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SLO police again accused of hassling the homeless

October 11, 2012

Matt Strzepek

EDITOR’S NOTE: See San Luis Obispo City Council candidate Matt Strzepec’s accounting of alleged police harassment of the homeless at the bottom of this story.

By KAREN VELIE

A former San Luis Obispo City Council candidate has reentered the race and filed a formal complaint against the police for harassment.

A little more than a month after Matt Strzepek announced he was dropping out of the race, he announced plans to run for one of two four-year council seats also being sought by firefighter Kevin Rice, history teacher Jeff Aranguena and current councilmen John Ashbaugh and Dan Carpenter.

Strzepek earned a degree in history from Le Moyne College before going to work as a counselor and instructor at Binghamton University in New York. Currently, Strzepek is a local property manager who also volunteers at several non-profits in the community. And like thousands in our community, he has been homeless.

“Like many of our city’s residents, I have experienced challenges in this recession,” Strzepek said in an email.  “I have walked in the shoes of our homeless citizens, quietly taking shelter in my vehicle while looking for work. As such, I know what it’s like to be on the margins of society. I have been woken up by police officers in the middle of the night for doing nothing more than sleeping.

“Furthermore, I have witnessed current city council members ignore a crying college student who is taking shelter in her vehicle because she cannot afford both tuition and housing. The city council is out of touch and has pitted neighbor against neighbor. I believe we can do better”

Strzepek’s announcement comes at a time members of the homeless community contend police officers are hassling people they spot on McMillan Avenue and Prado Road who they think may be homeless. The officers allegedly give the names to homeless services providers who then bar them from receiving meals, taking showers and having a bed in the shelter at night.

Officials with the police department did not return requests for comment.

In March, San Luis Obispo City Council members voted to approve the implementation of a pilot program aimed at providing safe parking for a small number of homeless who sleep in their vehicles.

The Prado Day Center and the Maxine Lewis Homeless Shelter, which operate under the umbrella of Community Action Partnership (CAPSLO), require those who utilize overnight services to provide CAPSLO with 70 percent of their incomes to be used in the future to provide housing.

CAPSLO takes an average of one and a half to two years to get someone into housing, said Dee Torrez, CAPSLO’s homeless services director at the March city council meeting.

Opponents of the program, many of whom are on Social Security, contend the moneys required to utilize services keep them from having the funds they need to purchase basics such as food and toiletries.

After the majority of local homeless refused to enter CAPSLO’s parking program, CAPSLO began enforcing a rule that bars homeless services for those seen on certain public streets between 4:30 p.m. and 8 a.m.

Stew Jenkins, an attorney whose lawsuit against the city resulted in the dismissal of all tickets given this year to homeless residents for sleeping in their vehicles, contends the city’s current actions are again unconstitutional, discrimination and the criminalization of homeless people.

Stew Jenins and Saro Rizzo’s prior suit is likely to cost the city more than $500,000 in legal fees and related costs before it finishes winding its way through the court.

“A number of courts have grappled with cities and counties throughout the nation who have tried to condition the provision of publicly funded services by prohibiting individuals from being eligible unless they waive their fourth amendment rights to be secure in their persons, homes, and effects,” Jenkins said. “In general, these kinds of programs conditioning eligibility for public benefits on first giving up constitutional rights have been struck down.

City officials and CAPLO administrators claim members of the homeless community who are refusing to utilize services do so because of addiction issues or that they want to remain homeless and not because of the financial requirements.

In Santa Barbara, homeless services administrators have implemented a successful program that provides spaces for more than 100 cars And while Santa Barbara’s program includes case management, it does not include the requirement to sign over income and subsidy checks, said Nancy Kapp, Santa Barbara’s Homeless Outreach coordinator and case manager.

On Oct. 1, Strzepek said San Luis Obispo police officer Eric Lincoln approached him and several other people on McMillan Avenue and began verbally abusing them. The officer also took the names of several people he found park and provided the information to CAPSLO, Strzepek said.

“At least one homeless citizen, an elderly gentleman with a reputation for sharing his food with others, was denied a meal at the shelter because of this action,” Strzepek said.

Jenkins said the officer’s actions constitute interference with services and restraint of trade.

