. Wallace to engage with the homeless community. It’s very different from your normal parking violations, because we have an outreach component that accompanies it.
“Ultimately, it provides better service for the people we’re engaging with. Officers get a chance to find out if this person is a van-lifer, from out of town and doesn’t know the rules, just doesn’t want to pay the money to park at some RV park, or is truly homeless.”
Shebloski says he’s proud that, since July 2, when the new OVO rules of engagement for police went into effect: “I haven’t gotten one complaint that an officer was unprofessional, or that somebody was upset because they didn’t know what was going on.
“That shows me that supervisors like Sgt. Wallace are running a good operation, and at least there’s no confusion. People may not be happy with it – but at least they know what’s going on.”
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