WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. By John F. Bailey. November 10, 2006: Reporters were introduced to the real cost of the unsupervised homeless in White Plains Monday afternoon by Mayor Joseph Delfino: White Plains Police have spent a great deal of their time the last ten months responding to “incidents” where homeless persons were involved in assaults, shoplifting, fights, street drinking, collapsing on the street, trespasses, indecent exposure, narcotics, and other quality of life miscues.
A Busy Month of August for the White Plains Police chasing Homeless Calls. The Mayor and Councilman Glen Hockley released a White Plains Police computer-printout of over 600 incidents in 2006 alone, allegedly all involving "Homeless" persons in the White Plains downtown. The report shows how busy the homeless population is keeping the police. Photo of Report by WPCNR News
Asked by reporters about the breakdown of the types of incidents, and where -- the Mayor said they did not have that available. WPCNR was given a copy of the report pages by Councilman Hockley and has reviewed the incidents. Here is what the printout pages tell us:
The report shows that over the first ten months, there were 622 incidents that White Plains Police were called to respond to and patrolmen were sent to investigate. The most frequent “incident” was Drinking (alcoholic beverages) from Open Containers (76), next was dealing with homeless with warrants out on them (75). Police made 53 Miscellaneous Arrests (where the offense was not clear to WPCNR), and responded to 41 Calls for Emergency Treatment, ranging from homeless found unconscious, to bleeding, to injuries; there were 35 responses to reported Trespassings and 25 Shoplifting arrests at stores, Target and Macy’s among them.
Chart Compiled by WPCNR News Based on Review of Police Homeless Incident Reports
January Page of "Homeless" Incidents. The 17 Pages of Incidents provided by the Mayor's Office, cover ten months of 2006 calls police took and responded to that are classified as involving the homeless. Photo, WPCNR News
Altercations and Lewd Behavior.
Police Responded to reported altercations frequently: There were 11 responses for Disorderly Conducts, 13 for Unruly Behavior (shouting, acting out, threatening), and 8 responses to disputes, and 6 to Fights.
Nineteen times police responded to reports of a homeless person exposing themselves.
Twenty times police responded to complaints of finding homeless persons sleeping in stairs and lobbies around the city.
Since most of the homeless sleep in shelters at night, these incidents appear to be being called in during the daylight or early evening hours. Times of the incidents were not readily determined from the report and White Plains Police declined to clarify the nomenclature of the report when WPCNR asked them to do so, saying I had to refer my questions to the Mayor’s office. As of nightfall Thursday evening, the Mayor’s Office had not responded.
Rick Ammirato, the Executive Director of the BID at the news conference did say there were more homeless incidents taking place during the day in the business district, and more panhandling by the homeless.
JULY INCIDENTS INVOLVING THE HOMELESS. Photo by WPCNR News
Homeless Presence in the Downtown
There were 73 Incidents on Main Street, 40 at the City Center, 37 on Mamaroneck Avenue, and 34 on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Fisher Avenue saw 22 Calls for police due to homeless situations, Tibbetts Park, 22. One of the more intriguing Tibbetts Park incidents involved police being called to remove homeless campers there June 23.
The majority of incidents are reported in the White Plains downtown with East and West Post Road the leading locations where police responded 140 times from January 1 to October 31. (The Post Road figure contains 43 incidents where police were asked to appear at 86 E. Post Road, the home of the Grace Church-run Open Arms Shelter).
Locations of "Homeless Incidents" Predominately in the White Plains Downtown. Chart Compiled by WPCNR News from Review of Police Homeless Incident Report
Three Times more Police Calls to Open Arms Shelter
Than 85 Court Street
At Mayor Joseph Delfino’s news conference Monday afternoon where he introduced his ill-fated resolution calling for Westchester County to close 85 Court Street, the “drop-in shelter,” opened last January the Mayor said White Plains houses 15% of the homeless population in the county. He said the White Plains share was more than any other city. They are housed overnight at 85 Court Street, supervised by the Department of Social Services (opened last January), at Open Arms Shelter supervised by Grace Church Community Services, and at the Coachman.