“If the police are collecting names of people and taking them to a charitable organization to not have them served, it is pure discrimination based on poverty,” Jenkins said. “The new ordinance is not in effect at this time. And the only punishment is a parking ticket, not denial of services.”

 

 

The following is Strzepec’s account of several incidents that allegedly occurred on Oct 2.

“San Luis Obispo police officer Eric Lincoln approached Strzepek on McMillan Avenue and shined a flashlight in my face,” Strzepek said.

Lincoln: What are you doing here?

Strzepek: Who are you? (could see nothing but light shining in my face)

Lincoln: What are you doing here?

Strzepek: Who are you?

Lincoln: You know who I am. You’ve been listening to me for the last twenty minutes.

Strzepek: Actually, I just got here about twenty seconds ago. I can’t see you with the light in my face. Will you please identify yourself?

Lincoln: I’m the police.

Strzepek: May I please see your identification?

Lincoln: I don’t have to show you that. You’re with these people (gestures to homeless citizens taking shelter in a nearby RV).

Strzepek: No, I’m not. I don’t know them.

Lincoln: Are you homeless? Are you homeless?

Strzepek: My attorney has advised me not to discuss that issue.

Lincoln: Well, I was going to educate you tonight. Tell your attorney you’re an idiot.

Strzepek: Excuse me?

Lincoln: I’ll remember you. I’ll see you on the flip side of the law, asshole.

“Lincoln and his partner approach two female citizens who have disabilities and who are taking shelter in their vehicle, on which they are trying to repair something. Some tools and personal belongings are neatly set on the side of the curb, hidden from public view by their vehicle, Strzepek said

Lincoln: Get that crap off the street. Look at all your stuff. Get your crap off the street.

Female: What?

Lincoln: We got a call about you.

Female: For what?

Lincoln: Somebody got your license plate.

Female: Our trunk is raised. How could anybody read our license plate? What is this about?

Lincoln: Are you homeless?

Female: How is that any of your business?

Lincoln: I have a home. I’m not homeless. Why are you homeless? Why can’t you get your act together?

Female: Please don’t speak to us that way. I used to be a public safety officer and would never speak to citizens that way.

Lincoln: Well, you must not have been very good at your job. Don’t be such idiots.

Strzepek (who had walked over earlier to witness this provocation by the officer): Ask him for his name and badge number.

Lincoln: You, stop talking! You didn’t want to talk to me earlier.


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don’t think anyone can’t confirm the testimony of 3 witnesses? I want to see Eric Lincoln FIRED! His partner that night, send him on leave without pay for 1 month, see if he survives.


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And if anyone wants to know what I was doing on my computer, for one, it’s none of your business, but I’ll tell you anyway, just because leatherpink has his/her panties in a bunch, I”m working on a documentary!


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I think the county should let the homeless clean up the parks and other city facilities and then issue them vouchers to turn in to receive they benefits that they receive from the county.

Probably this will not work because it’s probably against their rights if you make them work.


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Why just the homeless? We should require anyone getting government money to have to perform community service.


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Arbeit macht frei


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Yeah, those of us that have worked to support our families without taking handouts from the government are the fools, right?


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Arbeit Macht Frei literally “labor makes (you) free,” is a slogan which is best known for having been placed over the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust, including most infamously Auschwitz. Interesting choice of quote/reference zaphod…


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Another moron! Some who get government money actually ARE disabled. Either by illness or accident.


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psst……..you might get more to listen to you without the childish name calling.


just sayin’……………….


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You’re right, but I get very upset with people talking about something they really know nothing about.


Someone who has all the comforts of a home, can’t really understand what it’s like to lose everything. I used to never have room in my heart for the homeless, and like my father, it was my belief that all the homeless are that way because they are lazy.


I lost everything. I fell. When I fell, I picked myself back up, continued my education and worked. I worked so much that I even fell asleep standing up! No kidding!

It’s really hard to see all the lazy bums here, not even trying, it’s hard to see the one’s who are trying so hard to work at anything, but get nothing, and to top that off, get called lazy bums and get told they are taking free hand-outs. While they are waiting for work, they have to have some sort of income. Once they gain employment, they have to pay all that aid back. How many knew that?


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Better not retire any time soon, we’ll have to require you work!


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ReelView you miss the point. We all retire after a life time of work not by not ever working at all. You on the other hand depend on handouts and government assistance that we have all worked for to pay for you.


