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- November 1990
-
-
- POLICE AND THE HOMELESS
-
- By
-
- Barney Melekian
- Lieutenant
- Santa Monica, California, Police Department
-
-
- All across the country, from small towns to big cities,
- communities face both practical and ethical problems associated
- with the increasing number of homeless people. Police
- departments, especially, have found dealing with the homeless to
- be a significant law enforcement challenge. These departments
- are learning that an effective approach to policing the homeless
- is not easily formulated, nor is there a single solution. One
- fact does remain, however--police departments must address the
- problems and focus their efforts toward a solution.
-
- TWO PHILOSOPHIES EMERGE
-
- Much has been written on the causes of homelessness, and
- the debate continues, both in Santa Monica and across the
- Nation, as to the appropriate social policy to adopt. Citizens
- and law enforcement officers are caught between legal and
- ethical means of confronting this sensitive issue.
- Nevertheless, as is usually the case, the responsibility of
- dealing with the homeless on a day-to-day level ultimately falls
- on the police department.
-
- The City of Santa Monica has become a prime area for a
- growing homeless population. Located within Los Angeles County,
- the city has attracted homeless by its location and the several
- homeless outreach programs begun there. The impact of the
- recent homeless influx to Santa Monica strained the existing
- resources of the department and focused public debate onto what
- the role of the police department should be concerning the
- homeless. Two distinct political philosophies emerged from this
- debate, and the police department found itself caught in the
- middle, looking for a workable solution.
-
- Social Problem
-
- One philosophy holds that the issue of the homeless is a
- social problem that could not and should not be pushed onto
- other jurisdictions. This point of view came from the city
- attorney's office. In an interview given on May 3, 1990, the
- city attorney articulated a position that the homeless issue
- stems from a failure of the national and State governments to
- deal with the issues of affordable housing and to provide a
- workable public mental health policy.
-
- The city attorney's office views the homeless issue as a
- fundamentally moral one because of the larger-scale national
- failures that caused the problem. It also holds that local
- government, including the police department, must provide a
- solution, albeit temporary and incomplete, until effective
- long-range national and State public policies are put into
- effect.
-
- As an extension of these beliefs, several changes in
- prosecutorial policies were instituted. These changes reflected
- no prosecutions for public intoxication and no prosecutions for
- "economic" offenses, such as sleeping in public parks,
- possession of shopping carts, and other misdemeanors and
- infractions which are, for the homeless, oftentimes necessary to
- their survival. The city attorney's office also believed
- alcoholism to be a disease and that jail was not a suitable
- alternative to a detoxification center. There is a further
- belief that many of the applicable infractions spelled out in
- the Santa Monica Municipal Code are economically based and
- should not be used against a class of persons who have few, if
- any, financial options.
-
- Menace
-
- The alternative philosophy holds that while the problems of
- the homeless are unfortunate, a city of 8.2 square miles cannot
- and should not attempt to deal with an issue of this magnitude.
- This point of view was espoused by both business groups and
- individual citizens who find themselves confronted by persons
- who are often intoxicated and/or mentally unstable. This group
- views the role of local government, and in particular the police
- department and the city attorney's office, as one of pressure
- and enforcement--even to the point of moving the problem across
- geographical lines into the City of Los Angeles.
-
- PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE HOMELESS
-
- Predictably, the police department found itself squarely in
- the middle between these two opposing points of view. The
- demand for compassion often conflicted with the demand for
- enforcement. Additionally, because of the political sensitivity
- involved, there was little specific direction from the city
- government.
-
- Three distinct problem areas emerged for the police
- department from this philosophical debate: 1) The conflict over
- the use of public facilities, 2) public demands for enforcement
- action against activities that are often only marginally
- criminal, and 3) the need to provide police service to an
- economically disenfranchised class of people. All three of
- these problem areas needed to be addressed against a backdrop of
- preserving constitutional liberties for all citizens.
-
- Use of Public Facilities
-
- The first problem area, that of the conflict over use of
- public facilities, is nowhere more clearly illustrated than in
- Palisades Park. The park is a narrow strip of land, 1-1/2 miles
- long, located along the bluffs that overlook the Pacific Coast
- Highway and the Pacific Ocean. At the extreme south end of the
- park is the entrance to Santa Monica Pier. The pier, and the
- park area adjacent to it, is a major tourist attraction. In
- addition, a senior citizens center located there serves as a
- major recreational area for Santa Monica's senior community.
