LAs Homeless Allowed To Live In Cars, Appeals Court Rules The Los Angeles Police Department...created the Venice Homelessness Task Force, made of 21 officers to cite and arrest people living in cars, as well as distribute information about local shelters and social services. During their training, task force members were told that “an individual need not be sleeping or have slept in the vehicle to violate” the city ban, and that the LAPD officers should look for “possessions normally found in a home, such as food, bedding, clothing, medicine, and basic necessities.” They were to offer a warning for the first violation, a citation for the second and make an arrest on the third. In reality, the various members of the task force interpreted their enforcement duties in different ways, making it “incompatible with the concept of an evenhanded administration of the law to the poor and to the rich that is fundamental to a democratic society.” Is it impermissible to eat food in a vehicle? Is it illegal to keep a sleeping bag? Canned food? Books? What about speaking on a cellphone? Or staying in the car to get out of the rain? Judge Harry Pregerson wrote for the panel. These are all actions plaintiffs were taking when arrested for violation of the ordinance, all of which are otherwise perfectly legal. [The appeals court overturned the law in a ruling published June 19, 2014.] One of the plaintiffs in the case, Steve Jacobs-Elstein, lost his home in 2007 and began living in his car. When he was told by a police officer of the city’s ban in 2009, he looked up the ordinance, and began parking at motels and other private property. In September 2010, he was parked on a public street in front of a church, waiting for its food distribution program to open, when two task force officers ordered Jacobs-Elstein out of his car, searched it and gave him a citation. They did not give him any information on social services. The same officers later arrested him in October 2010. They, along with other members of the task force, repeatedly yelled at him and searched his car over the course of several months. It was not until January 2011 that Jacobs-Elstein received any information on complying with the city’s law. Read the court case here: centralvalleybusinesstimes/links/11-56957.pdf By Occupy Seattle Photo source: collapse
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 00:16:53 +0000
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