Kelowna RCMP plan to seize shopping carts from homeless

[Gonzo]

Do you think there are worse crimes then homeless people using old shopping carts? The police should be protecting the public, not harassing them. There are more important things they should be doing then this.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/03/18/homelesscarts-050318.html

 

[no1important]

RE: Kelowna RCMP plan to

One would think there would be more important things to worry about. But I guess as always the poor make easy targets.

 

[peapod]

They always get their man important. Its not necessary, that it has to be the right one

 

[Ten Packs]

Well, at risk of sounding like a red-neck, Kelowna HAS developed the most serious "homeless problem" in the Province in the last couple years.... the reasons are speculative and multiple, but the number and the degree of aggressiveness among them has become a real concern - numerous people have been physically accosted, even the elderly - and some rather seriously.
The cops have been receiving a lot of heat for doing little about it so far.

 

[missile]

At first,it looks rather bad..police abuse,etc.-but,as ever,there is a lot more to the story.Our little city had a similar problem with very aggressive panhandlers in the downtown area.It became so bad that most of us just avoided the King St and Charlotte Sts. Had to fight a few of them off myself,when I refused to give them money!

 

[peapod]

There are alot of homeless people in victoria to ten packs, probally more so, because of the weather. Just my observation, but many of the homeless are mentially ill. I can not imagine what it must be like to be cast out into this world homeless, and ill. I also see alot of people who are just a few paychecks away from being homeless themselves. Its a house of cards...live simple

 

[Ten Packs]

Just my observation, but many of the homeless are mentially ill.

Yes, agreed - and you can thank the Socreds for that.... (of whom I was once a member, and quit in disgust). I dont know how old you are, but I rembember when they closed Tranquille Institution, here in Kamloops because it was going to take a pile of money to bring that old set of buildings up to standard. They just released all but the worst, put them in hastily-organized "halfway-homes" that werent prepared for them - shipped the worst-off to Riverview, near Vancouver.

The friggin' NDP did absolutely NOTHING to make it better, in their 8 or 9 years.... it had become the "flavour of the day" by then....

And don't expect THIS falsely-named "Liberal" Gov't to do anything about it......



LET ME GIVE YOU ONE MORE reason to sleep badly tonight folks - at least those of you who are over 40, maybe 45 or so..... WE are loosely called the "Baby-Boomers". I have an unpleasant fact for you to ponder, especially if you are MUCH past 40!


Statistically! You have more BEHIND YOU, than you do in FRONT!

Now, in just a few short decades, you - YES, YOU! - may find that you can't get around too well anymore, cant THINK too well anymore, can't fix many decent meals, have trouble looking after your house and yard, have a poor relationship with your kids (that's if you HAVE KIDS!)

SO WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO GO?????

And as I have found out in the last few years, because of my aged parents - Provincial Governments, who are in charge of such things, have done NEXT TO NOTHING about the growing problem.
And do not kid yourself - it grows larger ever day, now that all the "kids" born after World War II ended.... become 60.... now 65... then 70. I have not seen a Government YET, that is looking ahead to this problem...... Be afraid - be very afraid.



THAT, I predict, will become a HUGE Social issue in the next 10 to 20 years, if nothing is done. Of course, something WILL be done - for one pragmatic reason.... whatever the "culture", OLD PEOPLE VOTE!

SO, by the way - Guess who gets to pick up the tab, when the Government finally get off their asses?

 

[missile]

My only disagreement with your comments is in the last paragraph. I am 60 years old and retired and have paid over 5000 in income taxes last year. Therefore,I am still paying my way.

 

[Gonzo]

So the government closes homeless shelters and now the police take away there shopping carts. Nice. It's a bad situation in Victoria. They all move there because of the nice weather. But the job situation is bad. Here in Ottawa they release mentally ill people from hospitals against family members wishes. Often they dont take there medication and commit a crime. I remember one stalked and killed a nurse 6 years ago. The family said he wouldn't take his medication and tried there best to keep him in the hospital. Thanks to Mike Harriss cutbacks, there was no room for him.

 

[peapod]

Also I like to ease drop. I have heard more than a few conversations between police officers. They think I am reading my newspaper, but I am really listening.

The police are left to deal with the mentially ill. The hospitals don't want them, especially if they are even a little hostile. Its not the police and jails who should have to deal with this. And they don't like it much either.
Most of them are harmless, but there are always a few that are dangerous, many are taken avantage of, especially by low life slum landlords.
I do not have any answers, but I do know that how this is being handled is not working.

 

[Munkustrap]

I agree. Taking away shopping carts won't make the homeless go away. Though storage facilities for their belongings is a good idea. They need a better way to transition into the idea instead of screwing over homeless people.

 

[missile]

Because it is difficult pushing a shopping cart through the snow,our homeless aren't causing any problems along those lines.The ones I worry over are those who refuse to take shelter inside on the cold wintry nights! We have a good amount of shelters for them.

 

[mrmom2]

There is a lot of transients in Kelowna now the police have a huge problem on their hands in that town now .This really started to become a problem there three years ago .My mom lives right downtown and I haved watched this get worse and worse . 8O

 

[Gonzo]

Perhaps cutting taxes for the rich is not a good idea. The conservative Liberals in BC are responsible. Taxes should never be lowered. Keep hospitals open for the mentally ill. That is the answer.