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NO? Really? How the hell do you know anything about me? Wait til this all comes out, you’ll be quite surprised. But retirement checks come from the government! So, everyone who retires should be forced to work regardless!


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You see, the night of the incident, NONE of the riff-raff, the trouble makers, those who really look like they were dragged from the sewer homeless, and worse, literally smell like the sewer, were never even contacted by the dumb cops that evening. It’s ok for them to place their chairs on the sidewalk as people who work for a living must walk around them, what about drinking in public? What happened to the open containers law? I do know about that law ya know? We were just more convenient that night, even the 66 year old lady who was called an “ASSHOLE”


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Oh yeah! I’ve worked all my life as well, unlike a majority of the lazy bums in this town. I have never pan-handled, I don’t receive assistance, I was in a near-fatal car wreck almost 5 years ago now that left me with a broken back, two bulging disks, a tore up shoulder, severe nerve damage, and now as a result, scoliosis, and early disk degeneration disease, so even If i have surgery on my protruding disks, the rest will only get worse as time goes by.


I got my education, ran a business, took care of my mom after my father passed, and I did it all by myself! So don’t tell me about work. I provide for myself quite well, not by beggin in the streets, nor government assistance! Even so, I’m entitled because I’m disabled, I was hit by a truck driven by a young man who chose to speed in the company truck pulling heavy equipment! Now I spend my time “working” on my computer. So any of you who ACCUSE me of taking handouts, you don’t know what you are talking about. I’ve never claimed to bi-polar, I don’t need medical marijuana, in fact I detest marijuana. And I detest beggars! I also detest those who judge someone they don’t know.


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ReelView, I gather YOU have an ANGER MANAGEMENT PROBLEM! You need psychiatric help (counselling) & either get of the booze or go back on your psych meds. Your hostility is coming through loud & clear.


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How would you like to be accused of being homeless, yelled at out of the blue. A lot of you here make me sick because you think you know all there is to know about someone who is homeless. But see, I’ve seen it for myself. As for Anger Management. Here’s my training”

P.C 832

MOAB, MOAB For Public Safety Officers, PATH and Monadnock


I don’t expect you to know what that is.


I don’t drink, nor do I take psych meds, I’m not a bi-polar, nor am I high bi-polar. But you all think you know what you are talking about and you don’t. You need to educate yourself on a subject before you can speak out about it.


BTW, ARE you for REAL? Most of the homeless, not all, that have been harassed by the police, are those who create filth, are loud, drink, do drugs, and are just plain trashy, they are the one’s who have brought the police on themselves. And, with good reason. The incident on the night of Oct. 2, was, I guess bad luck. However, the officer was way out of line, and even if he was doing it for fun, should be ripped of his title. So if you want to go “under cover”, make certain your vehicle looks and smells like the sewer, make certain you look like the sewer, and sit down with the one’s who actually are the sewer, then in time, I sure you will get to know the cops very wells! See, not ALL the homeless have been harassed by the cops, and I have learned to see why. But, spending one night here, unless you get lucky like I did that night, forget it, you still wont prove your point.


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ALL those homeless who are able-bodied, should be put to work, all those bums who lay around Prado all day, should be forced to clean up the trash in the creeks, anywhere they have created their filth!


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ReelView, now that’s the FIRST & ONLY logical thing you’ve said here! BTW, you DO have “ANGER ISSUES” & you really need to address that before YOU GET INTO SERIOUS TROUBLE…..Maybe talk with someone at SLO Mental Health….


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lol If you only knew how calm I am when I type these comments. But no matter, so many of you are just so close minded and riddled with hate, pure hatred. You are the type of people that will not even believe if it presented to you on a platter.


Actually I have training in law enforcement myself. I come from a law enforcement family, and I should have known better then to even think about becoming a peace officer. I thought like many others who wish to seek a career in law enforcment, I thought just maybe I could make a difference. Not in this corrupt world. Yes, there are many really bad people that should be locked up, and yes, there are a few good cops, but the corrupt ones far outweigh the good ones.


