The Sacramento Bee reports that a homeless women, Elizabeth Williams, has lost her legal case against the city of Sacramento. A Small Claims Court judge threw the case out, after determining that Williams did not properly identify which of her items she wanted the police to save for her, after they rousted her last month. She sued the city for $12,000 in lost property and emotional damages, but the judge ruled that Williams had plenty of opportunities to move her things before the sweep (which she was warned about), and the city therefore was not obliged to store her property.
I imagine it sucks to have your possessions, meager as they may be, seized by the police. But let’s get real here: Sacramento provided her with at least two written notices of its intentions, so when she blatantly ignored them, she effectively ceded her rights. Her case was thrown out because it deserved to be.
Homeless people and their advocates, who frequently are lawyers associated with the ACLU and other “civil liberties” groups, argue that the laws protecting the majority of us from being rousted apply to homeless people too. I just don’t see it that way. For one thing, the Supreme Court’s 2024 Grants Pass decision made it legal for cities to roust homeless people without offering them an alternative place to stay. This was a wise and true decision, but homeless advocates refuse to accept it.
It’s true that the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment seemingly protects all of us from having our property seized: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
But this right has limitations, and common sense suggests that a homeless person cannot squat down in a public space, litter it with his or her belongings, call it his “home,” and then expect the city to allow this to happen unchecked—and then sue that city for trying to uphold the law!
Most cities, including Oakland, have bent over backwards to try to be as respectful as possible of a homeless person’s dignity and rights. But at some point, cities have got to say, “This far, and no farther.” The law, as such, may be inconvenient for some people, and they may feel singled out based on their particular situation. But that’s not really the city’s problem. Some people probably feel harassed because they’re not free to shoplift anything they want, or to bip cars with impunity. Too bad! If they don’t like living in a city where the law is upheld, let them find some lawless place and move there.
The Sacramento Bee, reporting this, made the same mistake so many other newspapers do: implying that the city did something wrong. (You can find the full article here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article316495664.html#storylink=cpy) “Recent data,” the article said, “show that one-third of people being booked into the Sacramento County jail system are homeless.” I don’t doubt it. Homeless people are prime candidates for breaking the law. They’re broke, but they still need food, clothing, medications and other everyday staples. They could hold a job, but they don’t want to—they prefer their open-air existence, and so theft and pilfering become their preferred mode. The problem is, as is obvious to anyone with a brain, is that we cannot and should not normalize a criminal lifestyle just because the criminal says they like living that way. I’d like to have free stuff, too, but you won’t find me looting a retail store to get it. For all of the recorded history of humankind, our species has laid down rules for those who choose to belong to the greater culture. Now, we’ve come to a point where some people (of the liberal left) say that these “rules” are racist because they were articulated by White people for White people, and don’t apply to people of color. Well, that’s the dumbest crap I ever heard. No: the rule of “Thou shalt not steal” is meant for everyone, of all races, ethnicities and origins. I refuse to live in a society where some people are given the right to steal simply because they want to. We cannot, must not allow America to descend into that pit of dysfunction and lies. That’s why we still have jails and police departments: because too many people believe they’re exempt from the normal rules of society. Force is required to convince these people they’re not special, and that if they don’t play by the rules, then we will use our greater power to stop them.
Should we feel guilty that so many criminals booked into jails are homeless? Not at all. Nobody forces homeless people to break the law. Nobody compels homeless people to not be cognizant of warnings issued to them that their encampment is going to be rousted. Nobody forces anybody to be homeless in the first place. The “disparities” argument routinely trotted out by homeless advocates (and by all racialist leftists) is a red herring. If a particular minority in America suffers from a greater-than-normal degree of being arrested, it’s due to a very simple reason: those particular people made the decision to live outside the law. Some part of their minds must have apprehended that they were putting themselves into harm’s way by becoming habitual lawbreakers, but they chose to ignore those internal warnings and take their chances anyway.
I’ll tell you the #1 bullshit claim these homeless people make: that society can’t make homelessness a crime. That’s true. But I’ve never heard of a city that did try to make homelessness a criminal activity. However, many of the behaviors associated with homelessness—such as squatting in public places, setting illegal fires, and throwing their garbage out on the street—are indeed illegal. And we citizens have the legal right, as well as the obligation, to enforce these laws. So, with all due respect to Elizabeth Williams, nice try. But it didn’t work. Now, do the right thing. Drop your stupid lawsuit. Go into rehab. Turn your life around. Stop associating with those woke lawyers who have the nerve to tell us you have the right to be a public slob. They’re using you, Ms. Williams, for their own grimy purposes. You have an entire society out here that welcomes you to become a productive, law-abiding, tax-paying citizen. Instead of wasting your time, and ours, on fighting the system, embrace it! It’s here for you. Join us! It’s not too late for you admit you made some really bad choices, and correct them.
Steve Heimoff