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Homeless Ban Hard To Enforce

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By MICHAEL A. SCARCELLA, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: October 15, 2007

BRADENTON - Noe Donnat was sleeping on a concrete slab along the waterfront here last month when a police officer with a flashlight confronted him. The beam in the man's face woke him up, city police said.

Donnat told the officer he is homeless and did not have money to sleep at the Salvation Army shelter less than a mile away. The officer said he would shoot Donnat with a Taser if he continued refusing to put his hands behind his back.

Officer Anthony Ramdath arrested Donnat, 25, for violating the city's ban on overnight outdoor lodging. Donnat was released within hours. The next night he was arrested again on the same charge in nearly the same place.

But Donnat will not be prosecuted because police did not offer to drive him to a shelter and there was no evidence he was using a tent or sleeping on bedding material, a state prosecutor said. The second time he was arrested, Donnat was only 'setting up' to go to sleep, the state said.

The state's refusal to prosecute Donnat marked a rare victory for a homeless man in a city that critics have said is unfriendly to the homeless. The decision not to prosecute Donnat and two other men who had their charges dropped highlights the subtle challenges in enforcing the city's outdoor lodging laws.
Homeless advocates say the dropped charges, and the fact there have been repeat offenders, is proof the ordinance is ineffective in reducing homelessness. Police, the critics say, are wasting resources arresting people who are generally not violent criminals.

'Until a city is able to shelter or house its homeless, people should be allowed to sleep in peace,' said Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. 'Rather than arresting a person for sleeping in a doorway, we should find out why that person is there in the first place.'

Bradenton police Chief Michael Radzilowski did not respond to several requests to comment about the dropped charges and the effectiveness of the outdoor lodging ordinance.

Bradenton city leaders defend the law and say that police are not zealously targeting the homeless. Police generally warn homeless people several times before making an arrest, court papers show.

A review of court records shows there have been only 24 cases since the law was enacted in August 2006. The list includes several repeat offenders. One man has been arrested four times.

'It appears to me that the police have shown pretty restrained use of the ordinance,' said Bradenton City Council member Bemis Smith, whose district includes waterfront where the homeless congregate. 'Our goal is not to incarcerate these guys but to get them needed treatment.'

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