Editorial: The problem with panhandlers

Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2005 | 9:06 a.m.

Henderson officials are to discuss in two weeks a proposal that would prohibit aggressive panhandling in public places or on public transportation.

The measure would prohibit people from asking others for money or selling goods or services in an "aggressive manner." This would include touching a person without his or her consent, following a person after he or she has refused to give money or intentionally blocking another's "safe or free passage."

It would not prohibit people from sitting on sidewalks or beside the road holding a placard asking for food, city documents show. But it would prevent people from aggressively seeking donations from those who do not want to give them.

But the measure's definition of "aggressive" seems subjective -- referring for example, to behaviors "likely to cause a reasonable person to fear imminent bodily harm."

What is most clear about the proposal is that it is the latest attempt to quell open panhandling by homeless people in areas such as Henderson's Water Street business district.

Henderson Police in 1998 launched an information campaign requesting that business owners post signs in their windows urging customers to avoid giving money to panhandlers. In 2000, one Henderson Police officer told the Las Vegas Sun that stepped-up enforcement of existing loitering laws reduced the number of visible panhandlers in the area.

It seems a similar approach could work in the current situation. Existing laws already prohibit threatening another person verbally or physically and make it illegal to touch another person without his or her consent.

People should be able to walk down the street safely, and we have laws on the books to protect them. An ordinance giving vague reasons to jail homeless people doesn't protect anyone and doesn't solve the problem of homelessness.