Police arrest 18 people in new policy to deal with professional beggars and homeless camps

EIGHTEEN people have been arrested under a new policy to deal with professional beggars and homeless camps in the CBD.

Homeless people in the Melbourne CBD in March.

EIGHTEEN people have been arrested under a new policy to deal with professional beggars and homeless camps in the CBD.

Police made the arrests over the last month for offences including drug use, offensive and aggressive behaviour and where offenders had outstanding warrants.

Melbourne City Council signed a protocol with Victoria Police after the council dumped a move to introduce new bylaws to crack down on street camps.

LORD MAYOR ROBERT DOYLE DOES U-TURN ON ROUGH SLEEPING LAWS

Young children with their parents look at a beggar on Swanston Street in December last year. Picture: Nicole Garmston

The protocol involves police taking a more active stance on beggars while ­council officers and welfare agencies work together more productively to deal with homelessness issues.

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said: “It’s now a month since we introduced the new ­protocol to deal with homeless ­encampments and aggressive or offensive behaviour by people on the street.”

“We continue to remove 500kg of rubbish every week, we continue weekly co-ordination meetings with all ­players and we continue to enforce any obstructions on our footpaths.”

Homeless people along Elizabeth Street. Picture: Mark Wilson

The Lord Mayor thanked police for “exemplary” support of council compliance patrols.

“Unfortunately in some cases we require Victoria Police back up,” he said.

“It has been there when we’ve needed it and in fact in the first month of the protocol’s operation Victoria Police have made 18 arrests.”

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