Brookings Police Chief Kelby McCrae put out a press release Monday afternoon addressing citizens concerns regarding the Homeless camp situations around the city.
The citizens of Brookings have valid concerns and questions about the homeless camping at the library. The Ninth Circuit Court case Martin v. City of Boise (2018) has raised many questions regarding the rights of the homeless who are sitting, lying, or sleeping on public property. I want to address some of these concerns and what the Brookings Police Department can do to help mitigate them.
Firstly, being homeless is not a crime and we will not discriminate against the homeless. We will always address crimes and violations when we are notified and requested to do so. We do not see or know about everything that occurs. If you are the victim of a crime or witness one at the library or elsewhere in the city, please call the Brookings Police Department and report it so that we can address it.
Secondly, the library property is not controlled by the city. Yes, the library property is public property but it is separate and distinct from the city’s public property and stands alone. The city’s “camping” ordinances only apply to the city’s public parks, not separate public property not controlled by the city, like the library. The library has its own governing board and director that have procedures they need to go through to address this camping concern.
Due to the library’s abundance of caution in addressing the homeless camping on the library property, as of today, the library board and director have not requested assistance from the Brookings Police Department in addressing those camping on their property. Until they do so we cannot lawfully intervene. If these same issues arise in a city park, we have procedures in place to lawfully address camping on this city controlled property.
If you have specific questions or concerns about the camping at the library they would best be directed to the library as they control that property. They have an executive session meeting at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 7th. If you have general questions about this topic please feel free to call the Brookings Police Department and request to speak with an officer. As members of this community, we too have a vested interest in keeping Brookings a safe town for all to enjoy and will always work with community members to maintain that.
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