It’s Against The Law To Be Homeless (Part 6) “What Can We Do?”

So what can we do to help?

     1) You can pray for politicians, churches, and individuals to get involved with organizations that help the homeless.

     2) You can get out of your chair and volunteer with organizations that help the homeless, or maybe support that organization financially.

     3) Next time you see a homeless person instead of walking by them; maybe you can stop and talk to that person.

    4) You need to understand that you can make a difference. I hear people say, but I’m only one person what difference can I make? That kind of thinking is dangerous. Also ignore anyone who says you can’t make a difference.

    5) If you go to a Church you can ask how they help homeless people.

 

It’s Against The Law To Be Homeless (Part 5) “Where can I go”

One of the hardest things about being homeless is finding a place that you can sleep. If you don’t have a car you sleep in the woods, under a bridge, in a parking lot wherever you can find a place to sleep. Let’s say that you don’t have a place to live but you still have a car. You probable think that you would pull your car into a parking lot and sleep there.

There is this couple who came to Virginia Beach with only their car, and immediately went to the police station to find out where they could sleep in their car until they get back on their feet. It is unusual for homeless people to take this step because they often don’t want to be recognized by the police. This person was told where they could sleep in their car while they get back on their feet. Well two weeks later this couple got a ticket for sleeping in their car. This couple doesn’t drink or do drugs, and they are working and trying to get back on their feet. Its things like this that really causes people to get frustrated.

I want to reiterate my support and love for the police department. No one is perfect and that includes police officers, and I understand how tough their job is and appreciate everything they do. I posted this entry not as an indictment of the police department, but to share with you how law abiding citizens can be hit bad times. Once they get to this point there are allot of obstacles that can frustrate them.

 

It’s Against The Law To Be Homeless (Part 3) “Even when I’m not breaking the law I feel like I am”

Have you ever been driving down the interstate when a state police starts following behind you. You start to look around making sure your doing the speed limit, then his lights come on and you’re like “darn” what did I do. You pull over and you’re still trying to figure out what you did wrong. He goes by you and you realize that he is after someone else. Even though you weren’t doing anything wrong, when his lights come on you feel like you probable did something wrong. Take that feeling, but you feel that way every time you see a police officer.

Every Sunday morning I take coffee and pastries to the homeless at the oceanfront, I really enjoy it because it is a great time to get to know people. So one Sunday we are sharing breakfast and laughing and joking, when two Virginia Beach police officers on bicycles pull up to where we are. I didn’t notice them pull up; however, I did notice that everyone got quiet. Then I noticed the police officers looking around and all of the homeless had this scared look on their faces. I kind of smiled at the police officer, then he looked away from me toward a couple of homeless people and said, “What is going on here”, and nobody answered. I then looked at the police officer and said, “I’m sharing breakfast with some of my friends”, and then I continued, “We are not breaking any laws are we?” Then he looked at me and said, “It’s a free country, I guess”. As they drove off I thanked them for serving the city and told them to have a great day. Ever since that day I will never forget those words “It’s a free country, I guess”, and I’m sure the homeless that were there got the message he was sending.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights….” If these words sound familiar they should, they are from The Declaration of Independence. It is by these very words that everyone in our country is guaranteed justice. I wonder if the homeless feel that these words apply to them.

 

It’s Against The Law To Be Homeless (Part 2) “Stay Awake”

So you might be asking why I titled this blog series, “it’s against the law to be homeless” when there are no laws making it unlawful to be homeless. Well it’s not illegal to homeless, but it is against the law to sleep in certain places. First, it is against the law to sleep at the oceanfront from 8PM till 8AM. So, if you’re homeless you can sleep on the sand at the oceanfront from 8AM till 8PM legally; however, if you take this route you will get severe burns. PIN has seen homeless people with sun burns that were so severe that they needed medical attention at the hospital. Our nurses do an awesome job of trying to treat problems dealing with being over exposed to the sun; however, there is no way to prevent these kinds of problems when you’re outside all the time. The homeless are welcome to sit in the library and read books, but if they fall asleep they will get kicked out. There is also no place in public areas where the homeless are permitted to sleep outside. So if you are homeless and can just go without sleep then you have no problems.

So do the homeless people really get tickets for sleeping outside? Usually between September and April unless they are breaking a law they don’t get ticketed, but between May and August allot of tickets are given out for sleeping in public. Mmmm…. wonder why so many ticket are given out during the summer in Virginia Beach? Just two weeks ago allot of homeless people got ticketed for sleeping in public. The police are justified in ticketing people for sleeping in public, because it’s against the law. The problem is there are not enough beds for all the homeless people in Virginia Beach, so if you are homeless there is probable not a bed for you. I could see giving people a ticket if they had an option to sleep in a bed, but refused to. If you don’t have a bed to sleep in at night then you basically have to break the law, because everyone has to sleep.

A second issue is a lack sleep, When you have to sleep on the ground worried about getting caught you will not get a good night sleep. If you do this for long enough it will start to effect how you live. Have you ever gone a short period of time without a good night sleep how does that make you feel? Now imagine doing that for one, two, maybe ten years.

PIN gives homeless people tents to sleep out in the woods, but once again because they are breaking the law by sleeping where they are not authorized the tents get confiscated or destroyed. So even if you are trying to be a law abiding citizen as soon as you go to sleep you have just broke the law.

Next Post “Even when I’m not breaking the law I feel like I am”

 

It’s Against The Law To Be Homeless (Part 1) “Introduction”

I want to start this series of post by making some general statements about PIN and me, Dallas Stamper. First, I love police officers, and I’m so thankful that we have the Virginia Beach Police to protect us from people who commit crimes. I have some very good friends that are police officers, and I lead a Bible study every week and there are a couple police officers in it and they are two of the nicest and coolest people I know.

Secondly, when faced with social problems we often see people starting protest against the government; even Christians tend to get swept up in the trend of protesting the government. I don’t see one example in the Bible of Jesus protesting the government, and there were plenty of things that needed to be changed when Jesus walked on earth. However, I see plenty of examples of Jesus chastising religious leaders when they aren’t doing the right things. Here is the deal, Christians have access to God, the creator of heaven and earth; and I believe our time is better spent praying than protesting. So if you are a Christian and you are mad or some emotions stir during this series of post, please don’t create a sign and head to city hall. I would ask you to join me in praying for the homeless, and maybe you can motivate your church to so the same. Finally, I believe the most effective way to change things is to reach out and help someone. If everyone in the city of Virginia Beach was going out to help homeless people you can believe that things would change.

When my daughter Megan was 5 and my son Kenny was an infant, my son was laying on a blanket and my wife told Megan she was going into the other room for a couple minutes, and she could under no circumstance pick up Kenny and carry him. So my wife went into the bedroom for a couple minutes. When she returned Kenny was on the other side of the room and at this time he couldn’t crawl. So Anne looked at Megan and said, “I told you not to pick up Kenny and you disobeyed me.” Megan replied, “No I didn’t mom”, then Anne said “well how did he get on the other side of the room.” Megan replied, “I rolled him over there”. Let me start by saying there is no law in Virginia Beach that says it’s illegal to be homeless, but there are laws that make it impossible to be homeless without breaking the law. Just like Megan did in the story above there are ways to get something accomplished without doing it the way you would expect it to be done. Although, it is not against the law to be homeless there are ways to make homeless people feel that they don’t belong.

So in the next 2 weeks I will share stories that I’ve witnessed and that homeless people have shared with me about how it has been made clear to them that it is illegal to be homeless.