Fights at a homeless encampment near the park and ride in Tisbury earlier this month have led the town to begin enforcing bylaws that prohibit camping.

Tisbury police alerted the homeless campers, who had been living out of about six tents, that they needed to leave the wooded area near the park and ride off High Point Lane by July 23. No arrests were made and five of the six tents were removed by Wednesday morning, Tisbury police Sgt. Max Sherman said. 

Tisbury police put out fliers in the area indicating that the campers were violating the law. The enforcement came after some tent residents called police about fighting among other campers, Sgt. Sherman said.

“They had a week with a couple of fights and people getting bloody and intoxicated and everything like that, [and] it was becoming an officer safety issue, walking into the woods with who knows who out there,” he said.

“We have our regulars that we know, but .. anybody could be out there at 1 or 2 in the morning,” he said.

The encampment was inside a federally protected perimeter around a town wellhead, though Sgt. Sherman added that it’s nowhere near the wellhead itself.

The owner of the one remaining tent was expected to come to collect it later, according to police, who enlisted the homelessness prevention nonprofit Harbor Homes of Martha’s Vineyard to help any of the campers needing services.

Tisbury police have been aware of the encampment for some time, and conducted a thorough cleaning last November to remove refuse and debris including drug needles, Sgt. Sherman said.

A solution to the campers’ homelessness has been harder to achieve, he said.

“We’ve been trying to coordinate with a few different organizations in town and address [the encampment], but we wanted to make sure we do a thorough job and not just act or react because that doesn’t really solve anything unless there’s a legitimate next piece of the puzzle for them to go to,” Sgt. Sherman said.

All of the campers are local to the Vineyard and most of them were living peacefully and unobtrusively on the land, he said.

“The people we are dealing with are Islanders or have connections to the Island,” Sgt. Sherman said. “They’ve been here for a while….They’re still people, and they need help.”

This month’s incidents led the police department to call on Harbor Homes, which has offered relocation options and other services to the campers.

“Before we took any action, we wanted to be sure we had a soft landing for them,” Sgt. Sherman said.

Harbor Homes case workers visited the encampment repeatedly before the July 23 deadline and also circulated the news at their weekly pizza night for clients, interim executive director Michael Bellissimo said.

“This was not a surprise act like the state forest [encampment raid in 2024],” Mr. Bellissimo said. “We were in regular contact.”

Harbor Homes funds motel stays for homeless families and teens, he said, and helps individuals find beds at off-Island shelters while the winter shelter is closed.

The nonprofit also provides hot meals, access to showers and laundry and assistance with other services, Mr. Bellissimo said.

“We do a lot, even during the summer months,” he said.

One of the Tisbury campers indicated willingness to enter a sober living home off-Island, Mr. Bellissimo said. The whereabouts of others is unknown.

“They have the dignity of deciding for themselves. Some people have picked up their tent and pitched it elsewhere on the Island,” he said.

The campers appear to have taken their personal belongings, but Mr. Bellissimo said Tisbury police have agreed to forward any valuables they find to Harbor Homes for safekeeping until they can be returned to their owners.