Other Cities Responding To LAPD Accusations

Although the Whittier Police Department was not singled out for “dumping” homeless people into downtown Los Angeles, the Whittier Daily News writes: “Whittier police officers routinely take homeless people to area shelters, ask them to move on and, if a person is drunk and disorderly, possibly jail him or her -- but they never drop them off at Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, officials said Tuesday.” (Here is the Whittier News article.)

The article continues: “Meanwhile, Whittier police officials say officers have alternatives for dealing with homeless people caught loitering or panhandling, including several homeless shelters and church programs, spokesman Officer Alan dela Pena said.

"We are fortunate that we have a number of shelters in this area, and also going to downtown L.A. would be a half-hour drive. We wouldn't do that," he said. "Also, whenever we put someone in our cars, we have to let dispatch know, so there is a record of that."

“Whittier police, who patrol Whittier and Santa Fe Springs, typically direct homeless people to Saint Matthias Episcopal Church, where there is a soup kitchen, and to the Whittier Area First Day Coalition, a shelter that provides job training, meals and health screenings to homeless people.”

The Daily Breeze reports on the City of El Segundo’s response: “An El Segundo police official on Monday strongly denied recent allegations that the law enforcement agency dumped homeless on the streets of downtown Los Angeles. (Here is the Daily Breeze article.)

"It's not our policy to do that," Capt. David Cummings said. "It's not our practice to do that. We wouldn't condone doing that."

Cummings said the practice may have existed decades ago, but is banned.
He said El Segundo officers occasionally give a ride to a homeless person or take someone to a bus stop, but do not travel to downtown Los Angeles.

So for now… everyone is trying to cover their backs on these allegations. There is some good that comes out of all of this… law enforcement agencies throughout the county will think twice when they are tempted to “dump” their homeless into downtown Los Angeles.