Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Detective: Public better served by helping them, not arresting.
California native Robert Smith panhandles on Prince Street Monday after traveling to New Mexico from Lubbock. Smith said people often give him money, water and offer him odd jobs.
CLOVIS - Local panhandlers are not treated like a problem, according to stationary panhandlers and law enforcement.
Local panhandler Robert Smith said he has been passively panhandling in Clovis for over six months. He said the people here are some of the nicest he has panhandled to.
"Sometimes I get offered jobs, cleaning people's garages and stuff. The people here are really nice," he said.
Smith said he is never chased away from his spot on North Prince by business or law enforcement.
He said nearby businesses let him stay close to their business as long as he does not interfere with their customers, and he hasn't seen that treatment in other cities.
"At (one store) in Lubbock, their security would call the police, but here people don't really care as long as I'm not breaking the law. They'll just go right by me," said Smith.
Smith, a California native, said he has traveled all over the area and spent a lot of time in Lubbock - where he said he was arrested for panhandling.
"It was hard down there and they told me it was better on jobs down here, so I came," he said.
Clovis Police Chief Doug Ford said if a panhandler is arrested, it's generally for violating some other law.
Portales Police Department Detective Charlie Smart said the department doesn't view stationary panhandlers as a problem to be handled in Portales.
"Most of these people are just out of work or trying to get somewhere to get work. It's counterproductive for us to arrest or cite when we could better serve the public by helping," said Smart.
Smart said officers do not arrest or even make contact for panhandling in public unless they are committing additional crimes while they do it such as obstructing traffic or being disorderly.
"If they are on private property, we just ask them to move down the road," he said.
Though Smart said, there is very little of it in Portales, if it occurs it is generally around local grocery stores.
Portales does have a city ordinance against panhandling reading, "it shall be unlawful for any person to engage in business as a peddler or panhandler within this city without first obtaining a permit to do so."
Panhandling is defined in the city ordinance as "any conduct and/or action in which a person or persons requests, solicits, asks for, demands or acts ... for the purpose of obtaining or receiving an immediate donation of money or other gratuity ... Panhandling shall not include the act of passively standing or sitting and indicating that a donation is being sought."
