City police have wrongly seized and destroyed the property of homeless people who make their camps in Anchorage woods, parks and greenbelts, a new lawsuit contends. The suit calls the city's approach a violation of homeless individuals' constitutional rights.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska takes aim at a city law passed in July that says police can clear out illegal camps from public lands after giving as little as 12 hours' notice.
Then-Police Chief Rob Heun told Anchorage Assembly members last summer that police needed the tool to clear out camps as quickly as possible in the interest of public safety.
If camp occupants don't comply, police officers and a private group they work with can stuff their belongings into trash bags and pile them on the roadside for pickup.
The lawsuit filed in Anchorage Superior Court protests "the pattern, practice and official policy of the municipality of Anchorage to confiscate and destroy the property of Anchorage's homeless residents."
"Taking the sleeping bags and tents from homeless campers, who often have nowhere else to go, deprives the poorest among us of the few possessions they have -- possessions vital to survival in Anchorage's climate," the ACLU lawsuit said.
The city acknowledges that the campers have property rights and says the fight is over the particulars of how they should be acknowledged. Clearing out illegal campsites is good public policy and may have already saved lives, according to the municipal attorney's office.
"These are illegal campsites. The occupants are violating municipal codes. Tragically, the occupants are dying, being victimized, or creating safety and health hazards," assistant municipal attorney Dean Gates wrote in response to questions.
City lawyers don't believe police have swept away any camps with just 12 hours' warning anyway.
"It's usually been days, so the ACLU is anticipating something that's not likely to happen," Municipal Attorney Dennis Wheeler said earlier this week.
City lawyers say they tried to negotiate a resolution with the ACLU. ACLU lawyer Thomas Stenson, who filed the suit, says that the city abruptly broke off the talks. The organization was pushing for homeless campers to get two weeks' notice before their property is seized; the city thought that was too long.
At any rate, no fixes have been proposed to the Anchorage Assembly. Now the weather is warming. More homeless people will turn to camping, advocates say.
"We have to protect homeless people. They are currently at risk," said Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the ACLU of Alaska.
HIDDEN EVERYWHERE
The camps are spread across the city, hidden in the brush and woods, sometimes just yards off of Anchorage's busiest streets or most popular trails. They have popped up from Oceanview to Muldoon, along greenbelts, in city parks, in vacant lots. But when police shut down a camp, advocates say the campers often just regroup and move deeper into the woods.
The suit is filed on behalf of Dale Engle, 52, an Army veteran who says he's been homeless off and on since 1979. The ACLU hopes to have it certified as a class-action on behalf of all homeless campers whose property is subject to being seized.
In the spring of 2009, Engle was living in Muldoon woods when his sleeping bag, tent and other personal items were disposed of by police or their agents, the suit says. At some point, his military ribbons also were confiscated and destroyed, the suit contends.
Engle told reporters at a news conference called by the ACLU that he lost everything, even the checkerboard his father handcrafted from spruce.
"They were personal items of my own that I carried up through childhood. It's all gone. It's just a memory now."
He said he's still homeless and camping.
LOOKING FOR ANSWERS
The suit comes as Mayor Dan Sullivan's homeless leadership team is crafting recommendations to address the long-vexing problem of homeless alcoholics.
Some team members and others are trying to design a response system that could provide real help -- like an apartment -- for homeless people whose camps are being shut down.
Twelve hours' notice is not enough time for social agencies to organize help, said Nancy Burke, a program officer with the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, a member of the mayor's homeless team, and chair of the ad hoc effort.
Much of the camp clearing is carried out through the Anchorage Responsible Beverage Retailers Association, which is led by former Brown Jug liquor store chain owner Ed O'Neill. He said this week he's begun waiting a month or so after a camp is posted for closure, to give people time to move on.
The suit raises other issues with the ordinance in addition to the notice period. For instance, the law doesn't give homeless people the chance to argue their camp is legitimately on private land before they are forced to clear out, the suit says. In addition, the city doesn't give homeless people the chance to reclaim seized property. Instead, it's thrown away, the lawsuit said.
The ACLU is asking the city to agree to a moratorium until a resolution can be reached. It will put the lawsuit on hold if the city agrees to temporarily stop the sweeps of homeless camps. If not, the ACLU will seek a court order to halt the property seizures, Mittman told news reporters Wednesday.
City attorneys were skeptical. Ultimately, Sullivan and City Manager George Vakalis will decide how to proceed, the city lawyers said.
The Assembly approved the 12-hour notice unanimously in July. At the time, some of the members voiced concerns. Now some say they are convinced changes are needed.
Assembly member Mike Gutierrez said Wednesday if the Sullivan administration doesn't come up with a fix, he expects the Assembly will. People have the right to their property, he said, even if they've left it where they shouldn't.
Find Lisa Demer online at adn.com/contact/ldemer or call 257-4390.
Mountain View homeless camp cleared out (Oct. 29
By LISA DEMER
ldemer@adn.com