Panhandling

In Column Right (“Panhandling Is Not Free Speech,” Oct. 22), Michael Rushford makes a number of astonishing and unfounded observations about crime in Santa Monica. He concludes that “crime flourishes in places where drunks and derelicts roam the streets” and implies that my decision to focus scarce prosecution resources on serious crime rather than status crimes like public inebriation contributes to crime in Santa Monica.

The FBI has established a uniform system for the reporting of crime by local agencies. Part I crimes consist of homicide, burglary, robbery, rape, aggravated assault, auto theft and larceny. In Santa Monica, there were 10,634 Part I crimes in 1980; 9,767 Part I crimes in 1985; and 9,380 Part I crimes in 1990.

The decline in serious crime in Santa Monica occurred during the same period in which public inebriates were not prosecuted by my office. In 1981, shortly after being appointed city attorney, my office stopped prosecuting public inebriation, a policy supported by the Police Department, the presiding judge of the local municipal court and a Chamber of Commerce Public Inebriate Task Force.

Police still arrest drunks and place them in jail until they regain sobriety.

Rushford asserts that there is a correlation between public drunks and more serious crimes like burglary. However, there is no factual basis for this assertion. Burglaries declined in Santa Monica from 1981 to 1990 while public inebriate violations remained relatively constant. In 1981 there were 2,485 burglaries and 2,239 inebriation arrests; in 1985, there were 1,505 burglaries and 2,437 inebriation arrests; and in 1990 there were 1,356 burglaries and 2,519 inebriation arrests.

Rushford would have us believe that the growing homeless problem in this country is the result of the non-enforcement of laws such as public drunkenness and panhandling. Instead, it is the breakdown in our affordable housing and social welfare system that has dumped people onto our streets, turned our jails into mental institutions and challenged the compassion of the average citizen who encounters the poor and hopeless in public places.

ROBERT M. MYERS

City Attorney, Santa Monica