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There is so much close-mindedness and anger and elitism on here. To the few people, probably cops, who are bashing Strzepek on here, do your homework. Go out and respectfully talk to the homeless people on McMillan Avenue and Prado Road, like I did. Ask them if they will share their stories and ask them what is going on. When you do, you will hear stories that will affect you. These people have found themselves in very difficult circumstances. Now they have to experience being harassed by police officers on a nightly basis all over again. What I am hearing is that police abuse is occurring on a daily and nightly basis but it does not regularly get reported due to fear of retaliation and the media covering stuff up. Do you think the people that run the city and the shelter want the public to know that hungry people are being denied meals, showers, and beds because the police enforce an illegal public road ban? Good for CalCoastNews for doing their homework and reporting on these important issues. Keep in mind that not all police officers are bad and not all homeless people are bums. In this particular case, there appears to have been several witnesses and a formal police complaint was filed by Strzepek. It seems likely that the posters defending Officer Lincoln and bashing Strzepek for filing a formal complaint are police officers themselves or police supporters. To all of the people on here who wish to vilify homeless people and run them out of town, I would ask you the following questions: How would you like to be treated and spoken of if you lose your job, your home, your belongings, your family, your health, your vehicle? If you become homeless, would you want police officers waking you up in the middle of the night every night, shining a flashlight in your face, swearing at you, calling you names, and giving you tickets you can’t afford? Think about it.


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Not a police officer, or a supporter. I’ll call things as they are, I’d put my life in the hands of a police officer before I’d put it in the hands of a local prado road resident ANY day. I actually dislike cops, I never disliked the hopeless until I moved here. These people make certain parts of this city down right unsafe. I’ve been run out of laguna lake by the homeless before. There’s no reason I shouldnt be able to hike around the lake becuase some homeless assholes are doing meth in the reeds. These people are leaches, they do absolutely nothing for this community. We can’t even count on them to pick up their own trash or act with civility downstairs. I’d be FURIOUS if i was a business owner and these low lives sat in front of my store and scared away shoppers ALL day long. Some other comments are absolutely right, there are parks in this city where children just aren’t safe or would never feel safe. This isn’t because of cops! This is because addicts and low lives this city caters to.


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downtown*


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And how I agree with you 110%


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Excellect comment, thank you well said!


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you’ve been run out of Laguna Lake the homeless? Geeze, you must be really lame.


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I am not a police officer, so nice try. If police officers were to wake me up, I think I would say I think I need a job, I think I need to get out of these mess of sleeping in a vehicle that’s unhealthy and etc. I would be glad if someone gave me a reality check to say you need to figure a way out of being homeless. The Orcutt Homeless Shelter is no solution for the homeless, it is a drug as they stay homeless with no incentives to get out of there mess. They are in a mess by choose, not all of them but I am guessing most of them just don’t want to work or even try to get off the vehicle or living under a bridge lifestyle.


Strzepek is making up a statement about an incident that has nothing to back it up and I guarantee he will not win a seat in City counsel.


If these homeless are giving free food everyday, a bed, free bus rides and social money, where is the incentive to get out of that mess? These people need counseling on where they’ll be in 5 years if they continue to be lazy and homeless.


Homeless is disease for some people, its called being lazy. Yes some people lost their homes, jobs and families but that does not mean, to stop and do nothing. Life is a challange for all people, you have to challange life to adapt to it, like being in the jungle.


So you seem to know these homeless folks, then do them a favor and ask when are they going to get a job to find a permanent residence? It’s not hard to ask them the question when you see them sitting around at the park doing nothing daily or in their trashy trailers doing nothing. I think most of these people need to be in some form of boot camp and learn to get out of being homeless. I would hate the term of being homeless, could not imagine it and never will.


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I hope for your sake that you never do become homeless. But if you do, you just might learn a thing or two about compassion. I show compassion to the homeless whenever I can. What do you do for them, other than pass judgement? You weren’t there on Oct. 1st and Oct. 2nd. You don’t know what the police are doing to homeless people on a nightly basis. Strzepek is telling the truth. You’re just too full of anger and hatred to bother with the truth. Compassion starts with you choosing to love and be united with people, including the homeless.


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I accidently voted you one point down, sorry it was by mistake, You are right the way you think, however, there a lot of lazy ones, who do nothing but spend the day drinking, doing drugs or pan-handling, when instead they could work.


