Legal News

ACLU sues Santa Monica over treatment of the homeless

By Richard Binder

Yesterday the ACLU sued Santa Monica in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, saying city police routinely violate homeless people's constitutional rights by harassing and arresting them, even as the city fails to provide sufficient shelter beds. The suit is similar to previous legal challenges in Laguna Beach and Santa Barbara.

Filed on behalf of six homeless plaintiffs, the lawsuit charges that the City uses its police force to ?harass and intimidate? the disabled homeless residents, the ACLU said in a statement.

Santa Monica is the third city to be sued by the ACLU of Southern California in recent months for ?criminalizing? chronically homeless people, typically those who are disabled and have lived on the streets for years, ACLU officials said.

Earlier this year, the city released data showing it had reduced its street population by 8% from 2007 levels, a decline officials attributed to finding transitional housing and treatment for the most at-risk individuals. A high percentage of those sleeping on the streets have mental illnesses or addictions.

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Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on July 15, 2009 (boomark / email).