The Mayor and Mr. Hockley pointed out that 85 Court Street houses some level 3 Sex Offenders, and cited the severity of the incidents the computer printout detailed, as the reasons why the county should close the 85 Court Street shelter and move it elsewhere. The Mayor and Mr. Hockley said nothing about removal of the Open Arms Shelter, The Coachman or the Grace Church Samaritan House on Church Street.
The incident report examined by WPCNR indicated only one incident at The Coachman, and none at the Women’s Shelter run by Grace Church on Church Street because that has not been open for most of the 10-month period, and has recently reopened.
However, police responded 43 times to Open Arms Shelter to what appear to be more violent and serious incidents in a better appointed facility. The county negotiated a new contract with Grace Community Services for $600,000 a year to run Open Arms and Samaritan House, and an additional fee to counsel persons at 96 East Post Road.
The atmosphere at 85 Court Street apparently has a more stable crowd based on the statistics: there were only 15 incidents police responded to at 85 Court Street.
Life at the Shelters:
Police Calls to Open Arms dealt with the following 43 incidents:
Active Fight; Field Interview; Male Refusing to Leave Property; Warrant Arrest; Male to Emergency Room; Party Refusing to leave Non-Combative; Party Refusing to Leave Non-Combative; Man Unruly; Male Refusing to Leave; Man Fell Down Stairs, Bleeding from Mouth; Male Refusing to Leave; Suspicious Person; Miscellaneous; Man Not Breathing; Man Passed Out; Man Unconcious; Man, Difficulty Breathing; Warrant Arrest; Female: Male Shoved Her; Miscellaneous; Female: Dizzy Chestpains; Warrant; Possible Overdose; Female Fell Injured; Female High Fever; Female Active Seizures; Harrassment; Missing Items from Wallet; Field Interview; Warrant Arrest; Man Will Not Leave Premises; Trespass; Party Acting Up; CO Violation; Man Refusing to Leave Lot; Complaint of Assault; Warrant; Open Container; Stealing Complaint of IPOD; Man with Warrant; Man Having Seizure; Tresspass Arrest.
At 85 Court-- The County "Drop-In". Police were called to deal with 15 Incidents;
Verbal Dispute; Homeless Initiative; Interview-Warrant; Warrant Arrest; Sex Offender Failure to Register With County; Man Suspicious; Female Unconscious on Street; Field Interview; Man Wants to Leave; Arrest, Open Container; Subject Left Shelter; Subject Left Shelter; C/0 and Warrant Arrest.
Summer Months Higher Incidents.
The months of June July and August and October showed the highest number of incidents involving the homeless, with August the leading month with 95 incidents.
2006 January 1 Through October 31, Month-by Month Homeless Incident Totals:
January: 69
February: 69
March: 44
April: 48
May: 44
June: 51
July: 75
August: 95
September: 54
October: 73
Police Demur to the Mayor’s Office
WPCNR asked Deputy Commissioner Daniel Jackson of the White Plains Department of Public Safety to comment on the figures we derived from the Incident Computer Printouts, including the figures presented above, and if the police could provide their own official totals of the reports for accuracy. Jackson said I should refer my questions to the Mayor’s Office.
WPCNR asked Deputy Commissioner Jackson how the 2006 Crime Statistics look for White Plains after 10 months, and how much of the homeless incidents contribute to those statistics. Commissioner Jackson said that question would have to be referred to The Mayor’s Office.
At the News conference Monday afternoon, Mayor Delfino said the City houses over 500 persons at shelters in White Plains, 15% of the county homeless population, though the city is only 5% of the county population. He called on County Executive Andy Spano to start a dialogue with other cities and towns to deal fairly with the homeless problem. Asked if he had any suggestions in White Plains where the 85 Court Street shelter could be relocated the Mayor said he did not and would not suggest one, saying it was the County responsiblity to seek a site.
