The City of Las Vegas set up a barricade at a homeless encampment. (Michael Lyle/Nevada Current)
Editor’s note: This article is the first in a three-part series looking at restrictions around the U.S. on people who are homeless camping in public spaces.
A man is sleeping on the ground next to a bus stop wrapped in a blanket when he is spotted by a police officer.
A City of Las Vegas Marshal notices the 55-year-old while patrolling near the Fremont Street Experience in Downtown Las Vegas on a recent November morning, according to the police report.
Officer James Blaisure determines the man is unhoused and violating an expanded ban passed by the city council earlier in the month that restricts camping or lodging citywide even if there aren’t available shelter beds.
The officer sees the man’s walker covered in clothes next to him as he sleeps. Blaisure unwraps his blanket and tells him he cannot sleep there.
The man is asked if he has been to the Courtyard Homeless Resource Center, roughly a mile away that can accommodate up to 550 people with a sleeping mat at night.