LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – FOX5 asked Las Vegas Metropolitan Police about its policies to enforce the city’s long-standing camping ban, as Clark County takes its own steps to stop the unhoused from sleeping on sidewalks.
Tuesday, Clark County commissioners instructed staff to craft an ordinance mirroring the language proposed by the City of Las Vegas. The city looks to strengthen its current sidewalk ban, in light of a summer Supreme Court decision on homeless encampments.
“We can encourage a lot of these individuals who have basically been resistant to care, to come forward – or take them to jail. But we needed that stick, and now we have that stick,” said Chair Tick Segerblom during a September 23 camping cleanup along Charleston Blvd. and the US 95. Segerblom introduced the proposal.
FOX5 asked Metro Police about its policies: how does it enforce the current ordinance from the City of Las Vegas?
According to a spokesperson for LVMPD, the department and Intergovernmental Services continue to police the ordinance in the same manner: constantly focusing on education with the city’s MORE teams, dispatching LVMPD’s Homeless Outreach or “HOT” teams to offer services, and continuing to warn people about the law.
Citation will continue to be a “last resort,” a spokesperson said, telling FOX5 that police cannot “arrest our way out of that problem.”
According to the ACLU of Nevada, in its research, since the city enacted its hotly-debated ordinance in 2020, recent records requests show barely a handful of tickets have been issued.
“It demonstrates this is not popular amongst police officers. They did not sign up to become police officers to drag poor people to jail for sleeping on the sidewalk because they couldn’t afford housing,” said director Athar Haseebullah, who has voiced criticism over the City’s ordinance and proposed amendments. He said staff are now concerned over the County’s efforts to develop a similar ordinance.
Haseebullah calls any enforcement a burden on law enforcement and taxpayers, while the focus from local leaders should continue to be a far greater investment in affordable housing and social services.
The ACLU argues that the recent SCOTUS decision applied to civil penalties for sidewalk camping. Haseebullah said attorneys could review and challenge penalties from the city and county.
FOX5 has reported on frustrations from residents across the county’s east side who live along the trails and highways and constantly deal with the trash and crime caused by encampments. Neighbors have told FOX5 that they want long-term solutions to encampments constantly returning, and welcome any law enforcement intervention.
“[Campers] leave and then they come back as soon as Metro leaves,” said Dianna Mendez, a concerned community member who lives three miles south along US 95 and Twain Avenue.
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