Ever since the aggressive panhandling campaign got underway back in July, the police in downtown Nashville have been working towards moving the Homeless "elsewhere" by utilizing ordinance citations to those unfortunate enough to continue frequenting Homeless hotspots in the downtown area. Most of the Homeless recognized what was going on and some of them knew from their own contacts on the police force (many cops recognize the value of having homeless friends on the street, I only wish that more would) that some places, like the area around library park, would be particularly dangerous to hang around, since word was that the captain of the Metro PD had offered a fine bottle of scotch to the officer who "wrote the most tickets in downtown to the Homeless." Whether this is true or not will be known only to the Captain and whoever writes the most tickets, but the fact of the matter is, when the public starts screaming for action, the fate of the targeted is typically sealed.
Now, it's real nice when the cops tell you ahead of time that they're "fixin to get nasty," so you can hightail it to safer digs while the heat's on. But even if they don't, it doesn't take a genius to recognize stepped up police presence and activity "in yer hood." The smart person moves on, or out, until the cops can make a public showing that they've had the appropriate impact. Then ever so slowly, the folks gradually move back in and resume their old haunts, albeit a little more quietly and secretively. Before you start telling me that "the Homeless have no other place to go," understand that they simply don't have a choice in the matter, and it doesn't matter whether you agree or not, because if they don't move along somewhere else, the cops will take them somewhere else, and most of the time, it won't be nicer than where the homeless could go if they headed out on their own.
Sure it isn't right. Hell yes it sucks. But it isn't like it hasn't happened here before. Take a look at the article below. It was written in 2003, and in it the problem of people who "say they are routinely given citations or threatened with arrest for sleeping in parks, parking garages and business doorways, but they have no place else to go," is identical to what is happening today in 2007.
I'm telling you - it isn't freaking rocket science. The police must keep order. They've got to answer to the public and when the public demands something be done about "the drug problem" or the "Homeless problem" or the "panhandling problem" or the "red light runners" or the "streetwalkers," the cops have to act. Therefore, it's really going to be up to the targets of the police action to figure this out quickly and make haste while they still can.
I reiterate that I don't think it's fair, right, ethical, and I believe it borders on - and occasionally steps directly over the line of - discrimination and harassment at times, especially when one considers that tourists often walk downtown streets with alcohol in hand and rarely spend a night in jail because of it. Of course, tourists rarely stick their heads in your car and scream for money, and I've yet to be approached by a tourist asking for money while eating in a local restaurant; both of these things I have experienced at the hands of some of my Homeless brothers and sisters (I have also seen tourists passed out on park benches and acting belligerently while obviously intoxicated, and on more than a couple occasions I've smelled marijuana wafting through the air in areas populated only by tourists).
Unfortunately however, the police use the show of authority to instill greater fear of the threat of authority because without that fear of possible police action, some people are more likely to violate laws. The theory goes that the easier it is to violate small laws, the easier it becomes to move it up a level into bigger violations. It's basic societal control stuff, really.
But it doesn't make life any easier for the Homeless who are caught in the crosshairs of the recent crackdown, that's for certain.
Let me share with you something told to me yesterday by two of my clients.
It seems they were walking down Main street in east Nashville at about 3pm when it began pouring rain. They ducked under an awning to escape the downpour and weren't there more than a couple of minutes when a young "rookie" cop no one had ever seen before pulled up in his squad car and announced on the car's bullhorn, "everyone who wants to go to jail, raise their hands!"
My clients of course did not raise their hands and the cop then said, "you've got 30 seconds to move on before I start taking people to jail!" Two citizens of the United States of America, land of the free, protected by the Constitution and Bill of Rights, were then forced to walk out into the pouring rain or go to jail.
Please think about this for a second. At 3pm in the afternoon on a Sunday, two people, both of whom were clean, groomed, dressed appropriately, sober and simply standing under an awning in the pouring rain were told to move on or face incarceration. I don't know about you, but I've stood under literally dozens of awnings and impromptu bad-weather-cover and have never been forced into harm's way under the threat of incarceration.
Initially, I tried to provide possibilities of the cop's point of view to my clients. I explained that perhaps the cop had been informed of increased criminal activity in the area and was being proactive. Perhaps there had been credible information about a possible break in attempt at the building they were standing at. Maybe the cop had simply seen people drinking here before and wanted to head off problems before they got started.
