ED & LH IS HOMELESSNESS A CRIME ?

Rebecca Douglas moved from Cedar Hill into the Woodbridge neighborhood last October and says she generally has enjoyed her peaceful new place. But a recent experience put her on edge. One night in December, from her son’s upstairs bedroom, she saw a pinpoint of a light emitting from the wooded creek behind her property.

“It was about 10:30 at night,” she says. “I looked out the window and could tell it was a person with a flashlight.”

She says that while she did not feel directly threatened, it was disconcerting.

When she moved in, a neighbor advised her that if she ever sees anyone or anything suspicious, not to be afraid to call 9-1-1, she says. “So that’s what I did.”

Police did not respond right away. As Douglas watched, she also saw sparks, as if the person in the woods was smoking or lighting something, so she called the police again. This time they responded. Eventually the officers located a man in the woods. They told Douglas that he was homeless and not breaking any laws, so there was nothing they could do.

Side note: Sleeping or camping in public is against the law in Dallas, but this man was not sleeping when police approached him.

The next day Murray Morgan, president of the Lake Highlands Area Improvement Association and Woodbridge resident, called the city’s code compliance department in an effort to remove the man from the woods and get him some help.

“Believe it or not, homeless is not a police responsibility, unless they’re doing something illegal,” Morgan says.

Douglas says the man remained in the area behind her home for a few days before city staffers, along with a person she believes was a friend or family member of the man, showed up with a moving truck they pulled sundry items from the creek, she says, giving the impression he’d been living in the woods for a long time.

Douglas believes the man meant no harm to anyone, she says, but she was concerned that he seems to have little food and that the creek where he was camping floods when it rains, which can be dangerous.

Our neighborhood is home to several churches and nonprofits that assist people experiencing homelessness. If you encounter a homeless person who asks for help, a referral to Lifenet or Catholic Charities could prove helpful.

—Christina Hughes Babb HELPFUL NUMBERS

Dallas code compliance: 214.670.8083

Lifenet: 214.221.5433

Catholic Charities of Dallas: 214.520.6590

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