Laws are designed to protect public health
When a new law that forbids people from sleeping in downtown doorways goes into effect in December, Santa Monica police will be out in full force.
Like any new law the city council passes, the Santa Monica Police Department will redirect its resources and officers to zero in on offenders, especially when the ordinance is first enacted, said chief of police James T. Butts Jr.
“We will enforce the law, make no mistake about it,” he said.
The ordinance was created partially because the state’s trespassing law is too weak, officials say. It’s hard to enforce because it only addresses private property and puts the onus on the property owner to file complaints.
But officials insist the law isn’t about trespassing as much as it’s about protecting the public.
“I see it as a law to deal with a health issue,” Butts said. “I believe these laws provide a level of fairness and efficiency in dealing with some long-standing issues that the community collectively has complained about.”
The Santa Monica City Council last week passed two ordinances designed to move the homeless population out of downtown, but are described by officials as laws that protect the public from health and safety threats.
The first law, which restricts people from lying or sitting in doorways of downtown businesses, is city officials’ response to vocal business owners. These people say they have grown tired of people urinating and defecating in their doorways, particularly on the Third Street Promenade where many people sleep.
No matter how it’s described, the law will likely have a strong effect. In 1991, when Butts became the chief of police, one of the SMPD’s goals was to wipe out widespread drug dealing in the city. At the same time, the city passed a law against camping in parks and another one making it illegal to camp in public. Many of the drug dealers were transients, and the homeless population, which was between 3,500 and 4,000, declined substantially because of the laws and the SMPD’s crackdown.
By the end of the year, people won’t be able to lie or sit down from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. in front of buildings downtown, which means the area bounded by and including the east side of Ocean Avenue, the north side of Wilshire Boulevard, the east side of Lincoln Boulevard, the south side of Pico Boulevard and both sides of Main Street.
Some people say the law is nothing more than an attempt to shuffle the homeless to other parts of town. Soon, areas outside of the “zone” will have more people sleeping in front of their doors, some say.
“They’ll start going into people’s neighborhoods,” said Terry Soft, a homeless resident who works at an outdoor cart on the Promenade. “Hopefully when this law goes into effect, I’ll be off the street. But if not, I’ll be moving out of state.”
Ken Karl, who also is homeless and works at a cart, thinks the law will clean up the downtown area. He said the police have cracked down on people sleeping on the Promenade in past months, which has forced him to head east.
“We will go on the cusp. Just past Lincoln,” he said.
Officials recognize it could be an issue in the future, but chose to focus only downtown based on advice from Santa Monica City Attorney Marsha Moutrie. Enacting a city-wide ban would pre-empt the state trespassing law and could be legally challenged, she said.
If other areas begin to experience an influx of homeless who create health and safety issues, city officials say they will address it when the time comes. The result could be passing bans in a piecemeal fashion, but officials are taking a wait and see approach.
“I think we need to see what happens,” said Judy Rambeau, a city spokesperson. “But (the city attorney) will take direction from council.”
City Councilman Herb Katz doesn’t expect the new law to push homeless people into residential areas.
“The feeling is we are in the commercial district, and if they go into neighborhoods we’ll have to do a better job of enforcement,” he said. “But I think the homeless are smart enough that they know what will happen if they go there.”
Also considered a public health and safety threat are the food lines that dozens of church groups conduct in Palisades Park and in front of City Hall. So the city council passed a law that requires those groups to get a permit from the Los Angeles County Health Department and approval from the city.
“The objective is to acknowledge the fact that we all need to co-exist,” Butts said. “But we need uniform standards for sanitation and public health and safety.”
The SMPD’s strategy of enforcement for the feeding programs will be to deploy its homeless liaison team to check food providers to make sure they have a health department permit. If they don’t, they’ll be warned and then cited at the second infraction.
Because of the hours and where the trespassing law applies, the SMPD’s morning watch and Promenade officers will likely be the ones enforcing the ordinance.
“It’s the same skill set as any to enforce the laws,” Butts said. “We train our officers to treat people with dignity. We’ll inform them of the offense and how to avoid it.
“We train our officers to treat people with dignity. We’ll inform them of the offense and how to avoid it.” — — JAMES T. BUTTS JR. Santa Monica Police Chief
“The first and foremost responsibility of the police department is to provide equal protection of the law fairly and vigorously,” he added.
Santa Monica police officers have plenty of experience with the homeless. A significant portion of the SMPD’s resources are used to deal with the city’s homeless population. One in every three police calls are related to homeless people, Butts told the city council last week. He estimated that between $4 million and $5 million is spent out of the SMPD’s $40 million budget, although those figures are not based on any specific analysis.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 14, 2002. Read the original PDF.