Police Department and City Manager respond to ACLU report of "bum hunting"

Following the Tuesday, Nov. 27 ACLU press conference pertaining to the disclosure of police department text messages in which two Sarasota police officers referred to their patrol duties as “bum hunting,” Capt. Paul Sutton and City Manager Thomas Barwin shared their thoughts on the allegations and the manner in which the ACLU presented this information.

When I asked Capt. Sutton for his reaction to the officers’ use of the term “bum hunting,” he said, “I find that term offensive.”He then said, “If these incidents occurred, they will be investigated and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken. However, I would like you to look at the 25,000 documented contacts that we’ve had with homeless people that did not result in arrests, where we work serious cases that involve homeless victims and we refer them to services. And that’s the bigger service that the Sarasota Police Department has been doing for years, and we continue to look for ways to improve those services."

In regard to ACLU representative Michael Barfield’s claim that the city is “waging war on the homeless,” Sutton said, “I can tell you that Sarasota Police Department has a practice of only making arrests based on violations of city codes and Florida state statutes. In fact, every officer has taken an oath to do that, and that’s when we take action. We do not make arrests based on somebody’s economic status. There is no law against being homeless and there are no arrests for vagrancy---it does not exist; it’s not in Florida state statutes and it is not in our city ordinances. We only make arrests based on conduct.”

Sutton pointed out that the Sarasota Police Department is the number one source of non-arrest referrals for homeless individuals in need of social services. Since 2004, these referrals consist of 470 Baker Act referrals for individuals with mental health issues and more than 900 referrals for individuals in need of detox services.

In regard to his personal involvement in addressing homelessness in Sarasota, Sutton said, “I have personally served on the Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness; I was one of the founding members and I continue to serve on their board. I’m a member of the advisory board for the Salvation Army and both the Sarasota Police Department and the City of Sarasota support me doing those things.”

Sutton also stated that SPD was the first law enforcement agency in the area to dedicate an officer specifically to help the homeless, creating the Homeless Liaison Officer position whose duties include providing better interaction with the homeless and continued referral services for those in need.

I then asked Capt. Sutton for his thoughts on a recent letter to the editor written by former Sarasota Police Officer Bob Gorevan. In his letter, Gorevan states his belief that officers get mixed signals from City Hall and the department in regard to how to deal with the homeless.

Sutton replied by saying, “I think City Hall has provided a consistent message. I don’t agree with that letter. The consistent message has been, ‘These are the ordinances that we’ve passed that we expect you to enforce,’ and that’s what we do. If the city passes a new ordinance, then we are obligated to enforce it.”

He went on to say, “If there’s an unclear message in the mind of an officer then that’s something that needs to be addressed. We can provide additional training for our officers to make sure everyone’s on the same page, but the bottom line is homeless people are a part of our community. We will provide services to homeless individuals like we do for all citizens.

“We will work cases that involve homeless victims. We will refer homeless people in need of services to the appropriate services and will only make arrests when there’s a violation of state statutes or city ordinances. We don’t write state statutes and city ordinances, we only enforce them”

The City Manager Weighs InNewly appointed City Manager Thomas Barwin took exception to the ACLU tactics of calling a press conference at City Hall without at least informing city officials ahead of time, or offering to discuss the matter privately before going public with it.

“I think the representation that the city has a war on the homeless couldn’t be further from the truth. This community raises over $10 million a year to address homelessness,” he said, referring in part to the Salvation Army, Resurrection House and the city-funded Street Team job training program that is run by the Salvation Army.

In regard to the “bum hunting” text message references made by officers Joshua Vance and Jacob Nelson that trigged that ACLU press conference, Barwin said, “You may have had the comments of one or two officers exploited here to try to misrepresent the whole community and the police department. If that did occur we will deal with it firmly and swiftly and clearly it’s not acceptable, but this community does a lot for the homeless and will continue to do a lot for the homeless.”

