Police Try to Confine Skid Row Homeless to Areas by Missions

Breaking an informal nine-month truce, Los Angeles police officers have renewed their campaign to control the movements of the homeless men and women who populate Skid Row.

In their latest strategy, police have undertaken to confine transients to the sidewalks in front of six missions rather than allowing them to range freely over the 50-block downtown district commonly called Skid Row.

Advocates for the homeless said police officers have been rousting transients from doorways, breaking up sidewalk gatherings and, in some cases, waking up those asleep in alleys and marching them to missions already filled to capacity. There have been complaints of excessive zeal in enforcement.

Latest Flare-Up

The latest flare-up in the long-running confrontation between police and Skid Row denizens apparently began about three weeks ago, and it appears to be the product of renewed pressure from Central City East business interests.

“We are trying to enforce the law and protect business peoples’ property,” said LAPD Capt. Jerry Conner, architect of the new campaign.

In an unwritten truce that stood since last summer, the homeless have usually been allowed to sleep on Skid Row sidewalks at night as long as they did not build makeshift quarters and departed before businesses opened in the mornings.

The new police policy bans nighttime sleeping in most doorways on Skid Row, according to Sgt. Larry Thompson, homeless coordinator for the LAPD’s Central Division.

Moreover, the homeless--both day and night--are being “encouraged” to go to the sidewalks in front of six area missions and stay there, he said.

The police have also ordered the city Departments of Transportation and Public Works to post signs making all 50 blocks of Skid Row sidewalks off limits to allow for street cleaning Monday through Friday. Last year the sidewalks were posted for street-cleaning just three days a week.

Spokesmen for the mayor and the city attorney had said that the police appear to be acting within city policy and in support of existing law.

Nonetheless, Mayor Tom Bradley’s office has called a meeting for next Thursday between his staff and police officials to discuss the recent actions. LAPD spokesman William Booth said the meeting is intended to determine if there “is a better way to try to solve at least a portion of this homeless problem without stepping on anyone’s rights.”

Skid Row activists said they have recently witnessed street people being stopped by police while just walking down Skid Row streets.

Woman Removed

On Thursday, a convoy of four police patrol cars and two trucks was summoned to remove a woman who for several months had camped under tarpaulins on the sidewalk near 5th and Towne streets. The woman, a self-proclaimed missionary to the homeless, was subsequently arrested for outstanding traffic warrants.

Police officials said aggressive enforcement actions are necessary to combat filthy conditions on Skid Row. They acknowledge that the new tactics at times have been taken to extremes.

On Tuesday, LAPD patrolmen forced a group of homeless to disperse twice as they waited in line for morning coffee at the Catholic Worker kitchen, which has been feeding the homeless at its Skid Row location for 17 years.

“It’s never been an issue in 17 years,” said Catherine Morris, a Catholic Worker volunteer who was at the kitchen that morning. “There’s no cause for their intervention.”

Police officials have since warned officers not to disrupt food lines.

In recent years the neighborhood of cheap hotels and warehouses east of downtown Los Angeles has been the scene of ugly confrontations as police attempted to reclaim sidewalks from burgeoning developments of cardboard encampments.

Last June, the police ordered city sanitation workers to clear out a homeless enclave on 1st Street in the shadow of City Hall. More than 40 homeless men and women later filed claims with the city for compensation for their personal belongings that were swept up by city skip-loaders and carted off to a landfill.

The city settled the claims at a cost of more than $20,000, and the mayor laid down stiff restrictions on future sweeps by police.

But those who run businesses in the district have continued to complain about what they say are worsening conditions. The toy merchants, sea food processors and warehouses that dominate the neighborhood say the filth caused by street people costs them business and makes hiring difficult.

Tracy Lovejoy, director of the Central City East Assn., said she was surprised but delighted by the immediate and aggressive response to her organization’s complaints at a meeting with police officials in early January.

“The streets are a lot cleaner,” Lovejoy said.

LAPD spokesman Booth said there are “righteous and good-hearted reasons” to support steering homeless to mission locations where, ostensibly, they can receive some needed services.

But Skid Row activists said the police crackdown is part of an ongoing effort by the city to drive homeless people out of the sector--without providing an alternative place for them to go.

“It’s absurd to think that 4,000 people can stand in front of (six) missions,” said Alice Callaghan, founder of the Skid Row Housing Trust and Las Familias del Pueblo. “But that’s the policy. It’s clearly just harassment. It’s not bad enough to be homeless, cold and hungry. But now the police have to heap on further pain.”