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I have seen the comments on here regarding the incident with SLOPD on Oct. 2, and frankly I’m shocked at how some people can be so outraged about something he/she is so uninformed about, but only makes judgments on the things they have seen here and there. For someone who HATES the homeless so much at how uneducated they are, perhaps you leatherpink should learn how to write first! You bitch/moan/groan about the homeless being unemployed, but I’d like to know where you get the time to comment so much, for someone who works?! Or are you unemployed as well?


For those who have talked to a few homeless and heard such heart-wrenching stories, some are, and some are just stories. But no offense to you as you must be among these people for extended periods to know the REAL truth. So here it is….


Yes, there has been a major explosion of homeless arriving here. I have seen with my own eyes the total lack of respect and morals many of them have for the community they have taken over. I have seen them urinate, men and women, in front of whoever and wherever they please, even in the headlights of an oncoming car! I have seen them toss their urine or trash out of their car windows, steal water from private property and even from a private residence. Many of them are riff-raff, the people nobody wants as neighbors. A majority of the one’s I have seen are lazy filthy swines! I know that many of them prefer not to work because our government makes it easy for them to just “say” they are bi-polar, or have a backache. A majority of them “need” their medical marijuana, but not for pain, to get high and to sell. Just what this town needs with families…High bi-polars! You may say it’s because of the economy, but the fact is, a great number of them have been here long before any economic troubles, and many of them were already on SSI. Those new arrivals already receiving SSI, came to California because this is the only state that pays the highest benefits. For those who don’t get benefits, a good pan-handler can make up to $700 a day, tax free! However, here’s an eye-opener…you’ll never believe this..those college kids in this town, do the very same things, the only difference is their rich mommy and daddy’s bring money into this town. I have seen young men, 30’s, driving a Mercedes, placing their McDonald’s trash outside the sunroof, then drive off, I’ve seen young guys at Laguna Lake stuff the trash under their car, when the dumpster was on the other side of the bush from where they were parked next to. If they didn’t see it, the trash cans were in plain view in front of them! I’ve dealt with the college kids. I’ve caught them numerous times pee in public, steal, vandalize, drunk in public, under the influence of some unknown substance(s),or fight…you name it, I’ve seen it. But guess what? In every group of people, there are bad ones. The same goes for the homeless! Not ALL of the homeless are lazy filthy swines. Not ALL of the homeless drink, or do drugs. Surprising huh? Not ALL of the homeless are unemployed because they are lazy, but because they aquired an illness or where involved in an accident, either work related or vehicle, and disability, even for someone who is truly disabled, cannot afford the rent. So, on that note, NO one can say for certain that they will not end up homeless.


As for Eric Lincoln and his partner, Lincoln was much worse! He was way out of line! I was one of the witnesses that night! I myself am a former public safety officer, and one of the things we have training in is to learn how to deal with stressful situations, how to approach people, only the evening of Oct. 2, there were NO situations. There was NO reason to begin yelling at someone upon immediate contact, in such a vile manner, and with such obscenities. like “asshole” “shit” “crap” and “idiot”. If someone who calls himself an Officer, and can get his panties in a bunch like he did, he should not carry a weapon. There was also NO reason for the other officer to call an older lady “asshole”!


I know for a fact that Mr. Strzpek is not lying, because, as I said, I was there!


I will speak out more about this in the coming days. I have only just begun!


As for you leatherpink,(what’s with the faggy name?) you better go back to school cause you can’t write for SH**!


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Oh! I forgot to mention, Mr. Strzpek nor I were even sitting in a vehicle. Is it a crime to work on your computer? And another thing, 10 homeless people could “steal” a WiFi signal and guess what will happen? NOTHING! The paying customer will continue to pay the same rate, and if that customer didn’t want anyone to “steal” their signal, they could always get a SECURE connection, you moron!


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boy you’re a real expert.


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How sad that this comment section has been taken over by police officers defending one of their own. Cops sure stick together when they are wrong, don’t they? I’ve spoken with some of the homeless folks who were harassed on Oct. 1st and 2nd. Apparently, the police are out of control in this city. Who do they think they are, calling people names and swearing at them? I checked out http://www.mattforslo.com, which is Strzepek’s website. He does not strike me as the kind of guy to make stuff up. By all accounts, he is an upstanding guy. He, along with other homeless folks, beat the city in that recent lawsuit, so it doesn’t surprise me that the police are harassing the homeless again. Don’t believe the cops posting on here. Cops often abuse their power and it looks like this particular officer was way out of line. At least that is what the several witnesses who heard the cop have told me. Yes, there were several witnesses to support Strzepek’s claims. Like it or not, cops, one of your brothers was verbally abusive and unethical. The police are even denying people food at the shelter. This candidate, who was not even a candidate at the time of the incidents or complaint, is telling the truth.


