VERO BEACH – Mayor Dick Winger requested a discussion about security ordinances and procedures, alluding to recent and alarming safety incidents that have occurred within city limits.
City Manager Jim O’Connor acknowledged the need for discussion especially in light of the fatal stabbing authorities say was committed by a homeless man that occurred on Sept. 1, outside of McDonald’s on US 1.
Most of Winger’s concerns revolved around the issue of panhandling, loitering, vagrancy, and trespassing.
“Do you have what you need to protect the people and guests of Vero Beach?” Winger asked Police Chief David Currey as Currey took to the podium during Tuesday evening’s City Council meeting.
“Yes, absolutely,” Currey responded.
According to Chief Currey, private property owners and business owners within the city limits have recently been encouraged to sign affidavits that serve to assist the police in combating panhandling, trespassing, and loitering.
Currey said business owners from the K-Mart Plaza all the way to Miracle Mile and the Treasure Coast Plaza on 20th Street have the affidavits.
O’Connor explained to City Council and the public that private property owners have the right to formally cite a vagrant living on private property. If the property owner has to deliver a second notice on account of the same person, he or she can be arrested and incarcerated for 14 days.
Additionally, O’Connor said steps have been taken to secure public parks, including Pocahontas Park on 21st Street and 14th Avenue where homeless people were found gathering. A pavilion was removed from the park and electric to the park shut off to discourage the homeless from charging their cell phones there.
Councilman Craig Fletcher asked Chief Currey about the police department’s policy on offering rides for the homeless to a shelter or safe place.
Fletcher referred to information that was released about the homeless man accused of the Sept. 1 stabbing who allegedly called police and asked for a ride to jail the night before.
“We are not a taxi service, but we are here to serve the public,” Currey said. He added that if a police officer determined a person was “truly in need of a ride” to a safer place, that police officer would indeed offer the ride. Currey also reminded council members that police were limited on the number of shelters in Vero Beach they could transport a homeless person to.
Fletcher recommended the Chief encourage officers to err on the side of caution and offer a ride to a homeless person in need rather than allow that person to become a possible threat to the public.
O’Connor praised the Vero Beach Police Department for protecting the residents and visitors of Vero Beach and enforcing the law.