6 July 11th-July 17th, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | Supremely Screwed Supreme Court opens door to trample humanity of Phoenix homeless. BY TJ L’HEUREUX O n June 28, the U.S. Supreme Court voted along ideolog- ical lines to allow state and local governments to deny rights and dignity to vulner- able Americans. In a 6-3 ruling in Grants Pass v. Johnson, the court’s conservative majority upheld a small Oregon town’s ban on public camping even when no shelter space is available. Though a lower court previously ruled the law violated the Eighth Amendment, which bars cruel and unusual punishment, the highest court in the land has now deemed it legal to bar unhoused people from sleeping on public property even when they have nowhere else to go. “Stay awake or be arrested,” as Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a passionate dissent. The decision could have a notable effect on Phoenix, whose estimated unhoused population was roughly 7,000 people in the latest count. Currently, Phoenix bans camping, otherwise known as living on the street, in city parks, buildings, facilities, parking lots and anything “adjacent.” Come Sept. 1, a new law approved by the Phoenix City Council will also ban camping within 500 feet of a school, child care facility or homeless shelter. But while Grants Pass was pending, the city couldn’t legally enforce the bans, though they could arrest unhoused people for infractions such as obstruction of a public thoroughfare. Now, though, the city has carte blanche to arrest unhoused people sleeping on public land. It’s unclear how aggressive Phoenix will be. In a statement June 28, Mayor Kate Gallego said the decision “provides the necessary clarity we need to help even more people find safe, stable shelter.” Her office did not respond to multiple new Phoenix New Times inqui- ries about exactly what “clarity” the ruling provided. To be sure, the high court’s ruling doesn’t mandate camping bans. But it does give state and local governments the green light to make it illegal to be homeless, whether there’s anywhere for the unhoused to go or not. Advocates for the homeless harbor few illusions about which direction things will go. “I knew it was coming,” said Elizabeth Venable, one of the fore- most advocates for unhoused people in metro Phoenix. Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch kicked the issue of unhoused rights to states and cities to decide. His opinion cited the severity of the homelessness problem in several Western cities. “Many cities across the American West face a homelessness crisis,” Gorsuch wrote. “The causes are varied and complex, the appropriate public policy responses perhaps no less so.” Indeed, Phoenix has fought a largely losing battle against homelessness. Housing in Phoenix is unaffordable for a large portion of the population, and evic- tions continue to climb, reaching a record monthly high in January. As a result, the number of unhoused people in the Phoenix metro has risen sharply since 2018, jumping from about 6,300 to nearly 9,500 this year. More and more people are being swallowed up by the unforgiving currents of unaffordability and homelessness. The city has increased shelter avail- ability and expanded its summer cooling center resources, but it’s also battled the homeless just as much as homelessness. In September, a Maricopa County judge ordered the city to clear out the “public nuisance” that was the Zone, a large encampment of unhoused people near the Capitol. Around the same time, federal judge G. Murray Snow prohibited the city from enforcing its first camping ban when shelter was unavailable. The Grants Pass decision defangs part of that injunction. The court’s ruling comes just after the U.S. Justice Department issued a landmark report last month that found Phoenix police regularly violated the civil rights of unhoused people from 2016 to 2022. While fewer than 1% of Phoenix residents are unhoused, 37% of those arrested for misde- meanors were unhoused. The DOJ also said many of those arrests were unconstitutional. Now, some of those arrests will have constitutional cover. Advocates react Theoretically, the Grants Pass decision gives cities and states one more tool to use to combat homelessness. But it’s a hammer, and advocates say that homelessness is anything but a nail. Arresting and citing the unhoused will not make them housed, said unhoused advocate Ben Jeffrey. “Guess what, you still have a problem. Now you’re going to have an inclination to do the arresting to solve your problem,” Jeffrey said. “What the decision means is now the city is going to have to come up with some damn good “NOW YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE AN INCLINATION TO DO THE ARRESTING TO SOLVE YOUR PROBLEM.” According to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Grants Pass v. Johnson, cities may arrest unhoused people for camping on public property, even if there are no shelter beds available. (Photo by Katya Schwenk) | NEWS | Revoked, Then Reversed Peoria cop who quit after investigation gets license back. BY TJ L’HEUREUX P eoria police officer Danielle Trouton had her law enforce- ment license revoked in January. After she testified to the state’s law enforcement disciplinary board on June 19, she got it back. The Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, which is known as AZPOST and licenses all law enforce- ment officers in the state, reconsidered Trouton’s case at its monthly board meeting. The agency is one of the few in the state with the power to discipline police. Its principal task is certifying all officers across the state, but it also has the power to revoke or suspend the certifications of officers who demon- strate troubling behavior. The 12-member board includes Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, two rural sheriffs, Phoenix Councilmember Kevin Robinson and Ryan Thornell, director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry. As of its June meeting, AZPOST has opened 35 investigations into officers and punished 23 this year. So far this year, the board has punished an officer who put the muzzle of his gun to a woman’s head and another who asked two high school girls when they lost their virginity, among other incidents. Trouton resigned from the Peoria Police Department last year after an internal investigation revealed that she made an arrest in a domestic violence incident without enough probable cause. Compliance manager Mark Post said at the board’s June 19 meeting that there had been “vast differences” between Trouton’s statements in her police report and what was captured on her body-worn camera. He added that Trouton failed to document evidence and upload photos from the incident “in a timely manner.” Post said Peoria police moved to fire Trouton, but she resigned first. The board revoked her license in January for being dishonest in her police report. But after Trouton spoke at the board’s June 19 meeting, the board reopened her case. At the meeting, Trouton read a state- ment from her phone and said >> p 10 >> p 9
