by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
About an hour into Downtown Vision Inc.’s operations meeting Wednesday morning, Jacksonville Under Sheriff Frank Mackesy said something that got everyone in the room’s immediate and undivided attention.
“I think we should arm the Downtown Ambassadors,” he said, and 45 heads turned toward him before he could continue, “with cameras.”
His suggestion came after a long discussion of the frequency in the urban core of nuisance crimes like panhandling and urinating in public.
Mackesy had explained that in order to make an arrest for such crimes, a police officer has to witness the crime. That almost never happens since most people don’t commit those acts in the presence of law enforcement.
The Jacksonville Sheriffs Office could, however, apprehend and eventually detain suspects if photographic evidence of those crimes was available.
“If we had a picture and we could identify a person who was committing a crime, we could go to the State Attorney’s Office and get a warrant for that person’s arrest,” said Mackesy.
The idea was well-received by the group of Downtown stakeholders including property owners and managers to business owners and representatives from the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission (JEDC) and social service agencies.
Earlier in the meeting, JEDC Executive Director Ron Barton pointed out that panhandling is not a new activity Downtown, but the recent trend of more residents buying condominiums and renting apartments is a new trend.
“I remember panhandlers in Hemming Park back in 1975. That hasn’t changed. What has changed is now there are people who want to live Downtown,” said Barton.
Melanie Thompson, property manager at The Carling and 11 East apartments, said some residents report panhandling around the properties, but a simple solution has led to fewer encounters on the sidewalks around the two buildings.
“Vagrants used to hang out on our benches all the time, so we removed the benches,” she said.
Amy Harrell, DVI’s district services director, said while panhandling isn’t as serious an issue as violent crime, which happens only rarely Downtown, it has an impact on how visitors and potential residents perceive the area.
“Combine nuisance crime with poor lighting and not many people on the streets, and people don’t want to come here,” she said.
Harrell also said DVI is adding to the Downtown Ambassador staff and redeploying them with particular emphasis on maintaining a presence in parks and on the Riverwalk. The changes were inspired by DVI’s study of what similar agencies have done in other cities, and the new policies will be in effect by February.
“We’re going to be more aggressive with panhandlers and make them aware that’s not acceptable behavior,” said Harrell.
“We’re also working with social service agencies on outreach training. For example, the Ambassadors will be approaching people in Hemming Plaza and greeting them every day as a way to assess their situation,” she added. “Our goal is to make Downtown less anonymous.”
“We realize the parks are public places and people have a right to be there, but we want to help people,” added DVI Executive Director Terry Lorince.
In addition to changing the Ambassadors’ assignments and locations, Lorince said a survey is currently being conducted to gather more information about Downtown’s homeless population. She said the results will be presented at DVI’s next quarterly operations meeting.
“In three months we’ll have a better sense of who the homeless and vagrants are, where they live and what services they need,” she said.
Lorince asked anyone who lives, works or owns property Downtown to contact DVI at 634-0303 or [email protected] if they have any issues they feel should be addressed.