Southpinellas: Homeless camp raid to be reviewed

Police Chief Chuck Harmon on Tuesday ordered a review of last week's raids on homeless camps during which tents were seized and sometimes slashed by police.

Harmon's order comes as the Police Department and city administrators are facing widespread public outcry over Friday's raids.

In some cases, police officers tore apart tents while homeless people were still inside, cutting the fabric with scissors, knives and box cutters.

The raid on a camp at 15th Street and Fifth Avenue N came just days after two homeless men were slain. Police have not identified a clear motive for the killings.

Police Maj. Melanie Bevan, the officer who came up with the idea of cutting away tents if homeless people protested by refusing to leave them, will write an after-action memorandum; she has 60 days to give her findings to Harmon.

Police officials usually write such after-action memorandums after staffing large events like the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade or First Fridays.

Since the raids, more tents have gone up, and police say they do not anticipate taking additional action.

In an interview Tuesday, Bevan said she regretted the public perception created by the raids.

She said her goals for the operation included eliminating the fire safety hazards at the homeless camps, like a lack of fire extinguishers, and to avoid arresting the homeless.

"We received quite a bit of negative publicity," Bevan said. "We need to take a look at how we handled this and if we could have handled it better."

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Comments on this article

by Karen	06/29/07 12:28 AM
I am sure that someone took away their house or apartment before ending up homeless. All they had left was a tent to live in, and the police took that away from them too.

by Marcos	01/26/07 10:29 PM
Tent cities should be somewhere outside of town where they don't affect the quality of life or safety of people who WORK for a living. If you choose to live in a tent and stay drunk, you have to get money somehow.

by John	01/26/07 03:49 PM
Paul - post your address cause I want to sell my house, stop paying taxes, quit my job and start drinking. May I pitch my tent in your yard and use your shower? Will you pay for my food or would you prefer your hard earned dollars go somewhere else?

by Carol	01/26/07 03:34 PM
Unless these police hooligans are controlled, they may decide to smash your windshield if you're parking overtime. Some of these homeless are saving up for a first and last month's rent deposit. How many policemen can cough up @2,000 in a hurry?

by Paul	01/25/07 05:13 PM
The reason I moved to St Pete 12 years ago was because everyone was low key and relaxed. Look at all the unfriendly pretentious people here now and the comments below. Leave people alone, plain and simple. If they live in a tent, SO WHAT!! let it be.

by Daniel	01/25/07 01:53 PM
Grant! Can you eat freedom? Can you wear it? Does it keep you warm? No. That's why the bums are begging for a handout on the street. So I say the responisible citizen who gets up, goes to work, and supports their family is richer. The other's a waste

by Robert	01/24/07 10:50 PM
The homeless are homeless because they want to be homeless. You can tell from their comments. Dodging taxes, sherking responsibility, drug using, panhandling, human debris. So what, they need to get off their asses, get jobs and earn the money.

by Kim	01/24/07 10:08 PM
These were all newer tents. They were all flame retardent per manufactuers standards! Where is the fire hazard?

by paul	01/24/07 08:54 PM
baker,metz,davis,harmone,bevens,and whoever else involved in the attempted "cleansing" of the city of the homeless should resign immediately or be fired. now i know why harmone lives outside the city.

by Samm	01/24/07 08:17 PM
Bevan regrets the "Public Perception." How trite. She's more worried about her career standing than her lack of compassion and social justice. She should be demoted or fired for this terror & loss of Civil liberties on our vunerable . Harmon too

by Grant	01/24/07 07:35 PM
Who is richer... the man who works for 30 years to pay for his house or the homeless man who carries his house with him and has 30 years of freedom? Cutting the tents was unnecessary and cruel.

by Karen	01/24/07 06:57 PM
"Widespread public outcry"? Those of us who had to drive past the tents on MLK on our way home from a 10 hour shift at work are saying Hurray!!!! There is a difference between Homelessness and Vagrancy. Help the homeless but don't enable the vagrants

by jeff	01/24/07 02:44 PM
There should be bus service for the homeless that don't comply w/ the rules of 'tent city' maybe say; to Miami for the superbowl! this city has gone way out to make it clean and safe and the homeless need to comply or move on.keep up the good work!

by John	01/24/07 01:43 PM
Everyone wants tents? Fine. Property should be found in the city on which the homeless may "live" in tents. Any person found sleeping on city streets outside the tent community should be arrested and when released driven to the city limits and dumped