Police say panhandlers more aggressive in Ohio’s capital city
Columbus COLUMBUS — police say Downtown panhandlers have become more aggressive since last summer, when a U.S. Supreme Court decision prompted officers to stop enforcing the city’s panhandling laws.
“Everybody knows about the decision,” which said government regulations curtailing free speech must be as narrow as possible and fulfill a “compelling government interest,″ Columbus police Cmdr. Robert Strausbaugh said. The panhandlers are “taking advantage of it.”
He said his Downtown sergeants have told him that panhandlers are loitering near performance venues such as the Ohio and Palace theaters and Nationwide Arena, wedding venues such as the Columbus Athenaeum, and along North High Street from Downtown to the Short North. Sometimes, sergeants say, panhandlers are “just grabbing a hand” and asking people for money.
Police can charge overly aggressive panhandlers with disorderly conduct. But Strausbaugh said that officers can’t tell whether they’ve charged more panhandlers with disorderly conduct since the June 1 policy change because they can’t distinguish those cases from other disorderly conduct cases.
Just 20 cases of aggressive panhandling were filed in Columbus in 2016 and eight in 2017.
Lisa Defendiefer, deputy director for operations and advocacy for the Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District Downtown, said her group has seen an uptick in panhandling since last year.
She said that Capital Crossroads in September interviewed 18 of the 25 panhandlers her group sees as regulars Downtown. She said two-thirds of them acknowledged that they buy drugs and alcohol with the money they are given. She also said that 70 percent were dealing with homelessness, but 90 percent said they had connections with social-services providers.
Strausbaugh said officers also will try to use the city’s law against obstructing sidewalks to keep people moving. “We’ve had some success,” he said.
Police were able to get someone camped out in front of the Tim Hortons shop at Broad and High streets last fall to move by telling him about that law.
The Columbus city attorney’s office told police to stop using the panhandling law, fearing that the city would be challenged in court.
The 2015 Supreme Court decision came out of a Gilbert, Arizona, case that involved a church renting space at an elementary school. The church placed about 17 signs in the area announcing the time and place for services. The city’s sign regulations limited the size, number, location and duration of the signs.
The church sued, and the case made its way to the nation’s highest court. In a 9-0 decision, the court ruled that regulations that are tougher on signs directing people to a meeting of a nonprofit group than on signs with other messages could not hold up to constitutional scrutiny.
Lawyers used the decision to challenge panhandling laws. Akron, Dayton and Toledo eventually repealed theirs, as did other cities across the country.
Michelle Heritage, executive director of the Community Shelter Board, said that while there appears to be an uptick in panhandling, there doesn’t appear to be an increase in the homeless population.
In the meantime, some building owners continue to pipe classical music outside their buildings to discourage loitering.