Bremerton Police Chief Steve Strachan is spearheading an effort to turn certain types of panhandling into a misdemeanor within city limits.

Under a proposed ordinance, panhandling within 25 feet of bus stops and ATMs would be illegal. In addition, accepting money over the curb line of certain busy streets and intersections would also be against the law. The ordinance was introduced at a recent meeting of the city’s Public Safety and Parks Committee and is now headed for the full city council’s consideration.

“If individuals in our city need help, there are places for them to go for help,” Strachan said. “If they need food, if they need to get back on their feet, if they need housing, there’s places to go. We have those social services in our city. As I have said publicly before, I think the majority, from my experience, of people involved in panhandling are using the money for something other than what the individuals giving them money think they are using it for.”

Strachan said the draft ordinance is written in a way to stand up to a potential court challenge.

“This needs to stand scrutiny from appellate courts and the Supreme Court,” he said. “They’re going to look at it very closely in terms of freedom of speech and freedom of people to conduct themselves as they see fit Constitutionally.”

The draft ordinance was put together by Assistant City Attorney Amanda Harvey.

“As the chief mentioned, it’s kind of a sticky subject because you have to balance between peoples’ Constitutional rights, freedom of speech and the right to stand on the corner asking for money or whatever they want, versus safety issues and things like that,” said Harvey.

Harvey said the ordinance has as much to do with safety on busy roadways as it does with speech.

“The way I really tried to strike a balance in this ordinance is we can’t regulate their speech per se, but we can keep them from entering into the roadway and receiving anything from a vehicle that’s in a roadway, so that’s what we’ve tried to do,” she said.

Strachan said it’s also about sending a message.

“This is part of sending that message, we’re not going to let you float around and commit crimes,” he said.

Strachan said if the ordinance is adopted, panhandlers will be approached by officers and given a warning. He said it’s likely the police department will also come up with a map showing which streets are off limits. If the activity persists, though, a panhandler could be cited and/or jailed if an officer sees money being exchanged.

“I guess the way I’d look at it is, if a person wants to push it and do it anyway, with a warning, I would expect that if the officer has to take the time to wait until they see a violation, it’s going to result in at least a citation and probably take them to jail because it’s a misdemeanor and the person has received a warning,” he said.

Council member Dino Davis, who serves on the Public Safety and Parks Committee, noted that the new ordinance would make it illegal for firefighters to hold fill-the-boot campaigns on certain roadways and intersections.

“The boot in the street, by this would be illegal,” said Strachan. “I don’t mind saying this as the chief (of police), I don’t like that in the street in the first place.”

Davis and fellow PSP Committee members Leslie Daugs and Mike Sullivan all agreed that a 25-foot “bubble” around ATMs and bus stops prohibiting panhandling was also reasonable.

Harvey noted that the cities of Spokane and Tacoma have 15-foot prohibitions, but nationally, it can range from 8 to 50 feet.

“There’s a spectrum,” she said. “The shorter the distance is, the more comfortable you are as far as defending against a Constitutional argument. So, we were trying to strike a balance there.”

When asked by Daugs, Harvey also explained that a city ordinance does exist preventing aggressive begging. Under that separate ordinance, it is already illegal to threaten or coerce someone for money.