San Luis Obispo -- The San Luis Obispo Police Department says the number of transient related incidents has nearly doubled in the last 5 years, especially in the downtown where an assault happened yesterday.
Officers say in the middle of the afternoon a homeless man began yelling at a 14 year old girl who was sitting on a bench. When two men stepped in to help, 69 year old Roy Jones attacked them. Jones was then arrested.
Captain Christopher Staley with the San Luis Obispo Police Department says the department spends about 20 percent of it's time and resources on homeless related incidents. Staley says, "The types of calls range from drunk in public aggressive pan-handling to mental health issues as well these are the kinds of calls we are dealing with on a regular basis."
People who work downtown say the transient population affects their business and some say the pan-handling is difficult to ignore.
Jason Ashley works at Charles Shoes, he says, "We're all feeling the crunch and its difficult to walk by and feel compassion and not be able to help, so hearing about incidences where they're getting more aggressive is definitely a concern."
San Luis Obispo County has about 4-thousand homeless people about half the homeless population in the county are children.
The Community Action Partnership of SLO County is holding a Homeless Forum May 2nd at the county government center, to bring people together and talk about solutions. It will be open to the public.