-
- The park is also one of the major gathering places for the
- city's homeless population. For nearly 5 years, it was the site
- of the city's feeding programs. Additionally, it is in close
- proximity to several low-cost bars, liquor stores, and motels.
- During daylight hours, it is not uncommon to see literally
- dozens of homeless people sleeping on the ground adjacent to
- senior citizens attempting to use the outdoor shuffleboard
- court. The combination of senior citizens, tourists, and
- homeless people produced demands that something be done about
- getting rid of the homeless problem.
-
- A traditional law enforcement response in times past would
- have been simply to advise the homeless people to leave the
- area. Indeed, the concept of law enforcement officers moving
- ``undesirables'' along is not new. However, from both a moral
- and a legal standpoint, it is no longer an acceptable or
- practical method. Officers might be able to move the transients
- out of the park temporarily, but the fact that the city's
- feeding programs were operated there specifically for the
- homeless guaranteed that they would return. Additionally, when
- homeless people believed that they were the victims of police
- harassment, they often brought their complaints to the attention
- of the police department's Internal Affairs Unit.
-
- Frustrated officers found that arrests and citations for
- drinking in the park, sleeping after midnight in the park, and
- panhandling were not being consistently prosecuted. The
- response was predictable. Officers began to issue warnings or
- simply ignore the situation when possible. Thus, in spite of
- great public pressure, the homeless remained in the park and the
- problem remained unsolved.
-
- Panhandling
-
- The second problem area, the demand for enforcement action
- for marginal criminal activities, is best illustrated by the
- problem of panhandling. There is a local law that makes it a
- misdemeanor to solicit money. (1) This law, together with a
- similarly worded municipal code ordinance, has been used to deal
- with those homeless people who ask for "spare change." This
- activity is the one in which citizens experience their most
- direct contact with the homeless. It can be a frightening
- encounter and the one for which they are most likely to call the
- police for assistance. Accordingly, the traditional police
- response has been to issue citations or make arrests.
-
- However, in 1984 the city attorney's office changed
- prosecutorial standards for panhandling to include force or
- assaultive behavior. This new definition of panhandling is
- close to that of robbery, as defined in penal code section 211,
- "...the taking of the personal property of another by means of
- force or fear." (2) Also, homeless people who were arrested
- under the new panhandling statute often would file harassment
- complaints against officers.
-
- In the panhandling problem area, there was obvious
- miscommunication that was preventing an effective resolution.
- The city council or the city manager's office did not direct the
- police department to cease making panhandling arrests. Neither
- did they advise that panhandling be redefined, nor did they
- alter prosecutorial policies. A situation developed in which
- the two enforcement arms of local government (the city
- prosecutor and the police department) were working at
- cross-purposes and little change was being made to bolster
- public confidence that the homeless problem was being resolved.
-
- The panhandling and public facilities issues are serious
- concerns that reshaped the police department's understanding of
- how the public perceived safety. What the homeless problem
- produced was the presence of a large number of individuals whose
- lifestyle is completely outside of the average working citizen's
- frame of reference. Consequently, contacts with these
- individuals often became cause for public anxiety. However
- idealistic, the public expected the police department to make
- the homeless people disappear. While carrying out this wish
- might have provided a short-term solution, the mandate to
- preserve constitutional liberties remained paramount.
-
- Demands for Public Service
-
- The third problem area was the increased demand for police
- service created by the homeless population. These demands take
- two forms. The first, increased calls-for-service, includes
- calls both from the homeless themselves concerning assault,
- rape, robbery, and homicide, as well as calls about the homeless
- by an increasingly apprehensive and fearful public. The second
- factor is the involvement of homeless people in serious felony
- crimes.
-
- In January 1990, the department began a program to track
- the homeless-related calls for service. Officers were directed
- to highlight every call on their daily service logs that
- involved homeless persons as either victims, suspects, or other
- significantly involved parties.
-
- During the first 5 months of 1990, the following calls for
- service patterns emerged:
-
- * Of the 19,295 calls received during the Day Watch, 6,071
- (31.5%) were homeless calls.
-
- * Of the 14,008 calls received during the Night Watch,
- 3,569 (25.5%) were homeless calls.
