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Panhandling Violators To Get Help In Durham

A homemade solicitation sign and cup, panhandling.
Brokensphere via Wikimedia Commons

People ticketed for breaking panhandling rules in Durham may soon be able to avoid the criminal court system.  The change would mean sending violators of the solicitation or panhandling ordinance through Community Life Court – instead of paying fines or doing time in jail.

Durham City Manager Tom Bonfield has already consulted with the chief district court judge and the city attorney on the matter.

“What we’re trying to do is move all of these violations to Community Life Court so that they will all be heard at the same time, in the same hearing once a month.  But that then there will be service provider agencies available to assist persons," said Bonfield.

Bonfield says the Homeless Services Advisory Committee has agreed to the changes. But they still need city council approval.  Opponents claimed the current ordinance criminalized poverty.

Bonfield says the updated solicitation ordinance is not just focused on the homeless.  He says it also includes changes affecting all roadside panhandlers.

"It would include political campaigning, it would include car washes, cookie sales or whatever, church fundraisers and those people with buckets," said Bonfield. "Everything falls under the same set of rules." 

Leoneda Inge is the co-host of WUNC's "Due South." Leoneda has been a radio journalist for more than 30 years, spending most of her career at WUNC as the Race and Southern Culture reporter. Leoneda’s work includes stories of race, slavery, memory and monuments. She has won "Gracie" awards, an Alfred I. duPont Award and several awards from the Radio, Television, Digital News Association (RTDNA). In 2017, Leoneda was named "Journalist of Distinction" by the National Association of Black Journalists.
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