OK, perhaps LA is doing something about it. But LA courts were harassing homeless with ridiculous fines. I suspect that $35 would be a major budget item for a homeless person. Let alone additional tickets for failure to appear and pay. The article notes that arrests of homeless accounted for over 10% of total arrests in 2011, and almost 17% in 2016.

Officers can be respectful while ticketing and arresting the homeless. And perhaps Santa Monica isn't targeting homeless as much as LA generally.

As I’ve mentioned in other posts above, part of my experience is that the homeless are frequently harassing people and businesses on a daily basis to the level that I can believe the arrest rate should / could be higher. Whether it’s the woman who walked up to me, spit in my face, and then started screaming at me, or the countless guys who have followed my wife aggressively while walking home, it’s a major safety issue. I can imagine that in many situations, the police make whatever arrest they can in the moment, but lack the supporting evidence for more major charges, leading to situations where the “fines” look like the “cause” for arrest, but it’s not really.

I say all this, but again reiterate that I hurt every day I have to walk four blocks to get groceries, and pass a dozen people in a remarkable state of sadness and disrepair. I want each and every one of them to get the help they deserve as human beings (regardless of why they got there, what their race or country of origin, just don’t care... they are human beings who deserve our support). But, i know it’s a collective action issue, and potentially a national issue, and so we have to find a way to make elect officials at a local and national level who are capable of addressing this challenge.