(The Center Square) – Several Spokane officials met on Thursday to mull over the city’s illegal camping laws and enforcement data amid recent confusion about what is actually on the books.
Spokane has several areas of its municipal code that touch on homelessness, with Proposition 1, “ Sit & Lie ,” and protecting waterways amongst the most prominent. While a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision finally granted police the ability to enforce Prop 1, the other laws never ceased to exist and were being enforced all along; however, not to the degree that some hope.
Nicolette Ocheltree, the city council’s Housing and Homelessness Initiatives manager, told the officials that arrests aren’t guaranteed; rather, individuals are usually cited and released.
“The penalty is a misdemeanor,” Ocheltree said when speaking on illegal camping. “If someone is subject to arrest on a warrant, or there’s probable cause for a crime, they can be jailed.”
However, if the individual doesn’t have outstanding warrants and the officer lacks probable cause for a more significant crime, the suspect is cited, released or given a warning, she said.