
Police Are Still Citing the Homeless, Despite CDC and Council Guidance - DoreenMichele
https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/public-safety/police-are-still-citing-the-homeless-despite-cdc-and-council-guidance/
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panzagl
The article states that the guidance is not to break up camps- then gives
examples that aren't camps, they're people congregating against storefronts
and other high traffic areas. These people would be moving soon anyway, to
suggest the police are somehow increasing the risk of Corona spread by asking
them to move before other people get there is spurious and opportunistic.

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clsec
San Diego is a very red city/county. It has always had an extremely strong
military presence. It also has a very high retiree population. And add the
fact that it sits right on the border with Mexico and you might start to see
why it is the way it is.

I lived there for a short while after living in SF my entire life and had to
cut my stay short because of the overall atmosphere of the county. To me it
feels like the reddest place in CA.

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34679
Redding would certainly give them a run. I've lived in the Bay Area and San
Diego, and my experience is that San Diego is the cleanest, most well
organized city in California and I absolutely love it. As far as the
"atmosphere", I found the people of San Diego to generally be much nicer and
open to individuals with different opinions than anywhere around SF. The level
of elitism in the SF Bay area is despicable.

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threatofrain
Here we see that part of SD's cleanliness is from police fining or enforcing
on the unclean, whereas SF just throws money at the homeless. SD's cleanliness
is very similar to Irvine's concept of cleanliness.

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tuxxy
Does this really even need to be said? Police don't care about the health or
the safety of the homeless.

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AndyMcConachie
Police mostly just follow orders. Most terrible things we like to pin on
police should probably instead be pinned on police, local political
leadership, and ultimately local polities.

If police are assholes in your area there's probably a good chance it's
because the local political elites want them to be assholes.

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tyingq
I'm not convinced this is true. Surely the power afforded to police attracts a
disproportionate amount of recruits that want to use that power the wrong way.

Not that any individual policeman is sadistic by default, but the likelihood
is higher than a random sample of people.

Domestic violence stats among police is significantly higher than the general
public, for example.
[https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/09/police-...](https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/09/police-
officers-who-hit-their-wives-or-girlfriends/380329/)

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djaque
Agreed. All I have to do is think back to which people from my high school
went on to become police officers. Somehow it's never the types of people that
were looking out for others.

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vondur
Is leaving homeless encampments where they all group together a good solution?
Here in Los Angeles they had a bubonic plague outbreak in their encampments
and they still allowed them to live on the street.

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ls612
At least we can control the bubonic plague with antibiotics.

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forgotmypw23
I've heard from many San Diegans that the police are brutal to the outdoor
dwellers. It's been that way for years, and will continue, probably. Many get
beat up, aka assaulted. These stories is one of the reasons I chose not to
move there even back when I was getting software salary and stock options. I
don't think it creates a good feeling all around, something I couldn't quite
put my finger on at the time. Great weather though, if you like sun and
nothing else.

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creaghpatr
This story is about San Diego, specifically.

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RickJWagner
Ah, sounds like a NIMBY clean-up effort.

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scollet
Is "NIMPYism" a product of investment, in that homeowners are incentived to
protect their property value? I would argue that burgeoning or prospective
homeowners are passive proponents of derisive action, in respect to your
argument, but I hesitate to boil it down to local, popular opinion.

My understanding is that there is a predisposition in play that is influenced
by a variety of factors, one including an absolute number of the law from
superior influence, but another (leaning towards your point on a grander
scale) is a cultural osmosis.

Would you immediately assume that a random, home-owning voter is contributing
to this detriment, that there is an overplay of asymmetrical beauracracy, or
that there is some factor of elements including the aforementioned interests?
I would appreciate your argument (or any others'), in good faith, if I've not
represented the full spectrum.

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GaryNumanVevo
NIMBYism is highly studied among economists, socio-economics and the like. I
suggest reading some studies

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scollet
Good suggestion. I felt after writing the comment that I was out of my depth.

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m4r35n357
So are the police themselves not breaking the law here?

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papeda
I don't think so. The featured article only mentions 1) federal
_encouragement_ to relax these citations and 2) a city council resolution
_encouraging_ the mayor to evaluate the situation. Neither of these are law.

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known
Corona Crisis is not a law and order issue; Police should be trained
accordingly;

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dmos62
Isn't the confinement, obligatory social distancing, etc. a law and order
issue?

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scollet
Means of compliance should be taken into account. Persecution for not having
that priviledge should be heavily scrutinized.

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arsome
That's a great thing to say but how do you do the enforcement like that? Do
you expect the police to just know who's homeless? Take their word for it? Do
you have them hand out citations and take it up in court?

I can't see any of these as good options.

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Broken_Hippo
I'm going to guess that if you see someone pitching a tent on the sidewalk or
sleeping in the doorway of a business, there is a fairly good chance they are
homeless. Sleeping in a car doesn't necessarily mean anything, but if it is
full of otherwise household items, the chances of the person being homeless
goes up.

You can also, you know, ask. Sure, a few folks might lie, but it is better to
let them get away with the lie than to punish a bunch of folks with no choice.

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FpUser
Booking people to jail for sleeping in the cars. That definitely sounds like
the land of free.

