In a Town Near You, People Are Being Evicted From Their Homes Because They Called the Police for Help

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Hmm

Quote

In cities and towns across the country, little-known local laws penalize calls to the police and can get people kicked out of their homes. These laws create a perverted point system where every 911 call or report of criminal activity at a rental property counts as a strike against renters and their landlords. And it doesn’t matter whether people called the police for help or that they were the victim of the crime.

These laws go by different names: nuisance ordinances, crime-free ordinances, disorderly behavior ordinances. But they all do one thing: They tell landlords that unless they punish tenants for calling 911 or when a crime occurs in their homes, they will face steep fines, loss of rental permits, or property closure. Not surprisingly, landlords typically “abate” the “nuisance” by evicting the tenant and everyone in the home without any consideration of the circumstances that led to the call.

Here are a few examples:

• In Norristown, Pennsylvania, a tenant’s boyfriend physically assaulted her, and she called 911. The police arrested her boyfriend but told her that if she made more calls to the police, she would be evicted. After this, the tenant was terrified to call the police despite her boyfriend’s escalating violence. When he came back again and stabbed her in the neck, her neighbors called the police and she was airlifted to the hospital. The city pressured her landlord to evict, and days later, she received an eviction notice.

• In Binghamton, New York, a tenant was a victim of a home invasion and burglary, and his neighbor called the police. The tenant told the police that he didn’t know his assailants or why he was targeted. But the city cited the landlord, and the landlord assured city officials that all tenants in the building had been or would be evicted.  

• In Berlin, New Hampshire, police responded to the home of a tenant who had attempted suicide and brought her to the hospital. Hospital staff later informed the police that the tenant had become disorderly, and the police placed her in protective custody. Despite the apparent mental disability, the officers issued the tenant a citation under the local nuisance ordinance.

• In Blakely, Pennsylvania, a neighbor called the police and accused a tenant of leaving her child unattended on the porch of the home. The Department of Children and Youth Services deemed the allegation unfounded, but the call to the police was still counted as a strike against the mother under the local ordinance.

• In Lancaster, California, according to the Department of Justice, the chronic nuisance ordinance was used in a racially discriminatory manner by the city to incentivize landlords to evict African-American tenants.

 

[MDM4AU 337]

Good grief! That is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. God forbid someone need the police to protect them!  

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2 hours ago, MDM4AU said:

Good grief! That is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. God forbid someone need the police to protect them!  

I can kind of understand that nuisance calls can become a problem for police departments, but whoever came up with this point system or pressuring landlords to kick tenants out is pants on head stupid.

[Guest NC1406]

My office gets fined for too many false alarms on our alarm system.  Let's fine these folks and see how much we can collect.  LOL.

[AuburnNTexas 7,246]

It is sad that something like this could happen in our country. It is a perfect example of why many of us on the right think we have to much government involvement. I have no idea if the cities in this example are run by Democrats or Republicans. Police and Fire Departments are here to serve and that is what they do. The Police or Fire Departments will now be looked upon with distrust in these communities through no fault of their own thanks to some really stupid people on some city councils.

[TitanTiger 20,708]

15 hours ago, NC1406 said:

My office gets fined for too many false alarms on our alarm system.  Let's fine these folks and see how much we can collect.  LOL.

Fine folks for making too many legitimate calls for police help?

[SaltyTiger 8,240]

8 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

It is sad that something like this could happen in our country. It is a perfect example of why many of us on the right think we have to much government involvement. I have no idea if the cities in this example are run by Democrats or Republicans. Police and Fire Departments are here to serve and that is what they do. The Police or Fire Departments will now be looked upon with distrust in these communities through no fault of their own thanks to some really stupid people on some city councils.

PA,NY,NH,CA = Democrat

[TitanTiger 20,708]

39 minutes ago, SaltyTiger said:

PA,NY,NH,CA = Democrat

Not so fast.

Norristown, PA is run by a municipal council (no mayor).  It's heavily Democrat.

Binghamton, NY - the mayor is a Republican.  The city council has seven seats.  Currently, 4 are occupied by Republicans, two by Democrats and one is vacant.

Blakely, PA - solidly Democratic across the board

Berlin, NH - The mayor is an independent.  Unsure of party of council members.  

Lancaster, CA - Republican mayor.  Republican majority city council.

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Just now, TitanTiger said:

Not so fast.

Norristown, PA is run by a municipal council (no mayor).  It's heavily Democrat.

Binghamton, NY - the mayor is a Republican.  The city council has seven seats.  Currently, 4 are occupied by Republicans, two by Democrats and one is vacant.

Blakely, PA - solidly Democratic across the board

Berlin, NH - The mayor is an independent.  Unsure of party of council members.  

Lancaster, CA - Republican mayor.  Republican majority city council.

Very nice. GG trying to turn this into a partisan slap-fight, SaltyTiger.

[Guest NC1406]

8 hours ago, TitanTiger said:

Fine folks for making too many legitimate calls for police help?

 

8 hours ago, TitanTiger said:

Fine folks for making too many legitimate calls for police help?

You choose to ignore the word false and I expect our definition of legitimate does not agree. 

[TitanTiger 20,708]

1 hour ago, NC1406 said:

You choose to ignore the word false and I expect our definition of legitimate does not agree. 

I didn't ignore it.  You mentioned your false alarms.  But the stories in the original post weren't false or illegitimate.  Hence my confusion.