THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The Ventura County civil grand jury investigated incidents of panhandling in Thousand Oaks after receiving a complaint, the jury said in a report released Friday.
The complaint said panhandlers and solicitors were in privately owned places open to the public, such as malls, in Thousand Oaks, the report stated. The civil grand jury studied the legal and social issues around panhandling, spoke with store managers, pedestrians and solicitors at shopping malls and spoke with city officials and the Ventura County Sheriff's Office to see how they deal with these incidents, the report stated.
Grand jurors found that and federal laws surrounding soliciting differ but that some soliciting is considered free speech, according to the report. It was also discovered that the Ventura County Sheriff's Office puts these kinds of incidents in a category of either compassion or criminalization and that the agency puts a high priority on effectively managing these incidents using community-oriented approaches, the report stated.
However, the grand jury recommended the city of Thousand Oaks put a "frequently asked questions" section on its website regarding panhandling and develop a survey for panhandlers and charity solicitors. Questions about soliciting, separate from homelessness, also should be put into the city's biennial community attitude survey, grand jurors recommended in the report.
Ventura Star
June 6, 2015
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