ON HOMELESSNESS & POVERTY
MODEL GENERAL ORDER:
Handling Interactions with Homeless Persons
I. BACKGROUND
a. The purpose of this policy is to ensure that employees of the Police Department
understand and are sensitive to the needs and rights of homeless persons, and to
set forth procedures for Officers to follow during contacts with homeless persons.
This policy recognizes that there is a right of all persons, including people
experiencing homelessness, to be peaceably in any public place of the jurisdiction
so long as their activities are lawful. It also explicitly affirms that homelessness is
not a crime.
II. POLICY
a. The policy of the Police Department is to treat homeless persons in a manner that
protects their needs, rights and dignity, while providing appropriate law
enforcement services to the entire community. The Department recognizes that in
law enforcement situations involving homeless individuals, it is preferable to
make referrals to organizations that provide services to homeless individuals, and
to refrain from initiating contacts that interrupt innocent activity and may violate
an individual’s constitutional rights.
III. DEFINITIONS
a. A Homeless Person is an individual who lacks a fixed, regular and adequate
night-time residence, or has a primary night-time residence that is:
i. A supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide
temporary living accommodations;
ii. An institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended
to be institutionalized;
iii. A private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping
accommodation for human beings.
IV. PROCEDURE
1411 K STREET, NW, SUITE 1400 www.nlchp.org PHONE: 202.638.2535
i. Requests for identification made to persons who are, or appear to be,
homeless shall be subject to the same legitimate law enforcement purposes
as are required when made to any other individual, but with sensitivity to
the special needs and circumstances of the individual situation.
1. Requests or demands for identification shall only be made with
good cause. Requests for identification shall not be made pursuant
to casual contact with persons who are, or appear to be, homeless.
At no time shall requests or demands for identification be made in
order to harass, intimidate, threaten or make any other unwarranted
show of authority.
2. In situations where persons who are, or appear to be, homeless are
unable to produce a valid form of identification, the Officer shall
not penalize the person for failing to produce the requested
identification.
d. Personal Property
i. The personal property of homeless individuals shall be treated with the
same respect and consideration given to the personal property of any
other individual, with particular sensitivity to the special needs and
circumstances of the individual situation.
1. In arrest situations, homeless persons shall not be required to
abandon personal property they identify as their own at the arrest
site. Officers shall not damage, hide or cause to be abandoned the
personal property of any such person. Where practical, Officers
shall adopt or facilitate measures that will best safeguard personal
property, as determined by the arrestee.
3
a. Property may be taken to inventory when an arrestee
identifies the property as his or hers. The personal property
of arrestees experiencing homelessness is to be handled in
the same manner as the property of other constituent
arrestees.
2. In no event shall any Officer destroy any personal property known
to belong to a homeless person, or recognizable as property of a
homeless person, unless it is contaminated or otherwise poses a
health hazard.
3. Homeless individuals have a constitutionally protected expectation
of privacy in their personal belongings and closed containers.
Officers shall refrain from instituting any search, frisk, or other
such investigation where the elements of reasonable suspicion or
probable cause are not met. A person’s status of being, or
appearing to be, homeless, without more, does not constitute
reasonable suspicion or probable cause or any other grounds for
such a search.
e. Arrest Situations
i. Arrests of all persons including those defined as homeless, shall comply
with District law and Department policies and procedures.
1. If an Officer observes a homeless person engaged in criminal
activity, when practical and prudent to do so, an alternative to a
physical arrest shall be used.
2. An Officer always has the right to approach any individual
including a person who is, or appears to be homeless, to allay any
suspicions an Officer may have about the individual, and ascertain
that no criminal activity is occurring.
3. When encountering a homeless person who has allegedly
committed a nonviolent misdemeanor violation, where the
continued freedom of the individual would not result in a breach of
the peace or a more serious crime, Officers are encouraged to
utilize referral to an appropriate social service provider in lieu of
physical arrest, such referral being contingent on the voluntary
agreement of the individual.
4. The discretion to make a physical arrest of a person determined to
be homeless for misdemeanor violations shall be the responsibility
of the individual Officer
i. Officers shall not order any person to move to another location when that
person has a legal right to be present where he or she is, subject to requests
to move for safety or security or other constitutionally permissible
reasons.
ii. It is department policy not to give “move on” orders and not to arrest
people for failure to move on if there is any other reasonable way to
resolve the situation. Officers shall not give “move on” orders to persons
merely because the person is or appears to be homeless.
c. Requests for Identification
i. An Officer may at any time approach a homeless person who has not been
observed engaging in criminal conduct, to offer advice about shelters,
services, or other assistance that is available. In appropriate situations, the
Officer may also contact an outreach worker from a public or private
homeless services provider. The homeless person is free to choose
whether to accept any referrals or not.
This Guideline will help keep Citrus County Homeless Residents Safe and prevent tax dollars wasted on law suits..
NATIONAL LAW CENTER