Tonight: Brentwood City Council Looks to Address Aggressive Panhandling

Tonight, the Brentwood City Council will look at amending its City Ordinance to address aggressive panhandlers who seek money within city limits.

The Police Department has seen an increase of aggressive panhandling calls over the last four years which show the following calls for service:

• 60 calls in 2011
• 68 calls in 2012
• 80 calls in 2013
• 101 calls in 2014

According to the staff report, complaints have been provided by concerned citizens, citizen groups, merchants, shoppers, workers, pedestrians, motorists, parents of children, and uniformed officers on patrol.

Many complaints involved panhandlers who were bothersome, threatening, intimidating, harassing, obscene, intoxicated, and/or perceived to be a threat to themselves or others.

Reports included panhandlers at gas stations, bus stops, businesses, in median strips, in the roadway, under overpasses, at freeway on/off-ramps, at intersections, and near schools during school hours. Sometimes the person panhandling was involved in other crimes such as public urination, public intoxication, theft from businesses, stealing tip jars, trespassing by refusing to leave a business when asked, indecent exposure, or suspected child abuse (by using young children as “props” to aid solicitation).

Police also say many contacts involved organized begging groups, including those driving or being driven to Brentwood from other places for the specific purpose of soliciting. Some were traveling daily from the Sacramento area. Officers found some panhandlers possessing large sums of money. Other panhandlers had young and/or school-age children taking part in panhandling during school hours, and sometimes switching children between different, unrelated adults.

The City seeks to protect the safety and welfare of the general public and improve the quality of life and economic vitality within the City by imposing reasonable time, place and manner restrictions on aggressive and intrusive solicitation while respecting the constitutional rights of free speech for all citizens. The proposed ordinance is necessary because current laws and the Brentwood Municipal Code are insufficient to address the problems associated with aggressive and intrusive solicitation, or related traffic safety problems.

The change in the code is needed according to police because the Brentwood Municipal Code currently has regulations that address peddlers, but it does not address aggressive panhandling in non-residential areas.

The City does recognize the right to solicit donations is protected under the first amendment, as long as the city does not ban all opportunities to solicit. The City is also attempting to stay within court decisions where some ordinances went “too far”.

Based on staff’s research, and in consultation with the City Attorney’s Office, it appears the courts have generally upheld ordinances that regulate three types of solicitation:

1. Aggressive solicitation, that is intended to, or reasonably results in, a person feeling intimidated or coerced into donating money or something of value;
2. Solicitation in certain locations that, because of the unique circumstances, creates a situation where the person being solicited is unable to freely avoid being solicited and feels particularly vulnerable to crime, intimidation and coercion;
3. Solicitation in places that are not historically open public forums, where private property owners have taken actions to limit solicitation on the property.

People soliciting from occupants of vehicles in the public roadway from a median strip or near intersections subject the solicitors, pedestrians and vehicles to an unacceptable level of danger. These activities can also result in the congestion and blockage of streets when solicitors approach vehicles.

The most severe impacts occur when money or other items of value are directly and immediately exchanged, hand to hand, in the public right-of-way as a result of the solicitation. Drivers become distracted. Distracted drivers are more prone to be involved in auto accidents, and accidents on the public streets constitute a substantial traffic safety problem.

Soliciting from people in places where people are a captive audience (in which it is difficult or impossible for them to exercise their own rights to decline to listen or to avoid panhandling from others) is problematic. It increases the vulnerability to intimidation, and creates an unacceptable risk to residents’ safety and welfare.

Such places include:

• automated teller machines (ATMs)
• gas stations
• public transportation stops and vehicles
• certain parking structures
• parking lots after dark
• outdoor dining areas
• schools
• parks
• playgrounds and recreation centers
• public restrooms

Restricting soliciting in these places will provide a balance between the rights of solicitors and the rights of people who may be carrying cash and wish to avoid or decline the solicitation.

A violation of the proposed ordinance is an infraction (increased to a misdemeanor after the first two infractions), or the City may enforce the ordinance by other remedies (including administrative citations).

The proposed ordinance includes exceptions and so does not prohibit the lawful vending of goods and services, peddling (with a Peddler’s permit), or Fill-the-Boot campaigns (which are authorized by state law, subject to conditions).

Public information is an important component of reducing aggressive solicitation. If the ordinance is adopted, the Police Department intends to create information brochures for public outreach. This outreach will let people know that panhandlers are not always homeless, that giving to panhandlers may have unintended consequences of supporting drug or alcohol abuse, and what support services are available, to which the donor may wish to contribute instead.

Also, Brentwood officers are expected to place emphasis on assessing the needs of the panhandlers, and to help educate them regarding available resources and charities where they can seek aid or further assistance.

The draft ordinance was reviewed by the Neighborhood Improvement Committee (Vice Mayor Bryant and Council Member Clare). After a discussion of the proposed ordinance, the Committee asked that it be brought forward for consideration by the full Council.

The Ordinance will not result in any new costs to the City.

Full Staff Report, Click here.