Begging to Differ : Crackdown to Help Ventura Merchants, but Panhandlers Are Apprehensive

Chris Duckery drifted into Ventura three weeks ago, the latest home front in his personal war for survival.

But he may not stay long.

Duckery, 29 and able-bodied, scratches out a living asking strangers for money. A day of work might bring him $30 in spare change from people he meets walking the streets or coming and going from shops and restaurants.

“I panhandle every day, and the cops hassle me every day,” the Colorado native said Wednesday outside the Turning Point Foundation on Thompson Boulevard. “It’s hard panhandling in this city.”

That’s just the way the Ventura Police Department likes it.

Armed with two tougher laws that ban aggressive panhandling and loitering on public streets and sidewalks, Ventura police will begin cracking down on beggars who intimidate merchants and customers.

The two ordinances adopted unanimously by the Ventura City Council in April went into effect late last week.

One law gives police the authority to cite panhandlers who scare tourists or shoppers into giving them money. The other allows officers to arrest people for sitting on curbs, lying on sidewalks or squatting in public places.

Law enforcement officials said they needed the stricter laws to respond to merchants’ complaints that homeless beggars were continually harassing their employees and customers.

But for Duckery and dozens of others like him, the laws simply give police another reason to stop and question them.

“I’ve been threatened with arrest [by store owners and police] a couple of times,” Duckery said. “I just go to the next store and sometimes they tell me the same thing.”

Police say they have not yet made any arrests or issued any citations under the new laws. But officers say panhandlers are aware of the crackdown and are switching their tactics.

“The word’s certainly out on the street that the ordinance is in effect,” said Sgt. Carl Handy, who supervises a gang and street detail on Ventura Avenue and throughout the downtown area. “It will be up to the individual officers to take whatever action they feel is appropriate.

“We’re hoping that it will have some impact,” he said. “It clearly sets a standard we haven’t had before and gives us a tool we haven’t had before.”

Homeless off and on for the past two years, 48-year-old Linda said she panhandles almost every day. The past few days, she said, have been especially difficult.

“I made a lot of money over the weekend, but there were a lot of cops,” she said, resting at the Figueroa Mall near the San Buenaventura Mission on Wednesday morning. “They go by real slow and just watch.”

Linda, who declined to give her last name, said she has been arrested several times by police targeting her for public drunkenness and other misdemeanors.

She predicted that the new laws would translate to more frequent contact with authorities.

“What can I do?” she asked. “I need to eat.”

Downtown merchants say the begging problem in their neighborhood has not diminished since the laws were adopted. But most are pleased that the new law spells out their right to shoo panhandlers away.

“I haven’t had any problems lately, but it comes in spurts,” said Dee Frisbie, who owns a pizza restaurant downtown.

“They come and sit on my front porch and ask for money, then I have a problem getting rid of them,” Frisbie said. “Now it’s illegal to panhandle without my permission and the police can come talk to them.”

Handy said his officers would be told to avoid citing or arresting panhandlers on their first violations, which like any misdemeanors are punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and six months in jail.

Rather, Handy said, suspects will be issued verbal warnings and told to move on.

“We’re going to warn them first and make sure they understand it,” he said. “I don’t like to drop the hammer on them.”

The ordinances “are not really laws to regulate homelessness as much as some of the behavior that goes along with it,” Handy said. “Hopefully a stern warning will do away with the problem.”