ANCHORAGE - Anchorage police officers say with the snow melting they expect to see illegal camps popping up around town.
But they say they're expecting fewer of them this year than in years past.
Officers say two years ago they got three or four reports of illegal camping a day – now that's down to just a couple a week.
Officers attribute the decline in the number of reports to actions by the Community Action Policing, or CAP, team.
When they find an illegal camp, CAP team members try to get the campers into shelters.
"We've been able to use grants we've received from the state very well to target select times and locations to put more officers on the street and give patrol officers the ability to free up after making an arrest and return to duty," said Lieutenant Gary Gillam of APD’s CAP team.
Police say all illegal camps should be reported to 786-8900.
