Homeless arrest sparks controversy

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Thursday, Feb. 20, 2003 | 11:09 a.m.

Gary Norris just wanted to spread his faith. But the 61-year-old homeless man Wednesday found himself facing a city judge for holding up a sign last month that read "The Lord is my shepherd."

The misdemeanor citation of "soliciting on a roadway" near D Street and Interstate 15 has put Norris in the middle of a controversy over whether Metro Police target people living on the streets of Las Vegas for minor offenses.

Norris pleaded not guilty to the charge Wednesday in Las Vegas Municipal Court and wants the case dismissed. He was given a pre-trial date of April 8.

Local and national homeless advocates, as well as the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, see the case as an example of a trend in which police unfairly target the homeless for crimes such as jaywalking, panhandling and trespassing.

The problem has become more public since May 2001, when a "Tent City" of about 80 homeless people near the Union Pacific Railroad tracks at Owens Avenue and A Street was cleared. Sweeps of homeless camps that cropped up along other Las Vegas streets followed in March, April and May 2002.

Mayor Oscar Goodman has been vocal about the homeless problem, saying that those who choose homelessness would not be tolerated in Las Vegas. Goodman advocated in an opinion piece in the Las Vegas Sun in May 2002, "If these folks gave up their drugs and their booze and dedicated themselves to turning their lives around, we would be better off as a community."

"Morally, at least, we must do something," the mayor wrote. "Police should aggressively enforce laws against drug-dealing, prostitution, vandalism and litter."

Homeless advocates say that approach violates the civil liberties of the homeless, and the tax dollars that are spent could be better used for getting at the root causes of homelessness.

"We are concerned because ... he was arrested for sitting on the sidewalk with a sign, and that is not a crime ... and is a constitutionally protected act," Allen Lichtenstein, counsel for the Nevada chapter of the ACLU, said.

"We see this pattern in major urban areas around the country," said Lisa Davis, civil rights organizer for the Washington-based National Coalition for the Homeless, the nation's oldest homeless advocacy group.

"If cities spent two-thirds of what they spend on prosecuting panhandling and other minor offenses on job training or affordable housing, that would go a long way toward alleviating homelessness," she said.

The problem extends beyond the Las Vegas Valley. As Norris was appearing in Municipal Court Wednesday, the ACLU of Southern California was filing a federal lawsuit in Los Angeles accusing that city of cruel and unusual punishment for cracking down recently on public sleeping while failing to provide the homeless alternatives.

Sgt. Eric Fricker -- who has worked with the valley's homeless for nearly a decade and now leads a team of eight officers whose job it is to help those on the streets -- said that Metro does not target the homeless.

"(Metro) does not consider homelessness a crime and it is not our job to deal with social issues unless there's a crime involved," he said.

Fricker said that a recent six-month period in the downtown area showed that most arrests made did not involve the homeless. From June 22 to Dec. 31 in the area along Fremont Street east of Las Vegas Boulevard, 646 arrests were made. He estimated about 4 percent of those people were homeless.

Homeless advocates estimate the Las Vegas Valley has about 10,000 homeless people, making them less than 1 percent of the population.

Norris said he used to survive by recycling bottles and cans, but found himself harassed by Metro for using shopping carts to carry them. He then decided to concentrate on spreading a religious message.

At the same time, he said, "My appearance categorizes me as a homeless person and someone who could use a little help" -- so some people offer him help.

But he was just sitting down with his sign when the officer cited him, he said.

Norris said his life on the streets has led him to fear the police at times.

He remembers a warning he and others received at the St. Vincent's shelter downtown in the weeks before Christmas.

"The security guards there told us to keep our heads down because the police said they would be sweeping the streets for us," he said.

Lichtenstein said the Norris case is an example of a pattern.

"It raises the issue anytime poor people are prosecuted for certain crimes that there is some sort of targeting going on," he said.

"We need to remember that everyone is equal under the law."

Jess Marchese, the deputy city attorney prosecuting the case, said that Las Vegas Municipal Court sees homeless people who have been cited for crimes such as obstructing pedestrians or drinking within 1,000 feet of a school, but that he doesn't know whether the homeless are stopped for these crimes more often than other populations.

"We used to see more homeless people arrested for jaywalking, but that was stopped sometime around last fall when we saw a problem with picking people out because of their appearance," he said.

He also said that most people cited for soliciting alms have their cases dismissed.

"We see it as a freedom of speech issue," he said.

Norris' case was given a court date because the man's version of events differed from that of the police officer.

"Let's get the officer here and hear each person's story," Marchese said.

Another factor, he said, was a part of the homeless man's past -- robbery and grand larceny convictions from other states.

Outside the courtroom, Norris said that these cases were nearly two decades old. "That was before I found God ... and the last time was the last time," he said.

Linda Lera-Randle El, director of Straight from the Streets, a Las Vegas nonprofit that helps the homeless, accompanied Norris in court Wednesday.

She said the case was important because it showed Norris that he had the right to plead not guilty and seek representation.

"This is part of a bigger picture of giving people a more accurate idea of who the homeless are and having the homeless participate in the system," she said.

Resolving the issue is also part of Norris' plan to get off the streets, which includes enrolling in a state-run vocational rehabilitation program and applying for Social Security benefits.

Norris, who looks and sounds a bit like Willie Nelson, is also a songwriter who has written of his life on the streets -- including a song called, "Bottles and Cans." Singing for a living would make him happy, he said in an earlier interview.

But getting a roof over his head is the next step.

"It's all part of trying to integrate into a society that doesn't always have its arms open," Lera-Randle El said.

The Associated Press

contributed to this story.