SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City rapid intervention teams frequently do cleanups in the area of Fifth West.
When this happens, unsheltered people typically get at least a 24-hour notice before crews come in and have them relocate.
Executive Director of Unsheltered Utah Wendy Garvin said Tuesday was different.
"They did not post any notices and they came out with their bulldozers," said Garvin.
Director of Homelessness Policy and Outreach for the mayor's office Andrew Johnston said there was a 24-hour notice for the cleanup of the area, which originally was set for Thursday.
"That was scheduled to happen last Thursday and was interrupted by various people," said Johnston, "So they stopped on Thursday."
He said crews didn't follow up to alert the community they would be continuing Tuesday.
"I mean, we tried to do the best job we can," he said, "This situation didn't have that on Tuesday that we did on Thursday, but definitely going for the 24 hours and even 48 in some instances we know the county health department is a good partner in that and they're committed to that as well."
Garvin also brought up concerns by an unsheltered woman who claims she was scooped up by a bulldozer and put in the dumpster.
She filmed an interview with the unnamed woman who did not want to go on camera.
"They scooped you up, and they threw you in the dumpster?" Garvin is heard asking in the video. "Yeah and then I'm literally screaming but I was in the tent and I couldn't open it," the woman replied.
Johnston said they investigated the incident but did not find any evidence of the alleged incident.
"We don't have any information at this point that would corroborate that," he said, "We didn't have a dumpster there yesterday, there was no front loader equipment, no bulldozer. We had a small Bobcat which is typically what that team uses."
Garvin said she appreciates the city looking into it, but said she believes there is a bigger issue at hand in using heavy machinery to relocate the unsheltered communities.
"They did not commit to any sort of changes that make these events safer for the people that are involved and they're very traumatic events," said Garvin, "You know, they lose all their stuff."
Johnston said it's a tough battle trying to keep unsheltered communities small and safe as well as the workers doing the cleanups.
"We're talking about tons of stuff," said Johnston, "It's virtually impossible to do it by hand that way. And so we try not to use the large equipment and we've really not done that much this year at all because we're trying to keep camps smaller whenever possible."
He said city officials are working with the unsheltered communities to try and come up with better solutions and ways to do the cleanups.
In the meantime, people in the unsheltered community like Chris Glover said they hope those solutions come soon.
"We're not a building where we have to figure out where we have to relocate," said Glover, "When they want to move us they herd us like cattle. We're not cattle. We are people, we have buildings and we deserve our rights."
