DENVER - One day after a federal district court in Colorado ruled that Grand Junction’s panhandling ordinance violates the First Amendment, Denver Police Chief Robert White ordered his officers to suspend enforcement of Denver’s panhandling ordinance.
“We commend Denver for taking prompt action to suspend enforcement of a panhandling ordinance that violates the First Amendment rights of persons who peacefully ask for charity in public places,” said Mark Silverstein, ACLU of Colorado Legal Director. “We will be asking city attorneys throughout Colorado to review their panhandling ordinances in light of the federal court’s decision. Most of those ordinances will need to be repealed or dramatically revised.”
 
Read the DPD bulletin here.
 
 
 

DENVER - Federal District Court Judge Christine Arguello issued a 39-page decision yesterday striking down Grand Junction’s panhandling ordinance, ruling that it violates the First Amendment rights of persons who wish to solicit charity in public places.

Wednesday’s ruling expands on an earlier order in the case, issued in June, which held that the ordinance regulated speech on the basis of its content. That ruling required Grand Junction to meet the strictest standard of judicial scrutiny. In Wednesday’s decision, the Court explained that Grand Junction had failed to justify its regulation of expression.

“The ruling striking down Grand Junction’s panhandling ordinance will have ramifications throughout Colorado,” said Mark Silverstein, ACLU of Colorado Legal Director. “The reasoning of this decision, along with Supreme Court rulings earlier in the summer, signify that almost every panhandling ordinance in Colorado must be repealed or seriously amended.”

The ACLU of Colorado has initiated discussions with city attorneys in Denver and Colorado Springs about the need for repeal or for major revisions of their panhandling regulations. Police in Colorado Springs were recently ordered to stop enforcing most provisions of the city’s two panhandling ordinances.

Grand Junction adopted its ordinance in the spring of 2014, and the ACLU of Colorado filed its legal challenge before the ordinance went into effect. The challenged provisions made it a crime to ask for charity after sunset or within 20 feet of an ATM or a bus stop. Other challenged provisions prohibited asking for donations from people standing in line or seated at an outdoor café. The Court ruled that Grand Junction had failed to support its contention that the regulations were necessary to protect public safety.

Dozens of Colorado cities enforce similar regulations that prohibit asking for charity in certain public locations, at certain times, or in specified situations. The ACLU of Colorado encourages all Colorado city attorneys to immediately review the Grand Junction ruling and consider whether their panhandling ordinances must be repealed or amended.

“The ACLU does not object to carefully tailored regulations that target coercive, threatening, or menacing solicitations that actually invade the rights of others,” Silverstein said. “But we oppose, and the First Amendment prohibits, broad regulations that outlaw peaceful, polite, and nonthreatening requests for assistance.”

Along with Silverstein, clients in the case were represented by ACLU of Colorado staff attorneys Rebecca T. Wallace and Sara Neel.

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In a remarkable turn of events, the City of Colorado Springs has ordered the Colorado Springs Police Department to immediately stop issuing citations for alleged violations of ordinance 10.18.112, titled “Soliciting on or Near Street or Highway”. It has also forbidden citations for most sections of ordinance of 9.2.111 “Solicitation Prohibited.”

The CSPD issued a sweeping department bulletin instructing its officers to “discontinue issuing summonses for Solicitation on or Near Street or Highway.” The bulletin also makes clear that “passive solicitation is lawful everywhere in the City.”

This action is in response to ACLU concerns outlined in a September 14^th letter accusing the City of a widespread pattern of illegal enforcement of the panhandling ordinances against poor and homeless persons who were not in violation of the law.

Since 2013, the CSPD has issued over 900 citations for panhandling. The ACLU charges that at least 90% were issued for conduct that did not violate the ordinances, such as merely holding a sign that invites charity from passersby.

Colorado Springs City Attorney Wynetta Massey responded to the ACLU in a letter outlining the new policy and provided a copy of the revised CSPD bulletin.

“The Police Department and the City Attorney have now acknowledged that they have been citing, prosecuting and convicting innocent persons,” said Mark Silverstein, ACLU Legal Director. “We appreciate the City’s prompt decision to order police to stop enforcing the panhandling ordinances against persons who are not violating those ordinances.”

“As the police bulletin emphasizes, persons who solicit charity by passively displaying a sign inviting donations are not violating the City’s panhandling ordinances,” Silverstein continued. “Nevertheless, police have been issuing hundreds of citations. Instead of dismissing the tickets, the City Attorney’s office has prosecuted, and the Municipal Court judges have entered convictions and imposed sentences.”

The ACLU’s letter asserted that all three branches of the City’s justice system “played a culpable role in citing prosecuting, convicting and sentencing poor and homeless people, sometimes to jail, for a crime they did not commit.”

Silverstein said the police bulletin is a welcome first step, but more remains to be done. “The City Attorney’s Office must also dismiss all pending prosecutions against persons who were merely displaying a sign. In addition, it must also take steps to undo erroneously-entered convictions and sentences, including pending jail, fines or probation, that were imposed on persons who were merely holding a sign inviting charity.”
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