Taming the Often Ugly Alms Pitch : Pushy Panhandlers Getting More Than They Asked For

To avoid some of the increasingly strident requests for handouts along 4th Avenue downtown, Kim Ramsay decided to jaywalk between F and G streets on her way to work recently as an undercover security agent for Mervyn’s department store at Horton Plaza.

Awaiting her on the other side of the street was a police officer. But instead of getting a ticket, Ramsay got sympathy.

“If I’d gone down to the corner to cross, I would’ve been hit up,” Ramsay explained to the officer.

Ramsay and other downtown pedestrians have been complaining about the increasingly bold tactics of panhandlers, some of whom city officials say have even resorted to grabbing people when requests for spare change are turned down.

‘Spinning You Around’

“They’re not only asking people for money, they’re putting their hand on your shoulder and spinning you around,” said Linda Kinsey of the San Diego city attorney’s criminal division.

The problem is so common that panhandling has become one of downtown’s most rampant crimes, added Jim Filley, the San Diego Police Department’s downtown community-relations officer. A steady flow of complaints, ranging from jeering panhandlers to those who follow pedestrians along the street, are being received from merchants and others.

In response, the Police Department is targeting panhandlers, pushy or not, using a special two-man undercover team. The team started Wednesday and made about 15 arrests that day during a four-hour period.

After being solicited, the plainclothes officers radio the nearest uniformed officer, who issues a citation.

Kinsey said the city attorney’s office is researching how police can better enforce the misdemeanor panhandling law, known as “soliciting for alms.” The principal question is whether police must actually hear a panhandler’s request or require the victim--most of whom have left the scene--to press charges, she said.

According to the law, a panhandler is anyone who

“accosts other persons in any public place or in any place open to the public for the purpose of begging or soliciting alms.”

Police believe that some of the more aggressive beggars earn up to $100 a day.

“A lot of them insult you, curse you and make themselves a real nuisance,” said Aubrey Jones, owner of Jones Barber Shop on Broadway who has been a downtown merchant for 49 years. “It is getting steadily worse. . . . The grade of panhandlers is much lower than a year ago.”

Added Mike Duff, an assistant manager at San Diego Hardware on 5th Avenue: “Some of the ones I’ve encountered have told me they know nothing will happen if I call the police. They know that a police officer will just come out and tell them to move down the street.”

Causing Friction

Even the mild-mannered beggars are bad-mouthing their more forward colleagues. The problem: Respectful panhandlers are being driven out of town by the new breed--many from Los Angeles.

“People give these panhandlers money just to get them the hell out of their face,” said James B., a soft-spoken 31-year-old who says he has lived on the streets downtown off and on for the past 10 years. On Friday, he was sitting beside a parking meter on North Harbor Drive, near Anthony’s Seafood Restaurant.

For half an hour he sat mute, except to say “thank you” to a passer-by who gave him $2 after she noticed his small sign--”Homeless An Hungry . . . God Love You All.”

Filley said that, because of jail overcrowding, chances are good that only those panhandlers who are cited repeatedly or who physically touch someone will be booked into jail. The problem, one downtown businessman said, is that some of the panhandlers are keenly aware of this.

Yet Filley, who frequently lectures to employees of downtown businesses on how to avoid crime in the area, said police will continue their undercover efforts until “the problem is brought back down to a controllable norm.”

“Lately, 99% of the hands go up during my speeches when I ask how many people have been approached by a panhandler,” Filley said.

Filley said he has been told that some downtown workers are so timid that their first stop Monday mornings is at the bank for a roll of quarters--a week’s supply to fend off downtown panhandlers.