Callous Costa Mesa

The Costa Mesa City Council has delayed a final decision on a proposed new law that would give police the power to arrest people they thought “intended” to solicit employment on the street. It should have simply rejected the idea.

In its frustrated effort to discourage dayworkers from gathering on city streets, Costa Mesa has been taking increasingly firm and insensitive steps. The city, which once sought more humanitarian approaches, already has a law that bans curb-side soliciting of employment.

That ordinance, however, doesn’t seem to have solved the problem. Dayworkers are still congregating on some streets. And obviously police haven’t been able to catch enough of them making the curb-side job requests. So now the council is thinking of amending its ordinance to allow police to arrest people for soliciting jobs--even if officers do not see them actually doing the dreaded deed. Circumstantial evidence, the proposal implies, will be enough to prove intent.

One thing missing thus far is a guideline that would define the “intent” that would constitute the crime. Even more disturbing is the rationale outlined in a city memo supporting the amendment that reasoned, given the scarcity of police resources, that it was too much of a burden to require officers to actually observe a violation before they can make an arrest.

If the city pursues that policy of expediency in other areas, too, we shudder to think what constitutional shortcuts it could take in making misdemeanor arrests on unseen acts, merely because the officer thought the suspect “intended” to violate the law.

And would such a selective amendment to the city’s anti-dayworker law put any Latino on the street in danger of being arrested because police thought he intended to solicit employment from someone in a car?

It reminds us of the law Santa Ana tried to pass that would have allowed officers to arrest prostitutes for just being on Harbor Boulevard. A judge threw that out of court.

Dana Point is taking a far more sensible approach to the problem of dayworkers gathering on street corners. The city is exploring the idea of setting up a telephone hot line that would match employers with workers. It takes a new and possibly more effective tack that could fill the needs of the employers and workers and clear the streets of the groups of dayworkers that disturb many merchants and residents. And it is far preferable to Costa Mesa’s callous approach of making it against the law to even “intend” to take to the streets to find a job.