In 7 months looks like there were 24 calls resulting in a case # to the Social Justice Center that the police are concerned about. 16 of them resulted in no arrest or no activity found.
Here’s the 24 calls that make the Social Justice Center a “nuisance”. I don’t know about you, but when I think of other city nuisance violations like when the City went after Tree Lane, or Visions or the Harmony, this doesn’t seem comparable. There have been no shootings or high profile cases or huge public outcry (there has been some neighborhood issues, but not city-wide). Just a dozen homeless people living life in public. If they had homes, these calls would likely not have happened. These are things that people with homes either do in their homes and no one notices, or in the case of being beat up, likely wouldn’t not have happened if the person had a home.
BACKGROUND
The City of Madison City Attorney Jennifer Zilavy says the Social Justice Center is a “nuisance” and has tried to make us remove the public health vending machine, the benches, the food pantry the art and other things. They also want us to put up a “no trespassing sign”, better cameras and even staff the building 24/7 or hire security. So far, none of that has stuck. We did do many things to comply and continue to make improvements (more lighting, more signs, a camera, change in rules, stricter rules enforcement, rearrangement for better sighting, etc). See details here. But this has now risen to the level where the State Journal and others are writing about it.
Additionally Asst. City Attorney Jennifer Zilavy sent a summary letter to the Social Justice Center after our meeting noting the following:
Officer Davila stated that she would provide Brenda with weekly calls for service
that will have police case and incident numbers and dates of service. I stated that if
Brenda emailed her and asked for a specific written report, I would provide Brenda with that report (with any necessary redactions as required by law). Madison Police has already increased patrols at and around the SJC and will engage in enforcement actions when appropriate.
THE CALLS
Well we got the initial information and it seems there were 24 incidents where a case number was generated since January. I’m beginning to think the real nuisance here is the neighbors who called 106 times where it didn’t even rise to the level of a report.
The call notes list 24 different incidents where a police case number was generated. Of those 24 calls or case numbers, there were 10 that resulted in an arrest.
Of the 10 cases where there were arrests
- One case was from a traffic stop
- 3 arrest were for people with a warrant and 1 for bail jumping – unrelated to our property as far as we know. (We don’t have the police reports yet)
- Arrests made for the following
- Municipal offense (doesn’t say what it was)
- 2 drug paraphernalia/crack pipe (one of the arrests there was marijuana with the “crack pipe”)
- Battery (again, person allegedly associated with our building was the VICTIM) and the seemingly arrested the wrong guy according to witnesses. The guy arrested is not known to the homeless services community, we believe he is housed.
- Theft of a cell phone
- Two subjects were arrested for probation violation and drug possession charges (this one says “in the area” and I’m not sure if its directly related to SJC)
- Two subjects were cited and released on scene for municipal ordinance violation of open intoxicants
Of the 24 complaint calls with a case number
- Drugs
- 11 calls for “smoking crack” – 2 arrests, 3 the took the pipes and 6 found nothing
- 1 call for selling drugs – nothing found
- 1 call for “smoking drugs” – was the traffic stop
- 1 drug possession charge
- 2 fights
- 1 moved along
- 1 was the victim
- 1 disturbance
- Found nothing
- 2 Urination/Defication
- 2 Arrests for unrelated activities
- Bail jumping
- Unrelated warrant
- 1 “municipal offense”
- 2 Arrests for unrelated activities
- 2 drinking
- Moved people along
- Two subjects were cited and released on scene for municipal ordinance violation of open intoxicants
- 1 where someone was reported to have a warrant
- Arrested
- 1 for “growing encampment”
- Talked to people and moved on
- 1 we called to report a death – we found someone at the end of life (do not resuscitate bracelet) frozen.
- 1 probation violation
Here’s the full letter with details – SJC PUBLIC
ADDITIONAL CALL INFORMATION
Additional information we have received since then includes 2 more calls and an explanation of the missing information in the first report.
- The incident on 6/26 was an arrest for theft of a cell phone. The other incidents (on 6/20 and 7/11) were contacts that officers had with subjects while already in the area conducting routine patrols. In one incident (6/20), two subjects were arrested for probation violation and drug possession charges. On 7/11, two subjects were cited and released on scene for municipal ordinance violation of open intoxicants. Please let me know if you have questions about that.
- There are the two new cases
- 08/06 25-341652 at 12:02am- Officers and MFD were dispatched to a person lying down on the sidewalk. Upon contacting the subject, it was determined that he was incapacitated due to alcohol. He was transported to a local hospital.
