Carrot and Stick for Street People
independent.com http://www.independent.com/news/2012/jun/07/carrot-and-stick-street-people/ Carrot and Stick for Street People By Nick Welsh (Contact) Police Pick Up Too Many Transients for Justice System to Handle Thursday, June 7, 2012 Santa Barbara Police Sgt. Ed Olson told a roomful of downtown business owners that his officers were ready, willing, and able to pick up street transients violating the law but said that that the prosecutors, the judges, and the jail simply can’t handle the volume his officers can generate. “No one matches our output,” Olson told the early morning crowd of Downtown Organization members meeting at the library’s Faulkner Gallery. “The problem is bigger than the infrastructure can handle,” Olson said, “not the police department.” Olson — who identified young “travelers” as the biggest nuisance — said his officers often wait until Fridays to arrest transients because that keeps them off the streets for the entire weekend. Bec...