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Amazing how this homeless person can afford a website to run for a political office.


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. No doubt Mr. Strzepek has received some campaign contributions (free website) just like the rest of the candidates who ask for free money. Homeless doesn’t equal stupid.


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maybe he has a Obama phone too. Along with his free parking, free food, free meds and more. Maybe not be stupid, just the ones who are paying for it are. The question is how do we get these folks off the dole and contribute to society and constantly steal from it? First one, is get rid of Obama and second, get rid of Prado road center and Orcutt Shelter, they will leave and follow the social dependence goes.


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Perhaps when they are “off the dole’ …as you suggest, they will be so desperate as to attack YOUR home and take your goods.


Doesn’t much matter if you’re at home or not. Net win either way.


Such a humble wish !


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too bad you aint gettin’ anything FREE huh?


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Maybe your homeless yourself using somebody’s wifi that’s not your internet connection from your trailer you’re living in illegally? I also assume you never read the daily police log on homeless crimes that are reported every hour 7 days a week.


Cops in San Luis Obispo do not harass the homeless. I have been there and see them in action. They do their job. They ask them to move and if they are too drunk, they call an ambulance and get them proper treatment. Then you have the rude homeless that are not drunk that want to get harassed like they want to have Steward Jenkins represent them for free. Kind of like getting someone to run you over on a cross walk on purpose to get money on insurance fraud.


Perhaps you never do understand dispatch and when police call to complain, the police respond as always and they respond promptly. They are fast and they are understanding, they are there to make the peace, they are peace officers. If you want to yell and be drunk around a police officer, you’re looking for trouble. If I was a cop, I would sent the homeless a one way ticket out of town, end of story and don’t come back.


I assume you never met Officer Lincoln to judge him without seeing him? He’s a great cop. Oh course I may feel the same on homeless I never met before thinking they maybe trashy & looking for trouble and a lot of the time that is correct. Some I don’t know maybe the greatness people you ever met but they’re homeless. Unfortunately there are not too many of those people around, there are mostly the trouble makers. The police respond to problems, not harassment unless the homeless are harassing people or business owners or etc, what is most often the case.


5 years ago, we never had people lined up living in their trashy trailers on Prado, Long street, Short street, Hind street, McMillian, Granda, Calle Joaquin, Home Depo, Madonna Plaza, Industrial Way, Sacramento street and more. This is east coast coming to west coast for sunshine and free living in your backyard. Meadow Park, what a sad situation, children cannot pay there anymore. Homeless are getting drunk and smoking weed in the parking lot from the sidewalk to the street, local people do not want to walk anywhere near these people. Especially when you see the same people, same time, same place, everyday, doing the same thing for weeks and doing nothing for themselves or anyone around them. What a disgrace to our town.


You sound like an Obama supporter, give me my food stamps, my social checks, my medical, my welfare, Obama phone and more right? While Strzepek doesn’t seem coo coo, he is homeless and he is running as a candidate to get the homeless more benefits, which is a conflict of interests.


I assume according to you we shouldn’t complaint about the homeless “Gypsycelt” and we should invite another 5000 more homeless people to live in San Luis Obispo and allow open housing, right “Gypsycelt”?

And don’t hire anymore police officers but bring in more homeless, right. Your solution?


I suppose you “Gypsycelt” or mr. Strzepek are in this together. He makes the statement without evidence and you back him on Cal Coast News claiming he is right, right? Where’s your statement? Comments are not statements.


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No you moron, there are 2 other witnesses! BTW, how do you know the other 2 are even homeless? That’s why this whole thing got so out of control, but, you’ll find out when I speak publicly, or not. So that’s 3 witnesses. You must be some sort of snitch to kiss the cop’s A**s like you are.


