Yeah, there isn’t one, so what are the police doing? Are they lying to the homeless in hopes of changing their behavior? Or are the misinformed? Or is it just a communication break down? Can we blame the media?
I just had to double check, but I was quite certain there was no law prohibiting sleeping on benches and its was, indeed confirmed by Captain Mary Schauf.
. . . I have attached the pages from the book (bail schedule of ordinances) that officers use. You will find that there is not a violation for sleeping on a bench . . .
But that doesn’t square with the recent State Journal article that says this:
As she complained about a man who stole money from her and hit her with a beer can, a police officer pulled up and told the group they needed to be out of the shelter before he returned in 20 minutes.
“It’s raining,” she told Officer Paul Dailey. “And the bus doesn’t run by here anyway.”
Dailey said that even though construction had forced buses off the Square for the summer, the law still reserved the shelters for those waiting for buses.
Cook and Randy G. Friesen, 58, said the deluge the previous night had chased them to a covered area near the post office.
In the last two weeks, officers have been waking him up from his slumbers on the Square.
“Now it’s ‘Up, up, up, sir. You must sit up now. That’s how you are going to sleep now,'” Friesen said.
So, a few things.
1. Ordinances restricting sleeping.
A quick review of the document shows that there are only two ordinances about where you can sleep.
– 23.07(7)(a) Sleeping on private property without permission prohibited.
– 23.07(7)(b) Use or possess sleeping or habitation items (bedroll, mattress, pillow, blankets, etc) on private property without permission
They both pertain to private property. I might also add, these ordinances don’t prohibit you from sleeping in a park, even tho we have also seen news reports of police officers waking up people sleeping on benches in parks during the daytime (not after hours when people are prohibited from being in the parks)
2. Bus Shelter Ordinance.
The bus shelter ordinance is
– 11.03 Unlawful use of a bus shelter.
Note, they don’t have the full law, just the title and the amount of the fine. The full law is as follows:
11.03 MOTOR BUS SHELTER – LAWFUL USE.
(1) No person shall enter or remain in a bus shelter or at a transfer point except while actually waiting for the arrival of the next scheduled bus routed to the person’s destination or except while having business to attend to in connection with waiting for a bus. (Am. by ORD-05-00119, 7-12-05)
(2) No citation may be issued for a violation of this subsection unless the area has been posted with an official sign which notifies the person not to enter or remain on the premises. (Am. by ORD- 05-00119, 7-12-05)
(3) This section does not prohibit any person from entering or remaining in a bus shelter in an emergency situation or for a brief period of time to seek protection from the elements.
The ordinance does say people can remain in the shelter for a brief period of time to seek protection from the elements. If its raining, doesn’t that qualify?
3. Other Ordinances
On the other hand, here’s some ordinances that might apply in some situations:
24.07 OBSTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS. It shall be unlawful for any person to block or obstruct in any manner the entrance, stairway, hallway, or exit to any public or private building or dwelling place, or portion thereof.
8.21 PUBLIC PARKS TO BE CLOSED DURING CERTAIN HOURS.
It shall be unlawful for any person to be or remain in Link Park or James Madison Park between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., to be or remain in Berkley Park from sunset to sunrise, or to be or remain in any other public park in the City of Madison between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. . . .
8.265 LODGING IN PARKS PROHIBITED.
(1) It shall be unlawful for any person to lodge, to live in for a time, or to take habitation in any portion of a public park within the City of Madison. Evidence of lodging shall include but not be limited to bedrolls, mattresses, blankets, cooking utensils, clothing, and other personal belongings.
10.23 OBSTRUCTION OF STREETS AND SIDEWALKS.
(1) Any person unnecessarily obstructing or causing to be obstructed any street, alley, crosswalk, terrace or sidewalk so as to interfere with public traffic or access shall be subject to a fine of not less than fifty dollars ($50) nor more than two hundred ($200).
10.26 PERSONS NOT TO CONGREGATE ON OR SELL MERCHANDISE ON STREETS OR SIDEWALKS. No persons shall congregate on any public sidewalk or any part of a public street or street corner so as to obstruct the same, nor shall any person or persons use any sidewalks or any part of a street as a place for vending, selling or dealing in merchandise, except as provided in Section 9.13 of these ordinances, under the penalty of not less than fifty dollars ($50) nor more than two hundred dollars ($200) for each offense. (Am. by Ord. 11,312, 8-4-95)
Now, before brother Blaska gets his undies all in a twist and accuses me of letting the vagrants run wild . . . notice, I’m addressing the issue of sleeping. If people are breaking other laws, then fine, they can be given tickets for breaking those other laws (tho, I don’t know what the point is of ticketing people who can’t pay the fines), but I’m just addressing the issues of where people sleep. As the Lieutenant noted in the story, simply chasing people off the square will just create the same issues elsewhere.
Finally, to be fair, when Captain Schauf emailed me, she also told me about doing checks to make sure people are ok and helping get a homeless person a new pair of glasses. Noting that not all police contacts with the homeless are for enforcement. Those just don’t make the paper.
