Homeless Issues Produced 715 Police Calls Last Year in Boca Raton, Officials Plan Action

Homeless presence at Silver Palm Park, Boca Raton, FL. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

Boca Raton’s police department recorded 715 homeless-related calls for service through June 30 of this year, as the city prepares to roll out enforcement of a new trespassing ordinance and hire more police officers and civilians to tackle the issue city-wide.

The 715 calls to police were mated with 767 contacts, 815 engagements, 172 services provided, 106 follow-up actions and 30 program outcomes, data from the department presented to the city council last week said. The calls largely centered on public safety and comfort in public spaces, effects on downtown businesses and their customers and employees, misuse of public facilities, cleanliness issues, and demands for recurring activity at specific locations.

For months, City Manaher Mark Sohaney has been gathering data, working with nonprofits and counterparts in neighboring cities as well as Palm Beach County to formulate a plan that will mix enforcement of trespass laws with the provision of services to homeless people who are seen inappropriately occupying spaces in town. Assistant Police Chief Seth Dubinsky, who until last week was serving as acting chief, presented council members with a “hot spot” graphic of homeless-related calls. The graphic, embedded in this story, indicated the majority of the calls originated from the downtown area and its adjacent parks, as well as a portion of the Federal Highway corridor where several bus stops are located. Residents at council meetings have expressed the fact that they have occasionally felt unsafe at some parks where homeless men are known to occasionally congregate, such as Wildflower Park or near the Palmetto Park Road bridge underpass across the street at Silver Palm park.

Homeless presence at Wildflower Park (Photo: Boca Daily News)

---

---

“We’ve strengthened enforcement, we’ve strengthened outreach, and of course we’ve strengthened partnerships,” said Sohaney. “What we’ve recognized is that there’s a lot of opportunity here to improve coordination which will give us more long-term effectiveness.”

The need for coordination, he said, has resulted in his office’s request to hire two additional police officers who would be assigned to quality-of-life calls, as well as a civilian Community Resources Coordinator. The new police officers would be assigned to work under the sergeant who is responsible for the Community Redevelopment Agency sector, primarily in and around the downtown area. In order to better protect parks, the city’s park rangers were brought under the command of the police department July 1, and will undergo new training on the city’s burgeoning enforcement of its new trespass ordinance that was promulgated earlier this year.

That ordinance is key to both enforcing trespass laws for repeat offenders who cause issues in city parks and in public areas, as well as providing a mechanism to connect willing homeless people with those who can help them, officials said.

“We can ensure that, if we’re seeing the same individual over and over, that we can make a breakthrough and get them what they need,” said Dubinsky. “If they refuse services, or if they have issues that need to be addressed from an enforcement standpoint, we can do that too.”

The coordinator would act as a liaison between the police department at Palm Beach County, which manages homeless response services for all of the county’s municipalities. That person would also connect with nonprofit groups and manage their response. In the past, residents have claimed that certain nonprofits have been transporting homeless people to Boca Raton and dropping them off near parks or bus stops.

“We’re constantly roving the parks and the beaches,” said Dubinsky. “We have cameras in many of the parks and we’re trying to be proactive about any issues that arise so we can address them before we get complaints.”

The trespass ordinance passed earlier this year is in line to be fully implemented by October 1, Dubinsky said. Officers and park rangers are being trained on how to handle cases, the constitutional rights of people they encounter, and how and when to take a more affirmative approach in helping those who are willing to help themselves. The city will connect homeless people with opportunities for them to obtain legal identification as well as public financial assistance if they qualify. In some cases, the city assists homeless people reconnect with family members – locally or out-of-state – and helps arrange travel in order to return home.

A Boca Raton police car. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

“We have to be careful about protecting people’s constitutional rights and giving them the opportunity to use these public spaces, but the approach has to be within the order of the law,” said Dubinsky. “The trespass ordinance requires that we post signs at all of the parks indicating that individuals can be trespassed after warning, they require bulletin boards where we post those [trespass/ban] notices, and then we have to implement a magistrate process where individuals can request to have their case heard to determine if the person should be adjudicated in terms of their trespass.”

The council largely agreed on the hiring of a coordinator.

“Delray Beach has a dedicated coordinator, and it has worked out really well for them, and I think we should implement that here as soon as we can,” said Mayor Andy Thomson.

Deputy Mayor Michelle Grau suggested waiting until the trespass ordinance was fully implemented and data was collected to determine future staffing needs.

“I think these material resources and operational changes should be evaluated before adding permanent layers,” she said. “It makes it difficult to know whether new spending is necessary until we evaluate whether or not the recent policy changes are achieving the intended results.”

Ultimately, the council reached a consensus on hiring a coordinator and directed Sohaney to do so.

“I think the trespassing policy is going to provide some data pretty quickly once we implement that,” Sohaney said.

All of the elected officials who spoke on the matter were complementary toward the months of work Sohaney and his staff put into the plans, the legal research that was required, and the scope of meetings to better integrate Boca Raton into the Palm Beach County system of dealing with homeless outreach. They also acknowledged the quality-of-life and public safety issues that are at stake, and the extent to which residents have voiced concern.

“I’ve had a lot of e-mails and a lot of phone calls regarding this situation, and I think we need to strengthen it up and try to get it under control,” said Councilwoman Stacy Sipple. “We can offer them as much help as we possibly can, so I’m fine with going ahead.”

“I think having more presence of officers, whether more homeless-related or traffic related, in the downtown is most important,” said Councilwoman Yvette Drucker, endorsing Sohaney’s plan to hire new officers and the coordinator.