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Perhaps you never do understand dispatch and when people or citizens call to complain, the police respond as always and they respond promptly. They are fast and they are understanding, they are there to make the peace, they are peace officers. If you want to yell and be drunk around a police officer, you’re looking for trouble. If I was a cop, I would sent the homeless a one way ticket out of town, end of story and don’t come back.


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Wow………..


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I know the elderly man who was denied food at the shelter on Oct. 1. That man was the ONLY one to be denied food. and the worst part, he didn’t get his check…..his retirement check! He had NO FOOD! The shelter is supposed to be for those in need, but it has been taken over by lazy bums, because CAPSLO lets them! Why? Because each and every homeless person who signs in, means more money for them! JOB SECURITY! They are not a group of people donating their time to help the less fortunate, they are a business…it’s CAPSLO, INC.! Prado’s clients even have to sign in for services they will not be using! The shelter leaves food out for 3 days yet continues to let the clients eat it! Prado and the Shelter are health hazards. Not only do they not require anyone to seek a job, they don’t even require anyone shower! but I guess that would go against their constitutional rights.


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Just as you don’t appreciate it when others make unwarranted assumptions about you, you should not make unwarranted assumptions about them. CAPSLO may run things in a semi-businesslike manner but they are a non-profit organization not a business. Their homeless program is one of two programs that are always scraping for funds. (They also manage many Headstart programs and a few other small ones as well.)


I haven’t seen enough of the homeless program on a regular basis to dispute all your accusations but I know enough about it to say that they can’t do everything they want to do for lack of funding. They also can’t pass judgment on people and refuse to serve them unless and until they cause problems at the shelter. They have a process for their services and try to stick to it out of fairness.


That said, I agree that there are enough lazy bums or addicts using their services to cause problems. I just don’t know how they can deal with them without also hurting people who are homeless for “better” reasons.


As far as the cops go, I don’t know what happened in your situation but I do know that there are a few cops who are capable of abusing their power for little or no good reason. Good luck in that battle.


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each and every homeless person who signs in, means money in their pockets. you are even encouraged to sign if for services you will not be using. why do you think so many who have been here for years, are not working? CAPSLO is and has never required anyone to work.


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I do NOT for one second believe anything this guy is “alleging”…It’s ALL BS. Do you REALLY believe a police officer would risk his job, benefits & pension for the “sake of harrassing” a few homeless people? It makes NO SENSE whatsoever & to prove it, I will go “under cover” as a “homeless person” at that very location just to prove my point. This is the most outrageous “story” I have ever read on CCN…I hope you have proof to back up this outrageous bunch of lies…


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Police officers think they are GOD and can get away with ANYTHING! So yes, they chance risking their jobs everyday! Think that “guy” is lying do ya? Would you call 3 witnesses a liar?


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You’ll never survive.


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Thank God!


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If a cop’s “brothers in blue” will support and cover for him and he gets no punishment more severe than a mild reprimand, yes there are some cops with a bully mentality that will harass people for little or no reason. In the case of the SLO cops, they may actually be getting some encouragement from the City to do this since the City Council (and Counsel) has decided that this is a legal way to address “homeless problems.”


While I think it would be great for you to make a real attempt at going undercover to find out the truth, you will have to forgive me if I am skeptical about your ability to pull it off and keep doing it for the week or two it would take to get a real appreciation for the situation. You would have to first convince the other homeless people that you are one of them before they would show you the times/places/circumstances at which harassment by police usually occurs.


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There is ONE solution for what to do with FASCISTS . Only ONE.


When the police are fascist stooges, they will be frontline. That is what happens to FASCISTS.


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The police officers are being taken advantage by the homeless. The homeless know how to haggle police officers like they do haggling people downtown for money. For these homeless people, it’s a business, tax free. These homeless people, you see, they are not local, and they are coming from all over the nation to come here specifically, right here in San Luis Obispo. Thanks to USA Today Happiest Places to Live article printed in 2010, the news spread like wildfire among the homeless all over the country and they are coming here.


why?


1. Free social services, free shelter, free medical, free food, free bus rides


2. You don’t need a car, as everything is close by.


3. They claim panhandling is easy to haggle San Luis Obispo folks for money, aggressively


4. Lenient cops, they claim the cops are easy and easy to walk away after committing crimes; they walk away with giving them no citations.


