News

Dallas Police Go After Downtown Panhandlers DALLAS (KERA) - A new zero tolerance program aimed at downtown Dallas "panhandlers" kicked off Wednesday. Organizers call the battle against panhandling a quality of life issue.

Two dozen additional Dallas Police officers are now working the downtown beat, and a priority will be "zero tolerance" for panhandling. John Crawford, with the business organization Downtown Dallas, says panhandling is a nuisance to visitors, workers and the several thousand people who now call downtown "home."

Crawford: What we are doing at this point is putting more teeth into the enforcement part to what's already on the books. And so, the additional 24 officers and our Safety Patrol is going to make what we think will be a major difference.

City officials say the majority of people ticketed for panhandling toss the ticket and don't pay, or clear their ticket by spending a couple of nights in jail. Crawford and others believe the zero tolerance "visibility" will cut down on the number of panhandlers.

Send E-mail to BJ Austin

© Copyright 2010, KERA