- 08/07 25-344943 at 11:55pm- Officers were dispatched to a caller reporting that three male subjects surrounded her and harassed her as she was dropping off food at the pantry on Few Street, outside of the SJC. Upon arrival, officers did not locate the three subjects. Officers noted several subjects sleeping on the sidewalk at this time.
WRAP UP
Note: Not one mention of a needle? Where are these needles? The complaints are about “smoking crack” – which I don’t know how you can tell what people are smoking.
Also, I think there are actually less calls than last year since many listed here resulted in nothing but a report that nothing happened. How does that count as a police call against the property. These are part of the 24 calls.
- 06/22 25-268437 at 7:50pm- Officers dispatched to ‘five people smoking crack’ in the parking lot of SJC. Officers contacted a group of individuals on the public sidewalk who stated they were only smoking cigarettes. No indications of illegal drug use observed by officers and officers disengaged.
- 07/01 25-283614 at 3:56pm- Officers dispatched to ‘multiple subjects smoking from a crack pipe’. Officers contacted three subjects who were sleeping in the parking lot of SJC. No indications of illegal drug use and officers disengaged.
- 07/03 25-286594 at 12:20pm- Officers were dispatched to a group of people smoking crack in the parking lot behind the SJC. Upon arrival, officers contacted a group of people and did not observe any drug use at that time. The primary officer contacted staff inside the SJC who stated they provided their phone numbers to neighbors so they could have direct contact without police becoming necessary.
- 07/11 25-299462 at 7:00am- Officers were dispatched to an anonymous neighbor reporting ‘people smoking crack in the parking lot’ of the SJC. Officers arrived and observed several individuals who were clearly camping/living in the area of the SJC given the amount of property that was present. There were no individuals observed smoking any drugs, and no crack pipe was located.
- 07/14 25-304907 at 3:47pm- A caller reported a group of 5 individuals smoking crack in the parking lot of the SJC. Officers checked the area and did not immediately locate the subjects matching the description. Officers did not locate any subjects or observe obvious drug use.
- 07/15 25-306700 at 5:07pm- Officers were dispatched to the area of 1202 Williamson Street for a ‘group of 7-8 homeless people causing a disturbance’. Officers arrived and did not observe any disturbance. They contacted several individuals who were in the rear parking lot of the SJC, all of whom reported there were no issues.
- 07/18 25-311031 at 9:04am- Officers were dispatched to a report from a neighbor that multiple subjects were ‘smoking crack’ in the area of the SJC. Officers contacted an individual near the SJC, and did not observe any indications of drug use.
- 07/20 25-315410 at 8:00pm- Officers were dispatched to a report of a ‘homeless man selling drugs out of a tent’ on the terrace near the SJC. Officers contacted several individuals on the terrace, none of whom were observed to have any drugs.
- 07/21 25-316132 at 10:44am- Officers were sent to check on a ‘growing encampment’ on the terrace of S Few Street, next to the SJC. Officers contacted a subject who is staying on the terrace. He indicated that he had recently applied for housing and was waiting for that process to begin. He told officers that his items could be easily disassembled and relocated if need be.
The Social Justice Center is expecting to address something that that the police haven’t found to be happening? The offenses this summer in June, July and August since we met with the neighborhood twice and addressed several issues includes:
- 1 call in June – nothing found
- 12 calls in July – 8 found nothing, 1 person arrested on a unrelated warrant, a person with a warrant (with a crack pipe and marijuana), a traffic stop (parole violation and drug paraphernalia) and a video of the “volunteer” smoking from a glass pipe in the rear of the building.
- 3 calls in August – one where a person who stays in the area was the victim who got beat up by a “rando”, someone who was taken to the hospital and one resulting in nothing.
I’m not going to downplay that there are issues, there are and its been a long hot miserable muggy summer to be sleeping outside. But I don’t think it rises anywhere near to a nuisance activity. Let’s move on the root causes and solutions, please.
TWO FINAL THOUGHTS
When homeless people “overuse” 911 services, they get a ticket. Shouldn’t the people who called 137 times now get that same ticket given the results of their calls?
Drove by this morning – talked to some of the folks. Someone dropped off more garbage at the SJC (broken grill) and someone came by last night and did this:
Otherwise, the parking lot and ramp looked pretty good given the rain. It helps that two of the people with the most stuff recently got into housing. We all know housing is the solution here . . .
