Homeless harassed? Police deny existence of ‘cleanup’ campaigns

Jeffrey Libby

Friday, Jan. 18, 2002 | 9:52 a.m.

Connie Jack Taylor spent five days in jail because he threw a cigarette on the ground in a Henderson parking lot.

The 42-year-old homeless man said he had to discard the cigarette to comply with a police officer's order to place his hands on the hood of a patrol car.

On Jan. 7, after Taylor had spent two days in jail, a Henderson judge threw out the $615 ticket for unlawful disposal of garbage or sewage.

Then, after Taylor spent three additional days in jail, a Las Vegas judge threw out a second charge for failing to notify police of a change of address for felony theft and burglary. The convictions were from 1983 and 1980.

Taylor said he has never had problems with the Henderson police and doesn't know why an officer stopped him and a friend that Friday night.

For Taylor, the confrontation with police was an isolated one. And Henderson police spokesman Terry Bowler laughed when asked about a litany of complaints from homeless people and two downtown business owners regarding police harassment.

"We don't treat the homeless any differently from anyone else," he said.

Others in Henderson tell a different story.

They say police single out and harass the homeless -- not regularly, but through infrequent "cleanup" campaigns.

At least two small business owners and a church leader support that claim. They question how a police force that says it is short-staffed, and that last fall asked taxpayers to support a failed $850 million public safety tax hike, can afford to spend time writing tickets for minor offenses.

"I get ticked off at the whole notion of the police spending my tax dollars putting a man like this (Taylor) in jail," said Father Lloyd Rupp, who runs St. Timothy's Episcopal Church on Pacific Avenue. "It's an abuse of tax dollars. He's trying to get his life together and we're trying to help him do that."

But several other business owners argue that the homeless who congregate in a small park behind St. Timothy's are a daily nuisance and create their own problems.

"Let's see, I sat here and watched a guy (urinate) on the wall twice today," said Susan Beason, who runs The Muffler Shop with her brother on Navy Street less than a block from the park. "I sat here another day and watched a guy just throw bottles at the wall."

The homeless people at times ask customers for money and try to sell tools to the mechanics, Beason said. But the real problem, she said, starts with St. Timothy's.

"Have you ever seen the 'Stepford Wives?' Well, when that bell rings, it just triggers everyone," she said. "They come from everywhere. They drive up in nice cars, get out and start limping, they pick up crutches and slings."

The daily hot meal served at the church attracts 75 to 100 people. The meals have been served there since 1997. In addition to the daily meals the church, for example, distributes carloads of diapers, wheelchairs and, this past week, passed out two pallets of orange juice that couldn't be sold.

Jerry Smith, who runs a support group for compulsive gamblers on nearby Army Street, also said the homeless who congregate at the small park "are a major problem."

Still, he said, "The Henderson Police Department says it doesn't have time to answer home burglaries any more. So, do we want them responding to home burglaries or at our parks chasing after the homeless?"

Joel Pearlman, who runs a television repair shop on Pacific Street, said police in September began a campaign of intimidation to prevent him from giving shelter to Kelly Kelsey, a homeless man. Kelsey helped keep away juveniles, who had been vandalizing his store, Pearlman said.

Police asked health and fire code officers to check his store for violations, Pearlman said, and officers patted down his wife in front of the store as they closed the business Sept. 14, he said. He was eventually forced to tack up "No Trespassing" signs on his property, he said.

"It's startling to run into things like this in such a small place," Pearlman said. "They're making a point of going after easy targets."

Officer David Wilson, a community police officer who has spent about three hours each week for the past four years addressing homeless issues, said Pearlman requested the "No Trespassing" signs.

"The homeless people take over vacant homes and businesses. They end up defecating in them and setting campfires in them," Wilson said. "Basically it's a health problem. If we don't keep them moving around, they start panhandling, we get theft and then we get a lot of violence."

Skeet Fitzgerald, director of Neighborhood Services, says the city plans to form a local task force to address homelessness in Henderson. The group would seek participation from business owners, the homeless, homeless advocates and service providers, such as St. Timothy's and the Salvation Army, Fitzgerald said.

Resources are short -- the city receives about $140,000 in annual federal funding to help run services for the homeless and low- to moderate-income families, Fitzgerald said.

Because of the city's work with the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition, Fitzgerald said, "We've been made more aware of the need to address homelessness than in the past."