Elgin will start 24/7 police detail downtown after complaints about homeless
Just like last summer, business and property owners in downtown Elgin have ramped up complaints about the behavior of homeless people - such as littering, soiling and sleeping on public property - so police officers will start patrolling the area 24/7 beginning Saturday through Oct. 1.
The city did that last year, with 24/7 police patrols downtown - with few exceptions due to staffing shortages or major calls elsewhere - from August to September. That got positive reviews from business owners and cost $82,300 in overtime; based on that, the cost for eight weeks would be about $131,700.
Police Chief Ana Lalley also said several people were or are being notified they are due in court for administrative hearings because they meet the criteria for being classified as public nuisances. Individuals found guilty of three nuisances in one year are banned for 90 days, and later for 180 days, from public parks and the downtown area. Violating the ban triggers a criminal trespass charge, punishable by up to six months in jail.
Downtown business owner Karin Jones said having more police downtown might help but the underlying issue is that homeless people are in need of services such as housing and mental health and substance abuse treatment.
"What can we do collaboratively?" she said. "Nobody knows what the answer is but let's work together so we can help one another."
Chief Lalley agreed policing is only part of the solution to a complex equation that involves social services, education and more. Also, police can address criminal behaviors but homelessness itself is not a crime, she said.
Councilman Terry Gavin, who brought up the issue at the last city council meeting, said the city is having conversations with the PADS homeless shelter about how to address the situation.
The major problem areas are Carleton Rogers Park, where homeless and other people congregate, and the public parking decks on Chicago/Spring Street and Fulton Street, where people sleep in stairwells and cars, and urinate and defecate, Karin Jones said.
Earlier this month, Jones said, she called 311 to report diarrhea outside her office, which city staff members cleaned up.
According to police data, calls for service in the downtown area for things like intoxication, emotionally distressed people, panhandling, indecent exposure and more are down 6.5% from Jan. 1 to July 22 compared to the same time last year.
One police officer was assigned full-time to downtown in late April and has responded to 66 incidents at Carleton Rogers Park, 37 incidents at the parking deck on Chicago/Spring Street and 28 incidents at the Fulton Street parking deck. There have been 15 arrests, mostly connected to Carleton Rogers Park, for battery, littering, theft, drugs, and aggravated battery, and 108 citations have been issued, 79 of them liquor-related, Lalley said.
Two people, one of them homeless, were charged last month with attacks on three people downtown; two of the victims were homeless, the other one was at Carleton Rogers Park. That was especially concerning to Jones' father Bill Jones, who owns a building on Spring Street. "It's about safety," he said.
About 20 property and business owners met Saturday to discuss their concerns with members of the Downtown Neighborhood Association of Elgin and the police officer assigned to downtown. "There is a lot of frustration but the meeting was productive," Karin Jones said.
There have always been homeless people downtown but the numbers have grown in recent years, said Pat Sakolari Sr., who attended the meeting and owns several properties including the Elgin Public House building.
He said he was glad to hear the city recently invested in upgrading parking garage cameras and will have officers 24/7 downtown. "It's going to take a lot of heads put together to solve this problem," he said.
Elgin has many church homeless ministries and soup kitchens, and some residents bring food to the homeless at Carleton Rogers Park, all of which can attract more people looking for resources, Gavin and the business owners said.
Also, the COVID-19 pandemic means there are fewer places for homeless people to go, such as the public library and the police station lobby, Chief Lalley said.