Police Waiting to Enforce Ban on Camping : Homeless: People still at the Civic Center despite warnings from authorities say they have no place to go and plan to stay until they are removed.

Police have warned homeless people living at the Civic Center that their nights there are numbered but on Monday had not yet begun enforcing the city’s 5-day-old “no-camping” law.

At least half of the perennially homeless who camp at the government complex appeared to have left after the warnings. But a few dozen remained, saying they had no place else to go and planned to stay until they are removed.

“I have a place right across the street--it’s called the jail,” one man joked.

Police Lt. Dave Petko said that no sweep was planned but that police probably will start chasing them away sometime this week. He said the city is “being exceptionally careful” about enforcing the law, which made camping in streets, parks, parking lots and other public areas a misdemeanor offense effective Sept 3.

“Quite frankly I think the city officials are just attempting to deal with this as humanely as they can,” Petko said. “The city government is trying to give everybody who resides in the Civic Center adequate warning that, hey, it’s in your best interest to move on.”

Signs warn of the no-camping rule, which bans use of tents, cots, beds, hammocks and sleeping bags. The rule was adopted by the city because people who work in the courthouse, City Hall and other Civic Center offices complained that they were harassed and were afraid to walk in the area.

One homeless man, who was barbecuing chicken Monday at the Civic Center with his girlfriend, said he would stay until he was forced to go. Among his possessions is a “Homelessness is not a crime” sign.

“They say you can sleep here as long as you don’t pitch a tent or use a blanket and you leave in the morning. But how can we sleep out here with no blanket?” said another man, who had no place to go because he had already reached his three-day limit at a shelter.

Another unemployed man said the ordinance is a “program to get rid of people, not help them. Where will everyone go? Probably in the streets. . . . Nobody likes leaving their home.”

Petko said officers will approach people who appear to be violating the ordinance, inform them of the law, then ask them to to pick up belongings and go. If a person doesn’t move on as asked, he or she will be cited, Petko said.

“There is also a very militant element out there that is just waiting for us to enforce it who will refuse to move on,” Petko said.

Last week, volunteers from Operation Fresh Start helped about 115 people find shelters or paid for their one-way bus tickets so they could rejoin family.

Times staff writer Kristina Lindgren contributed to this story.