ASK A VENDOR THIS COLUMN IS A PLACE FOR DENVER VOICE VENDORS TO RESPOND TO QUESTIONS FROM FELLOW VENDORS, OUR READERS, AND STAFF. Q What has been your experience with the police while you were experiencing homelessness? ANONYMOUS A This is based on a true story I don’t remember what year it was, but it was one of those years when the economy was bad, and I had not started vending the VOICE. I was sitting in the park, trying to figure out what I was gonna do because work was slow, so I really wasn’t paying attention to the time. I knew the park closed around 11-ish, but I figured I at least had at least 20 minutes. I wasn’t focusing… I was just trying to figure out how I’m going to pay bills, etc. And then a police officer showed up. Mind you, at this time, I hadn’t even been in Denver long enough to have a Colorado state ID. He pulled up, and I figured he’d tell me I’d have to leave the park. Instead, he said, “Hey man the park is closed, you’re past the allotted time.” I said, “Okay, I didn’t know it already was that time. Are you going to give me a citation or something?” He said, “NO, I’m going to give you a ticket.” I really didn’t know what time the park actually closed. He said, “There are signs that say what time the park closes.” I asked where the signs were, he said, “They’re at the entrance. I’m not going to argue. Here’s the ticket.” For a while, I’d been trying to do YouTube, so I had an old camera that I could record stuff with. So, the next day, I went to the park and took my camera with me. I went around the park looking for the signs telling what time the park closed. I couldn’t find anything. The ticket had a court date on it, so I had to go before a judge on that date to plead my case for the ticket or whatever. That’s what the cop told me I could do. I ended up going to court. The day before my court date, I went back to the park, looking for the signs saying what times the park opened and closed. This time, there were signs, but they were put on garbage cans. They were hard to see because the signs were the same color as the garbage cans. I went to court with the footage and the expectation that I had evidence to prove there were no signs. I started talking to the prosecutor, who asked me what I was planning to do in court. I told him, “I’m not going to tell you, I’m just going to wait to talk to the judge.” Maybe that’s what lawyers do. Cut a deal with other lawyers and maybe he was just was in lawyer mode, thinking that I’d willing to make a deal. I knew better. It could have been either or. Either way, … The lawyer said he’d get my ticket knocked down from $80 to $30. I said, “Let’s see what the judge has to say.” He said, “There’s more important stuff than your case.” Then, the judge shut me down before I could talk. That was pretty much the end of it. That was one of the few times I had a situation with police, but I usually try to not have any problems with them. I know they’re trying to do their job. I had an out-ofstate license, so I wasn’t familiar with the area. STEVE ANSON When I endured homelessness I had almost no contact with police. SONDRA JEFFRIES In my seven years of being homeless, the one word I can think of to explain my experience with the police is FEAR! [Officers of the] law? Why do they not require mental health training to understand what a person who has been abused, or in my case, the latter, and hearing voices? The police don’t have any clue what hearing voices – seeing visions – psychosis is all about. The first thing they ask is “Are you on any drugs?” or they just say amongst one another, “She is on drugs.” I have been thrown down, strapped to gurneys so tight that I truly thought I was going to be harmed or murdered because of the HATE they showed me or people like me. What a disgrace. If you are not homeless with a mental health disorder or addiction disorder, then realize that when you say, “Call the police,” for people like me, you are saying, “This person is worthless and needs to go away.” I would never call the police. The post-traumatic experiences [from those encounters] are still all too real. RAELENE JOHNSON When I was homeless and had interactions with the police, they were friendly for the most part. The only time that I had a problem with them was when they caught me doing drugs, but when you’re homeless in the street, people do drugs to escape their reality! Now, when I see police officers, I run up to them and thank them for their service and the help they used to give me. JERRY ROSEN My experience has been good, as I haven’t had any trouble with the police. I follow the Denver VOICE Vendor Code of Conduct as I vend. I stay where I’m supposed to. I make sure I always wear my badge so I won’t get into any trouble. JOHN MCDERMOTT The police are not our friends. My interactions with the police are generally negative. On one occasion a police officer did give me a care package that contained socks and a blanket. But typically, anytime the police interact with someone who is homeless, it feels like a threat. I feel like I am treated as though I am the threat when the reality is we need help. The most common interaction is if we are sitting down, resting, or eating in public the police will tell us to move. The majority of the time there is tension between us and the police, and that is scary. From time to time, you run into an officer who crosses the line and is disrespectful to a degree that feels personal. You rarely run into a police officer, where the interaction is for humanitarian reasons, but instead are there to investigate us or harass us and see us as nothing more than criminals. This isn’t a criticism of any one individual police officer. The issue is systemic. 4 DENVER VOICE June 2025
5 Publizr Home