Charlotte City Council committee OKs adding criminal penalties for these 8 ordinances
Charlotte leaders on Monday took a step toward reinstating criminal penalties back to some city ordinances for behaviors such as public intoxication, masturbation and panhandling.
The Charlotte City Council’s Housing, Safety and Community Committee voted 3-2 to recommend the changes go before the full council for additional deliberation. Council members Renee Johnson and Tiawana Brown voted against, citing concerns about the impact on the city’s homeless population and people with mental health issues.
The council has considered the changes since August, when multiple uptown residents and business owners called on members to take action amid what they said was an uptick in nuisance crimes.
If the full council approves the changes, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police could issue criminal citations or arrest people who violate ordinances on:
Beer and wine consumption, possession of open containers and disposal of containers
Unauthorized people in parking lots
Trespassing in a motor vehicle
Loitering for the purpose of engaging in drug-related activity
Masturbation in public
Urination and defecation on certain property prohibited
Behavior in public parks
Soliciting from street or median strip, which could include panhandling
A state law decriminalized those city ordinances in 2021, which meant officers’ only options when facing people violating the ordinances were to ask for compliance, give a verbal warning or issue a written civil citation. The law allows municipalities to reinstate criminal penalties for some local laws if they vote to do so. The City Council did so previously on seven other local laws in 2022.
“We don’t look to go from zero to arrest for no reason or without a conversation …” CMPD Deputy Chief David Robinson told the committee Monday. “The arrest piece gives us another leverage item.”
In a statement after the vote, CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings said reinstating the ordinances would “promote public safety” and enhance quality of life in Charlotte.
Besides a full City Council discussion and vote, there’s more work to do before ordinances are officially reinstated, Robinson said. That’s especially true for ordinances for people in parking lots, loitering and panhandling.
Support for people experiencing homelessness
The city will also provide support for people who are experiencing homelessness or mental illness, assistant city manager Shawn Heath said. That includes working with Mecklenburg County and nonprofits on support services and looking into improving access to public bathrooms.
“The recommendations here are not intended to, are not designed to, quote unquote criminalize homelessness,” Heath said.
The city has held public listening sessions with Center City Partners to hear directly from uptown residents and designed their recommendations with that feedback in mind, Heath added.
Brown, who was previously incarcerated and now runs a nonprofit that helps women involved with the criminal justice system, said she would have liked to see more people who could be directly affected by the changes at the table.
“You have to include everybody,” the District 3 Democrat said.
She said she was voting “no” on the motion to send the ordinances to the full council because she felt the city and law enforcement’s time and energy would be better spent on addressing the root causes of the issues in question and helping those in vulnerable situations.
“I would like to see more harm reduction, I would like to be proactive,” she said.
This story was originally published January 8, 2024 at 6:54 PM.