-
- * Of the 10,570 calls received during the Morning Watch,
- 2,141 (20.3%) were homeless calls.
-
- In addition 3,483 persons were booked into Santa Monica
- Jail during the same period. Of these, 1,234 were homeless, for
- a total of 35.4% of all bookings. Thus, with over one-third of
- police patrol services being generated by and for less than 2%
- of the resident population, the impact of the homeless on the
- police department's functions has been striking.
-
- The second impact area is that of serious felony crimes
- produced by the homeless population. The increase from 1985 to
- May 1990, shows dramatic growth, both in the percentage of
- homeless suspects arrested and the involvement of the homeless
- as a large part of the overall increase.
-
- During the same timeframe, the number of transient suspects
- arrested increased from 39 to 98, for a 151% increase in
- transient involvement.
-
- Nowhere is the crime impact of the homeless population more
- clearly demonstrated than in homicides. For example, in 1988
- there were 10 homicides that included 7 homeless victims and 8
- possible homeless suspects.
-
- STEPS TOWARD A SOLUTION
-
- During the last year, changes have been made in Santa
- Monica to employ cooperative methods in order to face the
- homeless problem head-on. One measure has been the city's
- decision to move the feeding program from Palisades Park to the
- front lawn of city hall. While this has not reduced the number
- of homeless in the park, it has reduced many gatherings of
- homeless people at meal times. This has had a positive impact
- on public perception, because citizens have seen a visible
- change in the community. Other programs are being implemented
- to get the city involved in providing solutions to a situation
- that cannot be ignored. The police department has also taken on
- an increased role in dealing with the homeless through
- HELP--Homeless Enforcement Liaison Program.
-
- HELP Program
-
- The Santa Monica Police Department developed HELP to focus
- attention on the law enforcement problems involving the homeless
- population. A team of two officers, assigned to work solely on
- transient-related crimes, were chosen for their past experiences
- with the homeless and their ability to handle transient
- situations effectively.
-
- In May 1990, the first month of operation, the HELP team
- alone received 249 calls for service, 231 of which were
- homeless-related. These figures reflect one of the program's
- goals--to reduce the homeless workload on the rest of the
- department. Of those calls for service, the HELP team made 84
- arrests, gave out 73 misdemeanor citations, and filed 97 field
- interview cards after talking to suspects. This specially
- mandated team is beginning to have an impact on the homeless
- problem area and to effect changes that the community can see,
- while at the same time preserving constitutional liberties for
- all citizens, including the homeless.
-
- Future Plans
-
- The department has been prompted to plan future additions
- to the HELP program. One task, undertaken with the approval of
- the city attorney, is to identify the most conspicuous criminal
- offenders within the homeless population and arrest them. The
- city has also just authorized seven more officers for the
- department who will work specifically with the homeless, thus
- expanding the number of officers who develop specific knowledge
- and experience. These programs and other developments should
- help boost the public's confidence that positive, cooperative,
- and concrete steps are being taken to solve this problem in
- their community. The real significance of this program is that
- the city attorney's office and the police department are both
- striving to work together to institute collaborative enforcement
- actions.
-
- CONCLUSION
-
- The law enforcement problems generated by the presence of a
- large homeless population present an unique public policy
- dilemma. Unlike drugs, there is no clearly defined public
- consensus as to whether a law enforcement problem truly exists
- concerning the homeless, and assuming that it might, what ought
- to be done about it. The idea of using the police to drive the
- homeless out of town is emotionally appealing for some segments
- of the resident population, but it ultimately presents grave
- moral and constitutional conflicts.
-
- The dimensions of the problem are national in scope, but
- local in impact. Every jurisdiction in the Nation will have to
- deal with the homeless in some form during the remainder of this
- century. Until such time as public policy decisions have been
- made at the local, State and national levels with respect to
- mental health facilities and detoxification centers, the problem
- will continue to fall largely on the shoulders of local law
- enforcement. Cooperation between city authorities and the
- police department, as well as the implementation of programs
- such as HELP, are ways of confronting an issue that is
- affecting more and more of our Nation's cities and towns every
- day.
-
-
- FOOTNOTES
-
- (1) Title 15, sec. 647(c), Santa Monica Penal Code.
-
- (2) Title 8, sec. 211, Santa Monica Penal Code.