Courts unable to break cycle of street living in SLC


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SALT LAKE CITY — At 4 a.m. on a Thursday morning, officers patrol the park for people committing violations of the law.

One man in handcuffs asked a KSL reporter to turn off the television camera, while another man was questioned by police about a substance on the ground near him. He claimed the substance didn't belong to him.

The police operation went on for several hours and some people were cited for trespassing, others for crimes that are far more serious. For William, the police operation landed him a trip to jail after he admitted to meth.

"When was the last time you used meth?" said one officer. William said he used it that day.

Over the past few weeks, pictures captured multiple drug deals in a several block area around Pioneer Park, including the homeless shelter, and the dining and shopping district. KSL investigators were able to look beyond the thick layer of drug dealers and see something else going on.

There are a number of people, many of them homeless, who offend, reoffend, offend again — and again — and their charges and convictions don't always have to do with drugs. One man showed the citation police just issued to him and said it is the 16th he's received in about three days.

Investigators met another homeless man named Clarence at the park a few days before the police sweep. He said he has had 22 citations in 2013 alone, many for minor violations.


It hasn't abated the entire time I've been here, regardless of the degree of enforcement.

–Judge John Baxter


People like Clarence often wind up before Judge John Baxter of the Salt Lake Justice Court. Baxter has been on the bench for 13 years and offered his perspective on the criminal activity surrounding Pioneer Park.

"There's been heavy enforcement in that area for a long, long time, which is one of the things that tells me that probably a law enforcement/court solution to that problem is only a part of the solution. It hasn't abated the entire time I've been here, regardless of the degree of enforcement," Baxter said.

So if arrests don't stop the revolving door, what will? Baxter said more availability for mental health treatment would help, but he brought up something else. To him, affordable housing seems to be the most effective way to mitigate or stop the cycle. He said when those who frequent his courtroom find housing they generally drop off the radar of the justice courts except for an occasional case.

Matt Minkevitch, the Executive Director of The Road Home shelter, also sees the need for more affordable housing units for everyone trying to get by on low incomes. He estimates thousands more units are needed, but he added that even a few hundred additional units would make a measurable impact.

"If we can help draw people off the streets and into the shelter, and out of the shelter into housing and provide an appropriate level of services we've seen remarkable results," Minkevitch said.

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Debbie Dujanovic

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