NCJ Number
126999
Journal
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Volume: 59 Issue: 11 Dated: (November 1990) Pages: 1-7
Date Published
1990
Length
7 pages
Annotation
Police departments have found dealing with homeless people to be a significant law enforcement challenge and have developed two types of philosophies for meeting the challenge, as shown by the experience of the police department in Santa Monica, Calif.
Abstract
One philosophy holds that homelessness is a social problem that cannot and should not be pushed onto another jurisdiction. Business groups and individual citizens hold an alternative philosophy, regarding the homeless as a menace and urging local government to focus on pressure and enforcement related to panhandling and other issues. The police department found itself between these opposing viewpoints, especially on the issues of the use of public facilities, public demands for enforcement of marginal criminal activities such as panhandling, and the need to provide police service to economically disenfranchised people. The police department and other agencies have worked cooperatively to address the problem of homelessness. Through such programs as the Homeless Enforcement Liaison Program (HELP), they hope to increase the public's confidence that positive steps are being taken to solve the problem. Photographs, figure, and tables