Giving tickets to panhandlers is a fake solution

Ticketing panhandlers in downtown Hamilton in an effort to move them to another area is wrong on too many levels to list here.

But let’s pick a few: It’s inhumane to pick on people who are already down on their luck. It’s not a deterrent: The ticket recipients may move, but they’re as likely to stuff the ticket in their pocket and carry on. They know they can’t pay — if they could they wouldn’t be panhandling. It’s misleading: Police may report they’re making inroads on the so-called problem, but the truth is it’s a superficial measurement at best. The tickets are not paid. Many victims have received dozens of them.

To sum up, this practice is wrong and nonsensical, which is why courts have dismissed recent cases, including one in which a man had amassed $25,000 in unpaid fines.

Officially, there is no indication Hamilton police have stopped ticketing panhandlers. If that’s true, it’s even more evidence that the tactic doesn’t work, because as of this week police face a new round of criticism that a reduced policing presence is making the core less safe and secure.

In a letter brought forward at Thursday’s police services board meeting, a group called the Downtown Safe and Clean Task Force complained about a “lack of community policing in the core,” saying the downtown has been “somewhat abandoned.”

Some context here. Whether the problem of aggressive panhandling is getting worse is a matter of opinion. Clearly the authors of the letter think so. Others contacted by The Spectator don’t agree, or haven’t noticed it getting any worse.

Police were quick to deny that a reduced downtown police presence is the problem. Insp. Greg Huss, head of the police’s community mobilization division, said downtown patrol 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.

That hardly sounds like the core has been “somewhat abandoned,” as the task force complaint suggests.

But for the sake of argument, let’s accept the perception that the problem is worsening. What can or should police and other municipal authorities do?

Heaven forbid police management takes the new complaint as justification for increasing the practice of handing out meaningless tickets. They should do just the opposite and stop the practice except in extreme circumstances, of which there are not many.

Instead, police, downtown businesses and the city should focus on a more holistic approach. They don’t have to reinvent the wheel — it exists in the form of the Social Navigator program. At the same meeting, Coun. Jason Farr raised the idea of expanding the program, in which a police officer and an EMS worker team up. They patrol, meeting up with so-called “regulars”, but instead of handing out tickets and threatening incarceration, they help with needs like shelter and addictions management. Hamilton’s program has just one unit, according to Coun. Farr.

Additional investment in programs like this makes far more sense than continuing to hand out tickets that will never be paid. That’s a waste of everyone’s time and energy.

This practice is wrong and nonsensical, which is why courts have dismissed recent cases, including one in which a man had amassed $25,000 in unpaid fines.