Calexico business owners report drug use and theft

CALEXICO, Calif.- Calexico store owners are taking matters into their own hands when it comes to keeping the streets clean.

Downtown store owners have reported repeated drug use, garbage, and theft by homeless individuals outside of their places of business.

They say that the police are doing everything they can, but the problem has become out of control. One business owner says it's become a full-time job to clean up needles and trash around his shop.

"It smells like urine, you're probably gonna get robbed, and if you bring your kids, you might see someone doing drugs. Like, why would anybody come down to downtown? It's nasty, it's deteriorating, it's just a mess everywhere you look at it," store owner Carlos Fonseca said.

The arrests over petty theft, public drug use, and other crime creates a revolving door in the jails. The police are doing what they can, but with limited resources.

"The police department here in Mexico, they, they're the greatest because they do so much with the limited resources they have. They pick these guys up, they take them to the county, county releases them, and then the the cop is like, well, heck, what did I waste those two hours for, right? They could have been doing something else," Fonseca said.

A community cleanup lead by Fonseca is set for June 20th in downtown Calexico.