PORT TOWNSEND — Port Townsend police officers have served trespass warnings to residents and Jefferson Healthcare hospital commissioner Matt Ready at the homeless encampment behind the Department of Social and Health Services building in Port Townsend.
Ready, who had been visiting the site for several days in an effort to ensure that residents were making the connections needed to transition safely from the property or to help them understand their options, filmed the process of residents being served warnings by Port Townsend Police Department officers on Nov. 4 and posted videos to his YouTube channel.
He estimated that seven residents received trespass warnings.
“I went down there because it was people’s homes and I wanted people to feel supported if they didn’t have anywhere to go and if they wanted to try to stay,” Ready said in an interview. “I wanted to be there to help give them advice of what their options were if they possibly wanted to stay in their home or possibly risk arrest.”
Ready had met and struck up somewhat of a friendship with Aaron Speer, one of the residents who was trespassed, about a year ago, he said.
“I really kind of like the guy,” he said.
While on the property, leading up to the eviction last week, Ready spent most of his time with Speer, talking about his options.
On Nov. 4, Ready and others were prepared to possibly face arrest. They stood in support of the remaining residents and filmed the events, Ready said.
After filming the police serving warnings to several residents, Ready continued filming as they walked off the city property onto property owned by the Port Townsend Paper Mill, located in unincorporated Jefferson County, he said.
“I sort of pointed out, they’re now off city property and onto county property, and after I said that and recorded them going down there, they started threatening me with trespass warnings if I kept on following them around recording them.”
Trespassed later in the day, Ready also posted a short video of his interaction with the officers in the DSHS parking lot.
Ready said he was surrounded by about five officers who served him the warning just after the final resident’s belongings were packed into a truck.
In the end, everyone left the property with no arrests, he said.
Speer and his partner, who had agreed to move to a Bayside Housing and Services location on Nov. 3, were told by police officers the following day that the option was no longer available.
The Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) team said they had an option for them, but they would only speak with them privately, Ready said.
On Nov. 5, Ready searched to find where they ended up and found them on private property in unincorporated Jefferson County, Ready said.
During public comment to the Board of Jefferson County Commissioners on Monday, Ready said he had spoken with Sheriff Andy Pernsteiner, who said the location was not legal.
Ready requested that the location only be vaguely defined in order to avoid a worsening situation for the people who are camping in the location. The heavily wooded land south of Port Townsend has had various encampments on it historically and borders county-owned land.
On the property Tuesday were Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) Patrol Sgt. Brett Anglin and a member of the LEAD team.
Anglin said he checks in with people living in the location to see how they’re doing. Knowing the locations of people living on the property can be helpful in the case of an emergency response, he said.
Ready led the way off a main dirt road up a trail to where Speer’s new encampment is located.
On Tuesday, Speer had been at the site for one week.
“The LEAD team brought me to the beginning of the foot trail that leads to my camp,” Speer said.
Speer said he was hesitant at first, having had negative experiences in the past with others who lived in the woods nearby.
“I was wanting to go somewhere else, but I didn’t know where else to go,” he said.
The initial move took three full truck loads, plus a shopping cart load and another on his own cart, Speer said.
On Thursday, the LEAD team helped Speer with a fourth truck load from behind DSHS. Contractors were onsite with heavy machinery, cleaning at the time.
Speer saw a drone at the site, and since he had previously been trespassed, he immediately approached onsite police officers to be sure that removing his possessions wouldn’t lead to arrest.
In the new location, Speer said he and his partner have been able to stay dry and warm when inside their tent. He said they have a small tent within their larger tent which captures their body heat.
“There’s a very obvious difference between the small tent and the large tent,” Speer said. “It’s at least 15 degrees warmer. I have my thermometer, and I think it says something like that.”
The couple are recipients of EBT benefits and only saw a brief lapse in benefits, he said.
A member of the LEAD team had recently dropped off his Jackery portable battery and inverter, fully charged. The unit takes about seven hours to charge, he said.
Speer said the cart he owned had been stolen since he moved to the new site.
Lacking a bathroom onsite, those who live in the area use the forest when needed.
Moments earlier, Anglin explained to Ready that the sheriff’s office would be obliged to enforce the law and the encampment would need to be removed, likely quickly, should the property owner request a trespass.
When Ready explained the possibility of a near future move, Speer said 24 hours notice would be sufficient to move his camp again.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@peninsuladailynews.com.
