Duluth Human Rights Commission pans proposed loitering ordinance
Published August 26, 2011, 12:00 AM Duluth Human Rights Commission pans proposed loitering ordinance A proposed city ordinance to regulate loitering with the intent to engage in prostitution or sell drugs is “absolute trash,” according to a Duluth lawyer who sits on the city’s Human Rights Commission.By: Mark Stodghill , Duluth News Tribune
A proposed city ordinance to regulate loitering with the intent to engage in prostitution or sell drugs is “absolute trash,” according to a Duluth lawyer who sits on the city’s Human Rights Commission.
However, while lawyer Robert Kaner wanted to recommend that the proposed ordinance be killed, seven of nine Human Rights commissioners voted Thursday to recommend that the City Council continue to table the ordinance until there can be further public input and review.
Commission Chairman Scott Yeazle joined Kaner in wanting the ordinance killed.
“I don’t think it can stand a test in the courts,” Kaner said after the special meeting of the Human Rights Commission in City Hall. “Police currently have power to make arrests when they see crimes committed. This ordinance, what they’re trying to do is stop people before they commit crimes. So that means the whole community as they’re walking around downtown are subject to this, solely up to the discretion of the officer.”
City Councilor Jeff Anderson, who proposed the ordinance, said Thursday night that he will ask that it remain tabled for further public input. It was tabled for the same reason at a council meeting earlier this month.
Kaner said he expects that the first time someone is ticketed because of an officer’s observation of his or her behavior, that person will contact the American Civil Liberties Union and the city of Duluth will be sued. “We’re going to be mired in court litigation for false arrest, for violation of rights” he said. “It’s void for vagueness. Unenforceable. Nobody knows what the standards are.
Duluth Police Department - News
Mike Tusken, deputy chief of the Duluth police patrol division, said the proposed ordinance was tailored after a similar ordinance in Minneapolis. Matt Laible, of the Minneapolis Communications Department, said Thursday that the Minneapolis ordinance
The Cloquet Police Department is asking the public if they have any information about the attempted robbery at Casino Pizza and Sub Shop to call them at 218-879-1247. As of Wednesday, no leads had yet been received in the case. A similar crime occurred
Gwinnett Police are continuing to investigate a shooting at the Landmark at Bella Vista Apartments in unincorporated Duluth. Police officers responded to a report of a man shot in the face at the apartment complex located at 4015 Satellite Blvd. about
Detectives determined that the man who was shot was the "primary aggressor," Cpl. Jake Smith of the Gwinnett County Police Department said in a news release. The incident took place at the Landmark at Bella Vista Apartments in the 4000 block of
So if we can step in and make things a little nicer then that's what we're here for," added Duluth Police Chief Randy Belcher. Johnson told Kavanaugh he and his family are moving forward by focusing on what they have, not what they lost.
Duluth Police Implement Landlord Notification Program – The Omega Blog
Communities with significant numbers of residential rental units and other non-owner occupied multi-unit housing are familiar with the fact that these locations are the source of frequent repeat calls to law enforcement to deal with a wide variety of criminal disturbances. For the City of Duluth, its stock of approximately sixteen thousand rental dwelling units translates into 40,000 to 50,000 calls for police service annually. This volume of calls requires direct landlord involvement to mitigate the inordinate demand for police response.
The Duluth Police implemented the Landlord Notification Program earlier this year in order to provide e-mail alerts to landlords of reported crime incidents at their properties so that they could take steps to prevent recurrences. This automated internal system is an adaptation of the Duluth Police’s CrimeView®, a crime analysis technology information service provided by The Omega Group.
CrimeView® tracks crime incidents geographically by directly linking to crime incident data from the department’s records system and presenting the incidents visually as icons on a map of the city to be viewed on a personal computer or portable communication device. CrimeView® sends e-mail alerts to property owners displaying the location and summary description of crime incidents at their properties when calls for service exceed the police department’s designated minimum threshold. Since the system identifies the exact address of the location, the department has taken careful steps to limit the release of this information only to landlords.
Property owners and managers are able to exclusively enroll in the Landlord Notification Program by providing property identification information from their business rental license to the police which is cross checked and verified with the city’s Building and Licensing Department to make sure they are the actual owners. Thereafter, the landlords receive a CrimeView® generated e-mail alert informing them of any crime incidents at their specific properties usually within 24 hours of occurrence. The landlords can then inquire with the tenants as to the circumstances of the incident and remind them that their lease agreement specifically includes a tenant obligation to reside crime free and drug free.The landlords are very appreciative of this early warning system because it helps to avoid the fines and penalties that they are subject to when police are repeatedly called to respond to disturbances at their properties. As Chief of Police Gordon Ramsay explains, “The landlords want to be cooperative and to deal with any problem tenants. However, in the past, they complained that they were not made aware of the problems until the late stages only after receiving notice that the city was imposing fees or suspending their rental license. Unfortunately, this situation could not be avoided due to limited police officer resources and the high volume of disturbance calls at rental units. Now the landlords can know right away when there is a problem.