WASHINGTON — Homeless individuals in DC can be given the choice of going to a shelter — or, in the event that they refuse, jail — as a part of President Trump’s sweeping crime crackdown within the capital, White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated Tuesday.
“The brand new federal businesses who’ve been surging on the streets of the District of Columbia are going to implement the legal guidelines which might be already on the books right here in Washington, DC,” Leavitt stated.
“For a lot too lengthy, these legal guidelines have been utterly ignored and the homelessness downside has ravaged the town. So DC Code 22-1307 and DC Municipal Regulation 24-100 give the Metropolitan Police Division the authority to take motion relating to homeless encampments.”
Leavitt stated that “homeless people can be given the choice to depart their encampment, to be taken to a homeless shelter to be supplied habit or psychological well being companies, and in the event that they refuse, they are going to be prone to fines or to jail time once more.”
Trump on Monday asserted federal management over the three,400-officer DC Metropolitan Police Division and ordered the DC Nationwide Guard and tons of of federal brokers onto the streets to deal with crime.
The president cited many high-profile latest crimes in DC, together with the Aug. 3 assault on former Division of Authorities Effectivity staffer Edward Coristine, 19, throughout an alleged tried carjacking and the June 30 homicide of congressional intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, 21, in a drive-by taking pictures.
“Whereas we’re focusing on criminals and making an attempt to take away criminals off of the streets, we additionally wish to make DC protected and exquisite,” Leavitt stated Tuesday.
“That entails eradicating mentally disturbed people and homeless encampments as properly. So we can be utilizing these rules and codes that exist already to scrub up our streets.”
Leavitt stated that US Park Police, which has jurisdiction over most of DC’s main site visitors circles and triangles, will work alongside MPD to deal with or incarcerate the homeless, who throughout Mayor Muriel Bowser’s prior cleanup makes an attempt have migrated in response to crackdowns.
“America Park Police has truly carried out outstanding work when it comes to eradicating homeless encampments from the town,” she stated.
Since March, “70 homeless encampments have been eliminated by the US Park Police,” Leavitt stated.
“There are solely two homeless encampments remaining in DC federal parks below the Nationwide Park Service’s jurisdiction, and the elimination of these two remaining camps is scheduled for this week.”
