Fairfield Police Department’s code enforcement officers and police officers often face challenging quality of life issues, including mental health crisis.
Between Monday, Jan. 25, 2021 through Tuesday, Feb. 02, 2021 Code Enforcement officers coordinated and conducted a complex abatement at a residential property in the South Public Service Area. Code Enforcement officers were working with the homeowner and neighborhood to resolve a hoarding issue that not only affects the person living within a dangerous environment, but also affecting the safety and quality of life of the entire neighborhood.
What is hoarding? As defined by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) - Hoarding is a human behavior that usually involves compulsive collecting. Compulsive hoarding is the acquisition of and the keeping of large numbers of seemingly useless possessions that causes significant clutter and the impairment to basic living activities such as mobility, cooking, cleaning, showing or sleeping. Collecting objects is known as compulsive hoarding and the compulsive collection and ownership of pets is known as animal hoarding.
Our number one goal was to reduce harm and provide services to the owner of the home as well as improve the overall quality of life throughout the neighborhood.
While Code Enforcement officers addressed the hoarding on the property they also reached out to our police departments Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) to support the homeowner who we felt was in need of help.
CIT officers responded and were able to safely remove the homeowner from unsafe living conditions while placing the homeowner into local service to address the current crisis. Hoarding is often seen in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and can be associated with other disorders including but not limited to: Anorexia, Attention Deficit Disorder, Delusional/Psychotic Disorders, Dementia/Head Trauma, Fatigue, Depression and Schizophrenia.
Code Enforcement officers were able to remove: 22 tons of trash and debris, five inoperable vehicles and an unstable car port that posed a danger to the homeowner and neighborhood.
If you or your neighborhood have questions or concerns please contact the Fairfield Police Department Code Enforcement unit hotline 707-248-7587, or if you feel that a person(s) is in immediate danger, please call our Fairfield Police Department dispatch center by dialing 911.