5. Warm weather means, they can roam around fun in the sun and do nothing.


Bottom line, these homeless people came here not to work. They are here to hang out and live off us; they want us people to pay for them to have everything for free. They expect everybody to pay for their lifestyles.


I am asking the police to step up and get tougher on these homeless; they are being fooled by these homeless people. If you notice, when the police knock on their trailers about sleeping in their vehicles ordinance, they don’t answer their doors even when the cops know they are there pretending they are not in their vehicles but they always are. These homeless play dumb because they are playing the system and San Luis Police Department needs to break that. If you notice on South Higuera pass T-intersection light Los Osos Valley road, if you keep going quarter miles or before the Octagaon Barn, there on the side of PG&E’s vehicle yard, there is a county government line between the City and the County, they park right after that sign where they sleep in their vehicles because there is no country ordinance on sleeping in your vehicle. It’s just these are some of the treats they play with our City.


Many of you people may see the homeless in the daytime but I see them at night, late hours. Where they drive around in commercial business area’s and steal water, electricity, drink, pollute, dump sewage from their trailers, steal and vandalize, you name it, they are committing the crimes thinking nobody is seeing them. They are stealing from everywhere in this town. They are flooding the parks of public restrooms using them as showers and drinking booze & getting high smoking weed till they have to leave to go get supper time on Orcutt Road Homeless Shelter and Prado Day center. Talk about trash from trash, till you realize these people are no solution to any of San Luis Obispo’s own problems when it comes to the homeless problem, these homeless people think are are suppose to care for them even if they don’t want to work and partying everyday under a bridge, in their mobile homes or downtown on a bench or around public schools.


If you notice on Tuesday on Tank Farm road on the corner from Broad street, across from the Edna Valley gas station, there was a fire on an abandon home. Guess who started it? The homeless and where did they go, they left after the fire started. All their trashy clothes, booze, luggage and etc was left there. Just another example of the crimes being committed in our town.


If some of people that feel sorry for the homeless, then I guess you are not a commercial business owner and seeing your water stolen with $1800.00 water bills on vacant properties or seen the daily police log of the daily crimes that are being committed everywhere every hour some crime is being committed in San Luis Obispo over homeless. It’s not just about not home to live it, it’s the crimes they commit and that needs to be understood first.


Lastly, no permanent housing from them. None! When you create housing, you create more to come here, so that should never be considered. For example, when former president Ronald Reagan and the democrat congress passed the amnesty bill for illegal immigrants back in 1986. What happened, it created more illegal immigrants to come here, so like the homeless, do not allow housing in this town. You just might end up with 2000 more in San Luis Obispo in 2 years and we will be screwed even more. Our crime rate in San Luis Obispo by the homeless is 33% and that number will grow if you continue to allow them to live here. The best way to get rid of them for starters, is close down Prado Day Center and the Orcutt Homeless Shelter but also more ordinances but that are constitutional so they cannot be challenge by attorney’s like Rizzo & Steward are doing.


If you want to make a statement, I suggest filing a complaint to the California State bar on attorney’s Saro Rizzo & Steward Jenkins


It’s time to do something and to get rid of these homeless, while it’s not a crime to be homeless, it’s the crimes they commit in large numbers that cannot go unnoticed.


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I was just sitting down on some steps writing and working on my computer, no I was not “stealing” WiFi, I was working, That stupid cop was approached without aggression on my behalf period. If he hates the homeless so bad, then how come he didn’t rough up the riff raff who run their generator at night, the very people who place all their belongings on the sidewalk and their chairs, sit and drink beer for hours, whlie those who work must walk around them???? Are you such an expert that you can tell right off the bat who is homeless and who isn’t? Ever had neighbors you wished would get thrown out of the neighborhood? Yes, riff raff can even own homes!


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I just wanted to add, Officer Lincoln is a nice guy. I have known him for over 25 years and he’s a good cop. Many cops know me when I call them to assist on homeless crimes they commit and I will tell you, I like all of them, I just think they need to get tougher on these homeless people. Attorney Steward Jenkins is trying to play ACLU and is threaten to sue if anybody does anything to the homeless and that to me is wrong. I would like to see attorney Steward Jenkins have all these people park at his community and what he would put up with vice versa.


I don’t believe officer Lincoln would saw anything derogatory, he’s a smart cop. I don’t believe the statemens said.


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