Task force takes aim at police over panhandlers
Chief disagrees force has ‘somewhat abandoned’ the core
A community task force dedicated to safety and cleanliness in the downtown is asking Hamilton police to beef up its presence to combat graffiti and aggressive panhandlers.
But the service’s top brass say its efforts in the core are as robust as they’ve ever been.
“There is a strong police presence in the downtown core and the International Village,” Insp. Greg Huss, head of the police’s community mobilization division, told the police services board Thursday.
This was in response to a letter sent to Chief Eric Girt by Susie Braithwaite on behalf of the Downtown Safe and Clean Task Force complaining about a “lack of community policing in the core.”
Braithwaite, who’s vice-chair of the task force, said the advent of the ACTION team (Addressing Crime Trends in Our Neighbourhoods) a few years ago made for a safer core.
However, now that the ACTION team, which includes officers on bicycles and on foot, covers other parts of the city, “the consequence is that the core has been somewhat abandoned,” she added.
Girt called that assessment “inaccurate,” before deferring to Huss, who said ACTION officers spent 90 per cent of their time in the area in March, 84 per cent in February and 76 per cent in January.
Huss also noted the mounted patrol visited the area seven times in March, twice in February and three times in January. This is in addition to three uniform patrol beats assigned to the zone, he noted.
Police board member Madeleine Levy
asked Girt and Huss to address the committee’s letter during Thursday’s meeting.
“I just want to ensure that we’re adequately patrolling the downtown area,” Levy said.
Braithwaite, who’s also executive director of the International Village BIA, couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday.
But Coun. Jason Farr, who’s chair of the task force, told The Spectator he agreed graffiti and aggressive panhandlers are an issue downtown.
“There’s no arguing that there has been an increase. That’s for all of us to determine to what extent.”
Farr suggested an expanded Social Navigation Program could help address some underlying causes, such as drug addiction. The program, which teams up a police officer and paramedic in an EMS truck, only has one unit.
“The city needs three if we really want to be serious about tackling the issue.”
Those who ask for handouts on the street in an “aggressive manner” can be ticketed under the provincial Safe Streets Act.
Anti-poverty groups have pressed the Liberal government to repeal the 1999 legislation arguing it unfairly targets homeless and vulnerable people who can’t possibly pay fines. Hamilton lawyer Peter Boushy agrees. “The Safe Streets Act, with its exorbitant fine and imprisonment sentencing regime, is an unethical, abhorrent piece of legislation that should be abolished,” he said Thursday.
Boushy has represented Dwight Perry, who has accumulated $25,000 in unpaid fines.
Last week, a Hamilton court tossed charges against Perry under the Safe Streets Act for soliciting a person waiting for public transit downtown, in addition to another charge dismissed last month.
On Thursday, Perry was sitting in his usual spot near the MacNab bus terminal, where he thanked a passerby who left him money.
“I did not bug him. He came over and gave me a dollar. Now how would that become aggressive or how did that become an unsafe act?”
The 61-year-old was one of the witnesses who testified during the trial of four ACTION officers accused of writing fake tickets in November 2016. They were found not guilty. Perry, who still hopes to have other charges withdrawn, says not everyone who seeks handouts downtown is passive.
“There are a few bad ones out there ... They’ll harass the person. They’ll say no, and they’ll say ‘Oh come on, I know you’ve got a dollar.’”
Whitney McMeekin, owner of Girl on the Wing, said there are a few regulars around her King Street East vintage clothing shop in the International Village, but none seem aggressive.
“It doesn’t bother me ... I don’t think they should be ticketed. They obviously don’t have enough money.”
Of greater concern are pushy solicitors who walk into her shop trying to sell goods, including perfume, makeup, DVDs and pizza, as well as services such as window cleaning, she said. “That bugs me more.”
During Thursday’s meeting, Girt said police have been working with the city bylaw department to tackle graffiti.
In November, council approved a revamped anti-tagging plan that includes $140,000 for co-op students to track and handle hot spots on public property and a report exploring expanded video surveillance in city parks.