AUBURN – Police will make the job of reclaiming Moulton field and surrounding wooded areas from transients a key focus during the next year.

City crews will begin cutting shrubs and cleaning up the area around Moulton Field, making it less attractive to transients, according to police Chief Phil Crowell. Volunteers will help clear litter left by transients and Crowell said local businesses and property owners will be asked to pitch in, as well.

“Come August, we’re really gearing up for a clean-up,” Crowell said. “We’ve already partnered with public works, and they’ll bring some trucks down and volunteers will help pick stuff up. So the city as a whole will be working to make this better.

Crowell led city councilors on a tour of Bonney Park and Moulton Field Monday. Moulton Field was the site of the June 11 fatal stabbing of Casey Stanley.

Police began a crackdown on the unauthorized camps at Moulton Field and other areas immediately after the stabbing. They began issuing written warnings to squatters found there, warning that they are trespassing. If caught in one of the camps a second time, police issue a summons for criminal trespassing. Anyone caught in one of the areas a third time will be arrested.

Crowell said the city’s effort seems to be working. They’ve given out 61 warnings, but only two summonses. They’ve made no arrests.

Police are urging convenience store owners in the area not to sell alcohol to known drunkards. Police are creating a list of known transients and will give it to convenience store owners.

But Crowell said the city’s effectiveness doesn’t depend on traditional police work alone. Cleaning the site up is just as important.

“These woody areas here, public works is going to thin that out,” he said. That will open the field up, getting rid of hiding places. Shrubs and small trees along the northwestern side, just below High Street, will go as well. That will give neighbors a better view of the place.

Volunteers will also work to clean up the private property south of the field along the edge of the Little Androscoggin River. It’s a part of a year-long effort to make the area safer and more family friendly.

Jonathan Labonte, executive director of the Androscoggin Land Trust, said it fits with long-term goals to transform walking trails throughout the community.

“This area is part of a larger vision to develop an entire greenway along both the Androscoggin and the Little Androscoggin,” Labonte said. It might be possible to open up some of the private lands to the public, as well.

“There are funding sources available, for example, if the city wants to open water access down below here,” Labonte said. “These greenway projects get built in segments when they have momentum. So if there is momentum to do something here, we might be able to get some help.”