He then suggested another means by which the ACLU could help address homelessness, saying, “If the ACLU and Mr. Barfield want to do something, I challenge them to raise $500,000 in 2013  and come to the table with some resources, some ideas and some new strategies that we might employ, but don’t condemn the police department for having to deal with really tough situations  when they’re really are very few alternatives.”

Barwin also suggested that Barfield’s motives extended beyond the protection of the civil rights of the homeless, saying, “I think the community is beginning to understand Mr. Barfield’s patterns. He will look around until he can find a comment or a situation that he can blow up, which he’s done in this case, and the city ends up in court a week or two later.

“He’s a legal consultant; he works very closely with an attorney here in town (Andrea Mogensen) --- we’ve been in court already during my first 90 days here, where he is the plaintiff and his partner is the plaintiff’s attorney, and at the end of these cases they petition for legal fees. So, there is a business angle to all of this on the part of the part of the people that are raising this issue with the public.

“That’s not to say that we are not going to continue to deal with the homeless situation or that we are not going to continue with the training of our police officers and their behavior. If this is true, we appreciate it being brought to our attention, but I think the public needs to know the whole story and what the pattern is here.”

Barwin took issue with the fact that city officials were not notified of the press conference in advance. He said he found it from an email that arrived 10 minutes before the press conference began.

“We could really help the homeless more if this had been brought in and at least shared with us five minutes before the press conference or a day ahead of time so maybe we could have done a constructive joint statement to bring solutions to the problem.”

Barwin said he supports the Step Up plan to end homelessness and wants to pursue the ideas contained in it, with the realization that millions more in funding needs to be raised for the plan’s most ambitious ideas to be realized.

“This is a national problem, a state problem, a regional challenge. You feel for the people that are in that situation. I think we as a community need to rally and do everything we can to address it, but we need a lot of partners. It would be nice if the ACLU would step up and be a true partner and help raise some money to be a part of the solution.”

Herald-Tribune columnist Tom Lyons criticized Barwin for his comments about Barfield, suggesting that the city manager is “attacking the messenger instead of the problem.”

When I had Barfield on my Local Matters radio show last week, I asked him about the idea that some of the ACLU’s actions are profit-motivated. Barfield said that he regrets that the city taxpayers wind up being on the hook for settlements and legal fees, but he would not apologize for defending those he feels are treated unfairly by the city and its police department. Barfield said he feels that if city employees and officials would avoid such mishaps then there would be no need to take the city to court at the taxpayers’ expense.

The city manager did express optimism that better days lie ahead, saying, "I’m still new, our new chief will be coming on board in January. We hope to take what we call 'partnership policing' to a new level, and part of that will be making sure that each and every one of our officers know who all the partners are in terms of this support system and for the homeless community, and try to train and deal with it in the most humane and sophisticated way that we can, but you’re still going to have those incidents when somebody (the homeless) is just out of control.

He concluded his thoughts on the matter by saying, "Ninety-nine percent of our contacts with the homeless are of a supportive, referral, constructive nature, and most of the homeless work with us and comply when an issue emerges. We would like to do more, but that’s going to be resource dependent.”

All of this sounds well and good, until Thursday afternoon the Sarasota Herald-Tribune uncovered yet another example of excessive force being used by a Sarasota Police officer. Video obtained by the newspaper shows Sarasota Police officer Derrick Gilbert pushing a homeless man named Roger Alan Fields face-first into a metal bus ticket booth in October, resulting in serious injuries.

City Manager Barwin has called for the immediate suspension of Officer Gilbert and is quoted in the story as saying, the incident “was clearly excessive force and will be referred to internal affairs immediately.” The story also quotes Barwin as saying, “This will not be tolerated. I'm getting tired of it.”

Barwin's not the only one getting tired of it. Incoming Police Chief Bernadette DiPino cannot get here fast enough. She will have a lot of cleaning house to do when she arrives in January. In my opinion, our police department is out of control and needs a serious shake up, with officers needing to be fired if they can't get with the program. This is intolerable and an embarrassment to the city.

- You can read about the Nov. 27 ACLU press conference at “ACLU calls out Sarasota Police Department for ‘bum hunting.’”