By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – What seems to be an increasing problem for Slidell drivers—beggars at busy intersections—could soon be addressed through a city ordinance that might outlaw them anywhere there is a potential traffic hazard.
Slidell City Attorney Bryan Haggerty confirmed this week he is working with Slidell Police Chief Randy Smith to address the problem.
Haggerty said they are working on a city ordinance that would outlaw begging in any place where there is heavy traffic and it is perceived the beggars could create a traffic hazard.
“We are still looking into how it needs to be worded,” Haggerty said.
Smith said he hopes to have an ordinance prepared to bring before the Slidell City Council approximately a month.
The city police chief brought the matter up again at the most recent City Council meeting since he said his department gets regular calls about the beggars seeking money at the busiest Slidell intersections.
The most popular spot is the Gause Boulevard-Interstate 10 intersection, although Smith confirmed he is getting calls now from other intersections as well.
After Smith gave his own update of the ways the police officers are handling the beggars, Councilwoman Kim Harbison asked about a situation she knew of personally.
“I got a call today about the Interstate 10 and Old Spanish Trail overpass because there is an area under there with a slight cave-in where some people are setting up a little home,” she said, to which Smith acknowledged his officers would be checking on.
Smith stated very clearly that “the majority of these beggars are making pretty good money out there and are not in need. They are doing it to buy alcohol or drugs and even though there is occasionally one who is really in the middle of hard times, most of these people are not.”
Smith detailed one situation this past week where his officers were called out to the I-10, Gause intersection because several of the vagrants were “setting up as if it were Motel 6. They had all kinds of things up under the overpass and were settling in.”
The chief acknowledged the beggars have a right to panhandle as long as remain on public property and “do not aggressively beg, or harass people.” However, he said they are getting “several calls every week” from motorists who feel they are being harassed. Many of those eye witnesses are waiting until the police show up so they can testify about the aggressive nature of the begging.
“The people here are really sick of it,” Smith said. “That’s why they will wait until we arrive to let us know their side of the story.”
Smith told another story of a recent arrest because a man was allegedly drunk and urinating in public.
“We went out and arrested him for disorderly conduct and public intoxication,” he said. “When we got him to the station we saw he had over $800 in his pocket. It’s very clear most of these people are not in need.”
Councilman Sam Caruso suggested the police have business cards printed to direct the beggars to local homeless shelters or food kitchens, but Smith said it is already the policy of his officers to offer help.
“We always try to help them if that is truly the situation, but they usually turn it down,” he said. “They are not interested in a meal, they want to get cash.
“When we see a real situation of someone in need my officers have gotten food for them and given them money out of their own pockets. When you do this as long as we have it’s pretty easy to tell who is for real and who isn’t,” he said. “Most of them just want the cash—they don’t want help and they don’t want food.”
One public official at the Slidell City Council meeting told two stories of offering to bring his extra gas tank from his truck down the street to help the individual who approached him at a gas station, asking for money and saying he was broken down.
“I told him I would drive him to his car and put the gas in,” he said. “But he suddenly didn’t want the help. He only wanted cash.”