Colorado Springs Unlawful Enforcement of Panhandling Laws

An ACLU investigation revealed that the Colorado Springs Police Department, the City Attorney’s Office, and the City’s Municipal Court are illegally enforcing the City’s panhandling laws against hundreds of impoverished people who have not violated those laws.

In a letter to the Springs City Attorney dated September 14, 2015, the ACLU asserted that the City’s practice has resulted in poor people being fined and imprisoned—for as long as 90 days—“under circumstances that cannot be legally or morally justified.”

Two separate sections of the Colorado Springs Municipal Code address solicitation, Section 9.2.111 and Section 10.18.112. Both sections state that “soliciting does not include passively standing or sitting with a sign or other indication that one is seeking donations.”

Nevertheless, the ACLU’s investigation documents hundreds of cases in which Colorado Springs police issues tickets to persons who were seeking charity simply by displaying a sign. In other words, police charged hundreds of individuals with committing a crime when the police documents showed that they were not committing a crime.

Rather than dismiss the unlawfully-issued citations, the City Attorney’s Office regularly prosecuted the cases, usually against poor or homeless defendants who had no attorney present. Colorado Springs Municipal Court judges then entered convictions and imposed sentences on passive sign-displaying solicitors who had not violated the law. In one particularly alarming case, a municipal court judge sentenced a 58-year-old to 90 days in jail for soliciting with a sign.

In its September 14 letter, the ACLU demanded that Colorado Springs immediately stop illegal enforcement of the solicitation laws, dismiss pending prosecutions of individuals charged with passive solicitation, and initiate procedures to vacate the sentences of unrepresented defendants who were victims of previous unlawful enforcement of the ordinances.

The City Attorney responded by issuing a bulletin to all police officers explaining that holding a sign seeking donations did not violate local ordinances. The bulletin ordered a halt to enforcement of one panhandling ordinance and severely restricted potential enforcement of the “aggressive panhandling” ordinance.

In a followup letter dated October 30, 2015, the Colorado Springs City Attorney reported that in response to the concerns raised by the ACLU, it had dismissed charges, vacated outstanding fines, and voided warrants in 375 active panhandling-related cases. The letter also reported that the City Attorney’s Office had mandated new training of police officers and was recommending that the City Council repeal one panhandling ordinance and substantially limit the scope of a second one.

“Colorado Springs Tosses Hundreds of Panhandling Cases ACLU Called Illegal,” Westword, November 3, 2015

“ACLU Derails ‘Aggressive’ Anti-Panhandling Laws in Colorado,” Colorado Public Radio, October 8, 2015

“ACLU challenge prompts Colorado Springs to stop issuing panhandling tickets,” The Gazette, September 30, 2015

“Colorado Springs guts panhandling ordinance in response to letter from ACLU,” KRDO, September 30, 2015

“CSPD given orders against unlawful panhandling citations,” Fox 21 News, September 30, 2015