WASHINGTON — Homeless folks in DC might be given the choice of going to a shelter — or, in the event that they refuse, jail — as a part of President Trump’s sweeping crime crackdown within the capital, White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned Tuesday.
“The brand new federal businesses who’ve been surging on the streets of the District of Columbia are going to implement the legal guidelines which are already on the books right here in Washington, DC,” Leavitt mentioned.
“For a lot too lengthy, these legal guidelines have been fully ignored and the homelessness drawback has ravaged the town. So DC Code 22-1307 and DC Municipal Regulation 24-100 give the Metropolitan Police Division the authority to take motion in the case of homeless encampments.”
Leavitt mentioned that “homeless people might be given the choice to go away their encampment, to be taken to a homeless shelter to be provided habit or psychological well being providers, and in the event that they refuse, they are going to be prone to fines or to jail time once more.”
Trump on Monday asserted federal management over the three,400-officer DC Metropolitan Police Division and ordered the DC Nationwide Guard and a whole bunch of federal brokers onto the streets to deal with crime.
The president cited many high-profile latest crimes in DC, together with the Aug. 3 assault on former Division of Authorities Effectivity staffer Edward Coristine, 19, throughout an alleged tried carjacking and the June 30 homicide of congressional intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, 21, in a drive-by taking pictures.
“Whereas we’re concentrating on criminals and attempting to take away criminals off of the streets, we additionally need to make DC protected and exquisite,” Leavitt mentioned Tuesday.
“That entails eradicating mentally disturbed people and homeless encampments as effectively. So we might be utilizing these rules and codes that exist already to scrub up our streets.”
Leavitt mentioned that US Park Police, which has jurisdiction over most of DC’s main site visitors circles and triangles, will work alongside MPD to accommodate or incarcerate the homeless, who throughout Mayor Muriel Bowser’s prior cleanup makes an attempt have migrated in response to crackdowns.
“America Park Police has really finished exceptional work when it comes to eradicating homeless encampments from the town,” she mentioned.
Since March, “70 homeless encampments have been eliminated by the US Park Police,” Leavitt mentioned.
“There are solely two homeless encampments remaining in DC federal parks beneath the Nationwide Park Service’s jurisdiction, and the removing of these two remaining camps is scheduled for this week.”
