panhandling in Memphis – Memphis Flyer

Panhandling Arrests Fell During Pandemic

Panhandling arrests in Memphis took a dip during the pandemic (like everything else), but while local leaders want solutions to lower panhandling rates in general, law enforcement officials said arrests have “limited effect.”

A recent Memphis City Council hearing brought Memphis panhandling to the fore. Memphis Police Department (MPD) data shows an average of 670 arrests or tickets given in 2018 and 2019 for aggressive panhandling and/or obstructing a highway or road. Those arrests sunk last year to 377.

No state or local law prohibits panhandling. Laws exist, though, for aggressive panhandling, when the person begins shouting, following, or generally menacing someone else.

Though there is no direct correlation to panhandling, the Memphis homeless population fell during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the latest counts from the nonprofit Community Alliance for the Homeless. But it may be the closest data link (especially locally) to the fall in panhandling here. Other cities, like Fort Worth, have lower panhandling arrests, too. Officials there speculated “many residents have been staying home.” Also, police there limited arrests to minimize Covid-19 exposure in the Forth Worth jail.

Lower panhandling arrests don’t mean fewer panhandlers, though. Council member Ford Canale said, “I’m seeing panhandlers everywhere” in Cordova, East Memphis, and Hickory Hill. He said panhandlers are violating city laws on where they can stand (distance to traffic lights) and impeding traffic by walking in streets.

“There’s going to be a headline: somebody got killed,” Canale said during a council hearing earlier this month. “Somebody wasn’t paying attention — driving while texting — and they ran over somebody.”

He said panhandling arrest rates are on track to be lower in 2021, also. He urged MPD Chief Cerelyn Davis and Deputy Chief Don Crowe if MPD “could do a little bit better” on arrests. He also urged them to, maybe, find solutions from other cities to curb the practice altogether.

”I don’t think there’s a clear consensus on how to stop panhandling,” Crowe said. “Enforcement action has limited effect. I think one of the best summaries I read was if people would stop giving money, they would stop panhandling. It’s almost a cause and effect relationship there.”

From 2017 to 2019, most panhandling arrests were made by MPD officers in the North Main Station, which covers Downtown Memphis.

“Panhandling is an issue that many cities are facing right now,” said Chief Davis. “I think Covid sort of created a climate that’s rich for panhandlers, too.

“The issue for law enforcement is always finding balance, to get people help that really need help and, at the same time, protect our public and our citizens from individuals who are being aggressive, and sometimes intimidating, and getting in their space.”

Boy, this panhandling problem in Memphis is getting out of hand. At the corner of Sam Cooper and East Parkway last weekend, there must have been at least 20 of them! They were waving buckets, cheering and laughing, approaching cars stopped at the light. They were even wearing uniforms! Talk about aggressive …

Sure, they were raising money for their youth football team and they were kind of cute, but, nonetheless, they were panhandling.

Then there’s the guy who stands on the Madison Avenue overpass where it meets the ramp from I-240. He’s there all the time, silently holding a sign that says he’s homeless and hungry. He’s also a panhandler; he just lacks a worthy cause — except maybe his empty belly.

And what about the guy who shows up at the Midtown Walgreen’s now and then? He sits on the sidewalk outside the entrance, asking for money to get into a shelter for the night. He appears to have a mental issue of some sort, but he speaks softly and politely. A very zen panhandler (zenhandler?). I don’t mind him being there, but sometimes people complain to the management and he’ll get run off.

Memphis is loaded with folks asking for money: the guy at the gas station with his car hood open who needs $27 for “a radiator hose”; the woman in the Kroger parking lot who wants change for “baby formula”; the Memphis Fire Fighters who raise funds by holding up empty boots at intersections. Whether it’s for a worthy cause or a scam or just a poor soul needing help to get through the night, it’s all technically panhandling.

So how do you regulate it? How do you allow a youth football team or the Memphis Fire Fighters to raise money via actively soliciting the public trapped in their cars at an intersection and deny the guy passively standing on Madison Avenue?

The Memphis City Council is now grappling with this issue — as many other cities around the country have done. The council specifically wants to eliminate “aggressive” panhandling. And I get it: Nobody should have to feel threatened or intimidated by someone asking for your hard-earned money. But as other cities have learned, panhandling ordinances can be surprisingly complicated to enact, and they often draw lawsuits: Since panhandling typically involves a spoken request and is therefore a type of free speech, it is protected by the U.S. Constitution.

But there are a lot of gray areas. The Supreme Court has, for instance, ruled that the city of New York could ban Krishna disciples from soliciting people at JFK Airport but could not ban them in some other public spaces.

Cities have attempted to regulate panhandling through “time, place, and manner” ordinances. In other words, regulating when, where, and how panhandling can take place. The council might, for instance, decide that bona fide charities and recognized civic groups will be allowed to raise funds via public solicitation, while banning an “aggressive” guy who’s up in tourists’ faces on Beale Street.

But who decides what’s aggressive? A person from rural Tennessee, unused to the ways of the city, may think any solicitation by a stranger on the street is aggressive and make a complaint, tying up a police officer whose time might be better spent elsewhere. And who decides what constitutes a legitimate charity or civic group? Is some government functionary now going to be charged with this duty? Will permits be required for groups to take over a street or intersection? It’s something to consider, if the council goes that direction.

The bottom line: Be careful when asking for change. Sometimes you come up empty.