Council Orders Probe of LAPD Sweeps at Sites of Homeless

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to investigate police policy on homeless encampments in the wake of a controversial raid on two street camps last month.

The council’s Police, Fire and Safety Committee has 30-days to hold hearings on the June 24 police sweeps, in which the belongings of an estimated 50 homeless men and women were allegedly destroyed. In that incident, the police called in two Bureau of Street Maintenance bulldozers and two dump trucks to aid in the sweeps.

In sending the matter to committee, the council is also seeking a more defined police policy to replace the vague and conflicting interpretations of a general city policy that has governed police homeless sweeps for the past year.

Current city policy requires that police notify the council before disbanding a homeless encampment. But in a year of constant sweeping, the police have not found one circumstance that they believed required them to report to the council.

‘Personal Assurance’

At the request of Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who first called for the investigation, Los Angeles Police Department Cmdr. Robert Gil gave his “personal assurance” that police will stay within existing guidelines and be “extra sensitive” to the issue of personal property while the committee conducts its investigation.

Homeless representatives present at Tuesday’s hearing basically endorsed the need for an investigation. But they also chided the council for not dealing with the heart of the problem: shelter.

Like the earlier actions, the council’s latest response to the police sweeps does nothing to provide “a single bed, a single shower, a single meal or a single toilet” said Margaret Holub of the Inner City Law Center.

“In Los Angeles over the past year, the problems of the homeless have gone from bad to worse,” said Mike Neely, a homeless man and organizer in that community.

“We have had a silent City Council and a silent Board of Supervisors. It’s time for this conspiracy of silence to end today,” he said in urging the council to not only investigate the police activities but to deal with homelessness in a larger, more complete, context.

Homeless activist Ted Hayes recommended that the city provide portable toilets, garbage bags and rakes to impromptu homeless encampments around the Skid Row area so that the occupants can keep their sidewalk living sites clean and safe.

Running for Mayor

“Let’s put the responsibility back where it belongs, with the people. . . . That may stop you (and the business community) from getting so upset and bringing in the bulldozers,” said Hayes, who last week announced he was running for mayor of Los Angeles.

But the police also had their supporters at the council hearing.

Charles Woo, chairman of Central City East Assn., told the council that while he does not condone the police seizure of street people’s property, “I urge you not to tie the hands of the police.”

The Skid Row businessman said, “It’s important to talk about the rights of the homeless.”

“But it is also important to talk about the rights of businesses and their employees to have a safe place to work,” he said.

Councilman Nate Holden said, “We’re telling these guys (police) to enforce the law and then tying their hands behind their backs.”

While the council debated, Mayor Tom Bradley last week negotiated a new set of guidelines for dealing with homeless encampments. The mayor ordered that a street cleaning schedule must be continuously posted throughout the Skid Row area to give street people clear and ample notice of when sweeps will be made.

Personal Property

He also instructed the Board of Public Works to call in the city’s homeless coordinator whenever there is a question over what constitutes personal property during a sweep.

But even that does not solve much, Neely said.

“If we keep breaking this (homeless issue) into its smallest parts, we’ve got a problem,” the homeless organizer said. “Someone needs to take the lead.”