You might have seen them, hanging around the downtown area of Detroit Lakes. At times they are more than a little intoxicated, and on occasion, they have been known to ask for money. The transient population in Detroit Lakes could hardly be described as one that is running rampant, but some believe it is starting to cause more of an issue these days. A favorite spot appears to be the new Veterans Memorial Park, which is public, but it also happens to be right in front of a busy business area where their daily presence is not always welcomed by everybody. “They get so drunk, they harass our employees, they’re always coming in and asking to use our bathroom and asking us for food, and they pass out in people’s drive thru’s and sleep there all night,” said Alexis Peters, who owns Jimmy John’s in Detroit Lakes. “It has never been an issue here before, but since around July it’s every day,” she added, frustrated. Peters says they have started saying ‘no’ to the group hanging out there, but says when they do, it’s not always a good situation either. “They get mad; one lady started yelling (profanities) in front of every-one,” she said. Peters’ concern goes beyond sales - it’s the safety of her employees she’s worried about, as she says one of the home-less men started rattling the door after closing time. “And so we don’t have just one person there after hours,” said Peters, who says some of the homeless people come into the restaurant and want to just sit there without eating. Peters is far from alone in her frustrations, as one woman visiting a business along Veterans Memorial Parkway also voiced concerns about a few run-ins she’s had with the transients there. She does not want her named used because she suspects one of the men in question knows who she is. “I was scared to death to get out of the car,” she said of one of her visits to that strip mall. “There was a drunk … gentleman bouncing off the walls… he was so intoxicated he couldn’t even walk, and he kept coming by - it was just a scary feeling.” Although some business owners and customers around that area believe the police should do more about the small group of people whose mere presence causes some to be uneasy, authorities say there isn’t a lot they can do. “If it’s a public place, like parking lots and sidewalks, they have the right to be there,” said Detroit Lakes Police Chief Tim Eggebraaten. “It isn’t a crime to be intoxicated in public in the state of Minnesota like it is in some other states.” But it is, however, a crime to drink alcohol in public.
“Even if they have it in a brown paper bag, that’s illegal, and if somebody calls that in to us and we find it to be true, we will likely ticket them or in some cases, arrest them,” said Eggebraaten, who says they’re put in a tough situation because he knows ticketing them will do little good in a situation where they probably have no money to pay for a ticket. “So that’s a tool to us, but how effective is that tool?” said Eggebraaten. “Is it going to stop them from drinking or make them think twice about swearing in public next time? Probably not.” Other calls police have been responding to are from citizens who witness one of the transients fall down and pass out, leading to concern that the person needs medical attention. According to police, just last week one of the young men police refer to as one of their “frequent fliers” got so intoxicated, the ambulance was called to the scene. That self-induced medical situation is one most are willing to bet costs the tax payers a lot of money. “It’s a societal thing that we’ve dealt with for many years,” said Eggebraaten, “but what do you do?” Eggebraaten says police have no right to intervene as long as the person is not committing a crime or harassing people. “The other day I saw three individuals walking around, and one fell over,” said Eggebraaten, “but he got back up, and so if they can walk and talk and somewhat take care of themselves, we can’t latch onto them and take away their freedom just because they tipped over once.” Eggebraaten says there are no detox facilities in town (and even the one east of Park Rapids won’t take people extremely intoxicated anymore be-cause of liability issues), hospitals won’t take them if there isn’t a medical issue, the jail won’t take them if there hasn’t been a crime committed, and the Compassion House homeless shelter for men has strict rules about alcohol and drugs. “And most of them either don’t have family around or their families don’t want anything to do with them,” said Eggebraaten, who says he doesn’t know if there are more homeless people around Detroit Lakes or if they simply found a new, favorite, busy place to hang out at. Eggebraaten says while his department certainly feels the same frustrations as those complaining about the problem, he says the good news is, they haven’t got-ten any calls about transients being violent. “It’s more of a nuisance thing,” said Eggebraaten. “And an-other good thing about being in a small town is, we know who most of these guys are by name. We can usually tell just by the description who we’re going to be dealing with.” Eggebraaten says he believes it’s only a small handful of homeless people who seem to be causing the problems and says they’re likely drawn to Detroit Lakes because of its resources. “We’re the county seat,” he said. “There are people here, there are resources.” Eggebraaten says while they do tend to utilize places like the Refuge/Compassion House and local churches, those bridges are typically burned and the regular transients are no longer receiving help from organizations in town, just the people on the street who give them money every day. “We have a program and will help people out that are coming through town, but when you get a guy that’s been here three months and just comes in drunk asking us for a place to stay, that’s when we’re like… no, you have to start helping yourself at some point,” said Eggebraaten, who says during conversations with the homeless, they all admit to being alcoholics with a lot of problems. Lakes Liquor, which sits just a few footsteps away from the Veterans Memorial Park, ends up being the place many of the homeless crowd goes to for alcohol, according to police, and while they will still sell to many of them, store employees have drawn a line. “We will allow them to come in twice (per day) – after that we cut them off,” said Lakes Liquor Assistant Manager Mitch Anderson, who also says they won’t sell to somebody who is clearly very intoxicated, and have even notified at least one of them that they are no longer welcome in the store. “But then again, we know they find people to buy for them,” said Anderson. While police do not suggest people start calling them simply because one of the homeless individuals looks scary or smell bad, they are encouraging more businesses owners and employees to call them immediately if there are any instances of harassment, loud cursing or anything that police would stop. Eggebraaten says although it’s getting colder, he still expects to see many of the same, familiar homeless faces around and fully expects it to be a problem that will not just be here today, but 50 years from now. “It’s just how it’s al-ways been and it’s how it will always be,” said Eggebraaten. Tweets by @DLNewspapersYou might have seen them, hanging around the downtown area of Detroit Lakes. At times they are more than a little intoxicated, and on occasion, they have been known to ask for money.The transient population in Detroit Lakes could hardly be described as one that is running rampant, but some believe it is starting to cause more of an issue these days.A favorite spot appears to be the new Veterans Memorial Park, which is public, but it also happens to be right in front of a busy business area where their daily presence is not always welcomed by everybody.