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Committee discusses downtown panhandling, open containers and mental-health outreach
Summary
Public comments and committee discussion focused on aggressive panhandling, open containers and homelessness in downtown Shreveport; police described outreach work by a mental-health unit and said enforcement is at officers' discretion.
Multiple public commenters and council members raised aggressive panhandling, open containers and loitering in downtown Shreveport during the July 22 Public Safety Committee meeting.
In public comment, a resident asked for railroad crossing gates on Meriwether Road for safety (see separate report). Business owner Tim Hutt said downtown panhandling had shifted to overnight hours and described several aggressive solicitations near Spring, Travis and Commerce streets, and urged more enforcement at late hours. Hutt said the downtown task force had reduced daytime panhandling but that activity had moved to nighttime when task force coverage is limited.
Chief Smith told the committee the department's mental-health unit and outreach partners have identified 29 homeless individuals downtown, provided resources, disbanded five camps and worked with Hope Connection and VA outreach teams. He said the mental-health unit also referred two people to mobile crisis services and helped move individuals along after warnings; one camp resulted in an arrest after repeated attempts to resolve the matter peacefully.
On enforcement of open-container and panhandling ordinances, Chief Smith said enforcement is often at an officer—s discretion and that officers need a complainant willing to sign an affidavit in panhandling cases for arrest: —If you are the complainant is willing to sign the affidavit, we're willing to make the arrest,— he said. He explained that incident counts for panhandling or shots-fired are based on 911/CAD calls and that officers must document probable cause or violations to proceed.
Council members debated whether officers should more routinely cite open-container violations or impeding the public way (for shopping carts or encampments) to develop probable cause for further investigation; the chief encouraged citizens to call 911 and, if willing, to be a complainant.
No changes to enforcement policy were adopted at the July 22 meeting; staff said outreach and enforcement will continue and the department will check arrest figures for open-container incidents before the next meeting.
