Austin police chief assaulted by member of Dragworm American community (for values of assault that include just getting pushed).
In an amazing coincidence, the local media suddenly realizes that aggressive panhandlers are assaulting people. “Downtown APD Commander Jason Dusterhoft tells KVUE News they received more than 900 calls last year — regarding three homeless individuals alone.”
Thanks to KrimeLabb (which I should really add to the local/Texas links section), we have a pretty good idea of exactly who these people are:
Sadly, this is not a new problem, and it’s getting worse. “For the first seven months of FY 2013, there have been more homeless-related downtown community court cases than in all of FY 2012.” And it’s not just limited to downtown.
Putting aside the fact that the legalization of drugs would eliminate some (not all) of public nuisance arrests, this is not a problem that will have any easy solutions; nor, indeed, any solution at all as long as liberals on the Austin City Council consider Homelessness next to Godliness.
Tags: Austin, Crime, homeless, transients
No one has said anything publicly, but I suspect the homeless problem downtown will be solved soon enough. Downtown is rapidly filling up with the sort of residents who can get their emails and telephone calls to City Hall returned, and they will not allow their expensive investment in living downtown will not be threatened by feral humans. The other factor is that ARCH, Caritas and the Sallie are attractive targets for well-heeled developers looking for land for their next highrise. Money talks, and homeless people will walk, sooner rather than later.
They’ll all be dumped on eastern Travis County, of course.