by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Public homeless feedings may seem harmless on the surface, but what’s left behind after the remaining scraps are gone is what’s the most difficult to swallow, police officers say.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said this week that it’s prepared to cite people caught giving away food on a public right of way unless they have a permit and are also providing trash receptacles and sanitary devices.
The JSO’s Lt. Adam Brown, who patrols much of the City’s urban areas including downtown and Springfield, said his office receives calls daily from businesses that are being negatively affected by non-City homeless assistance groups.
“These people, who can be anyone from a church group to someone by themselves, may have good intentions, but they may not understand that what they’re doing is not needed,” Brown said. “Downtown, in particular, has more than enough places that offer food and other services to the homeless population.”
Brown and others from the JSO met with the City Tuesday in an attempt to understand exactly how to control those feeding the homeless and to what extent.
“Our biggest concern is that we don’t want anything to happen to the people who are receiving the food,” he said. “We don’t know if the food is clean because there is no way to regulate it.
“It would be a lot better if, instead of doing it themselves, these people donated their time and food to places like the Sulzbacher Center or the Clara White Mission, places that are designed to help the homeless. That’s what they’re there for and the homeless population knows that.”
Brown said, in the future, people giving away food could be ticketed for doing so.
Brenda Ezell, an attorney with the City’s General Counsel’s Office, said two pieces of recently passed legislation were designed to allow for enforcement, though she admitted there may be some “gray areas.”
“From what I understand, the JSO didn’t think they could enforce the laws based on some of the language in the ordinance code,” said Ezell, who helped draft the ordinances.
For instance, Ezell said it may be unclear to many if “public right of ways” includes land on either side of a sidewalk. According to Ezell, it does.
“It’s instances like those, so we’re going to amend the existing legislation to make it more clear in the future,” she said.
City Council member Suzanne Jenkins, who represents a good portion of downtown, said she supports any changes that could alleviate public feeding concerns.
“I do because the City already does a lot for the homeless,” she said. “There’s no need to have people out there on their own giving food away, especially when they’re about a block away from a shelter.”
After the law becomes more clear, Brown said the JSO would be prepared to enforce it.
“At first we want to do our best to educate the public, let them know what’s already available for the homeless population and also about the consequences,” he said. “But, if we still have some holdouts after that, we will enforce the law.”