The 28 roaming homeless campers are packing up and leaving Cattle Point.
The District of Oak Bay issued a "Trespass Notice" yesterday, which informed the campers had to leave the park immediately. Today the District called the Oak Bay Police Department to enforce the order.
Deputy Chief Ray Bernoties says officers are at the site, and the campers are following the instructions and packing up their belongings, but the officers aren't going to rush them.
"The notice requires them to leave immediately, but it's the police who enforce such a notice. Obviously we want to be fair and respectful, and offer some degree of flexibility because there are some logistical issues that need to be addressed by the campers to remove all their belongings. So we've been patient this morning and explained to them the reason why they need to go and we're giving them some time to coordinate for transportation etcetera."
He says at the time the U-Haul the campers were using are not on the scene, but Bernoties says there is a great deal of packing up.
The area around the camp has been taped off by the police, and Bernoties says they will have to assess the site before it can be re-opened to the public.
"The Parks Department is ready to go in and clean up the site, and they've also arranged for hazmat to go in as well.... Just out of an abundance of caution. It's a very highly used, popular park, where kids and pets etcetera come."
Bernoties says there hasn't been a spike of crime in the area, but when they were in Uplands Park last November, there was a massive rise of property crime, adding in that 3 week period there was the highest rate of property crime dating back three years.
Bernoties says the campers are packing up, and the OBPD will not allow for an extended amount of time to dismantle tents and pack up the belongings. He adds that officers have the authority under the Trespass Act to arrest the campers and remove them from the area, but would prefer to work with them and have the campers leave peacefully.