Coruscation

Police unsure how to enforce squeegee kids law

Chad Skelton and Krisendra Bisetty
Vancouver Sun

2005 January 29

Vancouver police and the RCMP are not rushing to enforce B.C.'s new
law outlawing aggressive panhandling and squeegeeing, saying it will
take them some time to figure out exactly how they're going to use
it.

"Will there likely be any tickets issued today? Probably not,"
Vancouver police spokesman Const. Howard Chow said Friday. "And it's
not because we don't like the act -- but it's growing pains with any
new legislation coming out. It was just released yesterday."

Chow said the department still needs time to get details about the
Safe Streets Act and its penalties out to its officers on the beat
and to resolve enforcement issues, such as how to issue tickets to
people without a fixed address.

"We [need to] have a chance to inform our members on the act itself
and how to use it effectively," he said. "And, like everything else
new, once members become aware of it and become aware of its
effectiveness, undoubtedly they'll use it if the situation warrants
it."

The RCMP also said it is still in the process of reviewing the act.

"It's not a matter of delaying it. It's being cautious and making
sure the right things are in place," said provincial RCMP spokesman
Cpl. Anthony Choy.

Both forces stressed that the act is now law and -- if they receive a
complaint from the public -- they will act on it.

"If [someone] is walking down the street and encounters aggressive
panhandlers, I would recommend they walk away and call the police,"
said Chow, adding if the person feels in danger they should call 911.

Attorney-General Geoff Plant said he's not upset that police are
taking some time to figure out how to use the new law.

"It's not an issue that gives me any concern," he said. However, he
added, "I hope that their consideration is something that takes days
and weeks and not months. If we were to fast-forward four or five
months from now and find that police were still thinking about how to
use the tool, I would be disappointed."

Plant said while he is happy with the media attention the new act has
received -- which he hopes will encourage people to stop aggressive
panhandling -- he thinks it may have created unrealistic
expectations.

"To me, the entertainment is over the extent to which media outlets
are so determined to see if the world has been transformed in 90
minutes or less," he said.

Chow said the VPD are not yet clear what impact the act will have on
the already overworked department.

"Sure it's going to stretch our resources," he said. "But that's what
we're there for -- to keep the streets safe."

Choy said RCMP detachments across the province are still figuring out
how to fit enforcement of the new act into their existing budgets.

"We're more or less trying to determine how it works with our current
service delivery and enforcement plans," he said. "We are at the
stage of analyzing the legislation and seeing how it can be applied
on a day-to-day basis. I would say by next week we would have
something better to tell you."

While the details are still being worked out, Chow said the VPD
supports the law, particularly after receiving "scores" of complaints
from merchants, tourists and people who are being badgered by
beggars.

"This is just going to increase our arsenal," he said. "I think most
of us have probably experienced, having lived in an urban environment
like Vancouver, where you have panhandlers in your face, [who] won't
let you pass, aggressively asking you, sometimes threatening you, for
money."

The new act specifies that tickets ranging from $86 to $115 can be
issued to people for asking for money in a threatening manner, asking
for money while on a roadway (as squeegee kids do) or asking for
money from someone in a "captive location," such as a bank machine,
pay phone or bus stop.

In particularly serious cases, police can file a report to Crown
counsel and an offender could be sent to jail for up to six months.

However, people will not be sent to jail for not paying their fines.

The new law is similar to legislation introduced in Ontario in late
1999 that was directed primarily at squeegee kids.

That law has been heavily used -- with more than 2,000 tickets issued
in its first two years.

In Ottawa alone, police issued 764 tickets under the act in 2003,
with most tickets being issued for squeegeeing, begging in a parking
lot and aggressive panhandling.

Cities in Ontario have seen a noticeable drop in squeegeeing in
particular, but there have been some concerns raised about how those
street people are now making money.

A 2003 study by the University of Guelph that tracked 50 homeless
youth both before and after the squeegee law was introduced in
Ontario found a dramatic drop in the number of teens cleaning windows
for money.

Before the act was introduced, 65 per cent of the teens relied on
cleaning car windows as their primary source of funds.

Following the act's introduction, that dropped to just 24 per cent.

Most of the homeless youth switched to less aggressive forms of
panhandling to replace the lost income, but the survey also found an
increase in the number of male teens selling drugs.

The study also found a large increase in the number of teens relying
on some form of income assistance.

cskelton@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Sun 2005