Ultimately however, I simply could not justify the actions of what I hope (but what most of my clients consider SOP by many police lately) is a rogue rookie trying to show his machismo to those least able to stand up against it. It just seemed so....mean spirited, flagrant, ugly, discriminatory and most of all, unnecessary. Is this what our tax dollars are paying for? Seems to me that there's plenty of other criminal activity on the east side that could use a good, aggressive officer's talents, rather than bullying a couple of citizens who sought shelter under an awning during a downpour.
What makes this particular incident all the more disturbing, at least from a Homeless perspective, is that it occurred in an area that really wouldn't be considered "downtown." If you're asking them to find another place besides downtown, you'd think that they'd be allowed to move without fear of arrest simply for being seen on the streets of a large metropolitan area. Call me cynical but it just reeks of harassment and intimidation, and thats too bad, especially at a time when so many of us are trying to work with all the agencies to achieve a comprehensive solution to the problem of homelessness in Nashville.
Metro PD would do well to consider that a couple of bad apples spoils the whole bunch; hell, they know this firsthand, since they deal with that very small group of Homeless that make life miserable for the rest of the Homeless simply because of their antisocial behavior.
It works both ways, guys.
Homeless activists want police to alter tactics
By HOLLY EDWARDS
Staff Writer Recent effort results in sheriff's office adding booking site
Living on the street is a social problem, not a crime, and law enforcement officials need to find ways to deal with homeless people other than citing them and throwing them in jail, local homeless advocates said yesterday.
Members of the Power Project, a Nashville-based
Local homeless people say they are routinely given citations or threatened with arrest for sleeping in parks, parking garages and business doorways, but they have no place else to go.
In a recent success for the Power Project, the Davidson County sheriff's office agreed to provide an additional booking facility at the Criminal Justice Center on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the homeless and others who lack transportation.
In the past, homeless people had to travel about 10 miles out of town to Harding Place to be booked for citations such as trespassing and public intoxication. Many were not able to get there because they lacked transportation,
Since the new service was initiated a month ago, about 40 people have used it, said Karla Crocker, spokeswoman for the sheriff's office, adding that the Harding Place facility still will handle the bulk of the roughly 17,000 citations of all types issued in the county each year.
Meanwhile, some business owners say they are fed up with littering, public drunkenness and urine-soaked doorways from the homeless and are calling for stepped-up law enforcement.
''It makes me so angry because I have clothes, whiskey bottles and little brown bags all over the place,'' said Sandra Estelle Larson, owner of Estelle's antique shop on Eighth Avenue South, across the street from a homeless shelter. ''I've had my windows broken out and I've called the police, but they don't want to do anything about it because it's now politically incorrect to be tough with the homeless.''
Some local homeless people say Metro police are often too tough, issuing them citations and threatening them with arrest when they are standing on the street or in parks.
''I got a citation for standing next to a wall near the (Nashville) Rescue Mission,'' said Mike Parker, who has been homeless for about two years. ''And I can't even go into the bus station to buy a bag of chips or use the bathroom without someone calling the police.''
Webster Todd Powers said he has been homeless for two months and has received a citation for standing near an interstate on-ramp holding a sign that said ''homeless 'Nam vet.'' He said he was told to leave Riverfront Park with a group of homeless people in the middle of the night. Powers said the police told them that they could either leave the park or go to jail.
John Zirker, a Power Project leader who was homeless from 1998 to 2000, said he once received a citation for standing in an alley.
''We are criminalized when we really need help with mental health and drug issues,'' Zirker said. ''They should put more effort into education and counseling.''
Lt. Mitch Fuhrer of the Metro Police Department deals with many of the law enforcement issues surrounding the homeless here.
He said police try to strike a balance between serving business owners complaining about homeless people near their stores and helping homeless people in need.
''We get calls all the time from business owners complaining about homeless people trespassing,'' he said. ''But we try to strike a happy medium because we can't lock everybody up. We refer a lot of homeless people to the Rescue Mission or get them in touch with the housing department.''
There are no laws against panhandling or loitering, Fuhrer said, but homeless people can be issued citations for trespassing, sleeping in parks or being in a park after hours. Aggressive panhandling also can be handled through trespassing laws, he said.
Pastor Kenneth Locke of the Downtown Presbyterian Church said serving the homeless is an integral part of his church's ministry. Locke said he thinks police and city officials need to spend more time with the homeless to get a better understanding of the problem.
A recent study by the National Coalition for the Homeless ranks Nashville the 18th meanest city in the country for the homeless.
''If the city is genuinely concerned about being perceived as being a mean place for the homeless, then maybe our Metro Council needs to spend a day or two on the street to see what the problems are,'' Locke said.
''You really don't have a clue about poverty until you experience it first hand.''