“They get so drunk, they harass our employees, they’re always coming in and asking to use our bathroom and asking us for food, and they pass out in people’s drive thru’s and sleep there all night,” said Alexis Peters, who owns Jimmy John’s in Detroit Lakes. “It has never been an issue here before, but since around July it’s every day,” she added, frustrated.Peters says they have started saying ‘no’ to the group hanging out there, but says when they do, it’s not always a good situation either.“They get mad; one lady started yelling (profanities) in front of every-one,” she said.Peters’ concern goes beyond sales - it’s the safety of her employees she’s worried about, as she says one of the home-less men started rattling the door after closing time.“And so we don’t have just one person there after hours,” said Peters, who says some of the homeless people come into the restaurant and want to just sit there without eating.Peters is far from alone in her frustrations, as one woman visiting a business along Veterans Memorial Parkway also voiced concerns about a few run-ins she’s had with the transients there. She does not want her named used because she suspects one of the men in question knows who she is.“I was scared to death to get out of the car,” she said of one of her visits to that strip mall. “There was a drunk … gentleman bouncing off the walls… he was so intoxicated he couldn’t even walk, and he kept coming by - it was just a scary feeling.”Although some business owners and customers around that area believe the police should do more about the small group of people whose mere presence causes some to be uneasy, authorities say there isn’t a lot they can do.“If it’s a public place, like parking lots and sidewalks, they have the right to be there,” said Detroit Lakes Police Chief Tim Eggebraaten. “It isn’t a crime to be intoxicated in public in the state of Minnesota like it is in some other states.”But it is, however, a crime to drink alcohol in public.
“Even if they have it in a brown paper bag, that’s illegal, and if somebody calls that in to us and we find it to be true, we will likely ticket them or in some cases, arrest them,” said Eggebraaten, who says they’re put in a tough situation because he knows ticketing them will do little good in a situation where they probably have no money to pay for a ticket.“So that’s a tool to us, but how effective is that tool?” said Eggebraaten. “Is it going to stop them from drinking or make them think twice about swearing in public next time? Probably not.”Other calls police have been responding to are from citizens who witness one of the transients fall down and pass out, leading to concern that the person needs medical attention.According to police, just last week one of the young men police refer to as one of their “frequent fliers” got so intoxicated, the ambulance was called to the scene.That self-induced medical situation is one most are willing to bet costs the tax payers a lot of money.“It’s a societal thing that we’ve dealt with for many years,” said Eggebraaten, “but what do you do?”Eggebraaten says police have no right to intervene as long as the person is not committing a crime or harassing people.“The other day I saw three individuals walking around, and one fell over,” said Eggebraaten, “but he got back up, and so if they can walk and talk and somewhat take care of themselves, we can’t latch onto them and take away their freedom just because they tipped over once.”Eggebraaten says there are no detox facilities in town (and even the one east of Park Rapids won’t take people extremely intoxicated anymore be-cause of liability issues), hospitals won’t take them if there isn’t a medical issue, the jail won’t take them if there hasn’t been a crime committed, and the Compassion House homeless shelter for men has strict rules about alcohol and drugs.“And most of them either don’t have family around or their families don’t want anything to do with them,” said Eggebraaten, who says he doesn’t know if there are more homeless people around Detroit Lakes or if they simply found a new, favorite, busy place to hang out at.Eggebraaten says while his department certainly feels the same frustrations as those complaining about the problem, he says the good news is, they haven’t got-ten any calls about transients being violent.“It’s more of a nuisance thing,” said Eggebraaten. “And an-other good thing about being in a small town is, we know who most of these guys are by name. We can usually tell just by the description who we’re going to be dealing with.”Eggebraaten says he believes it’s only a small handful of homeless people who seem to be causing the problems and says they’re likely drawn to Detroit Lakes because of its resources.“We’re the county seat,” he said. “There are people here, there are resources.”Eggebraaten says while they do tend to utilize places like the Refuge/Compassion House and local churches, those bridges are typically burned and the regular transients are no longer receiving help from organizations in town, just the people on the street who give them money every day.“We have a program and will help people out that are coming through town, but when you get a guy that’s been here three months and just comes in drunk asking us for a place to stay, that’s when we’re like… no, you have to start helping yourself at some point,” said Eggebraaten, who says during conversations with the homeless, they all admit to being alcoholics with a lot of problems.Lakes Liquor, which sits just a few footsteps away from the Veterans Memorial Park, ends up being the place many of the homeless crowd goes to for alcohol, according to police, and while they will still sell to many of them, store employees have drawn a line.“We will allow them to come in twice (per day) – after that we cut them off,” said Lakes Liquor Assistant Manager Mitch Anderson, who also says they won’t sell to somebody who is clearly very intoxicated, and have even notified at least one of them that they are no longer welcome in the store.“But then again, we know they find people to buy for them,” said Anderson.While police do not suggest people start calling them simply because one of the homeless individuals looks scary or smell bad, they are encouraging more businesses owners and employees to call them immediately if there are any instances of harassment, loud cursing or anything that police would stop.Eggebraaten says although it’s getting colder, he still expects to see many of the same, familiar homeless faces around and fully expects it to be a problem that will not just be here today, but 50 years from now.“It’s just how it’s al-ways been and it’s how it will always be,” said Eggebraaten.Tweets by @DLNewspapers
