From shopfront canopies to cemetery gates, police spent the holiday weekend dealing with a string of calls tied to homelessness, drugs, and trespassing — part of a larger crisis playing out on the city’s streets.
Friday Morning: Blanket Under the Canopy
Just after 8:30 a.m., officers responded to a report of a man sleeping beneath the canopy between AT&T Wireless and O’Reilly’s. The man, bundled in a blanket, was told to move along.
Friday Afternoon: Cemetery Detention
By 1:35 p.m., multiple callers reported two shirtless men, covered in tattoos, wandering near Logan and Garfield Streets — one on a bike, the other on foot. Witnesses believed they were high. Officers later caught up with them at the Greenlawn Cemetery gates and detained one.
Saturday Morning: Door-Banging Disturbance
At 6 a.m., a woman at a 12th Street apartment called after being woken by banging on her door. Police found a homeless woman creating a disturbance and advised her to leave.
Only 30 minutes later, Portsmouth Ambulance employees flagged down officers on High Street when a man began wandering around, shouting at people. He was taken into custody.
Early Monday: Suspicious Yard Visit
At 5 a.m., a Richardson Road resident reported two men prowling her front yard, one covering his face with his shirt while the other rang her Ring doorbell. Officers reviewed video but couldn’t determine what they were after. Both men were gone by the time police searched the area.
Tuesday: Man in the Bushes
The calls continued into the workweek. On Tuesday, a resident reported a man repeatedly hiding in their landscaping bushes and leaving trash behind. Police found him sleeping in the shrubs — the same man they’ve dealt with before in Tracy Park — and told him to move on.
👉 Big Picture:
These calls highlight Portsmouth’s ongoing homeless crisis, where addiction, mental health struggles, and a lack of shelter space collide in public places. Police can only shuffle people along, but the cycle continues — moving from doorsteps to parks, sidewalks to cemeteries, without a long-term fix in sight.
