Ocoee leaders endorse stricter panhandling law

Editor’s note: This is the second story in an ongoing series on panhandling and homelessness in West Orange County.

To quell an increase in panhandling anticipated to grow with the city’s future development, Ocoee officially authorized new restrictions on panhandling during the March 21 commission meeting.

The new ordinance, effective immediately, was proposed by the Ocoee Police Department in light of an increase in citizen complaints regarding panhandlers. 

Modeled after Winter Garden’s panhandling ordinance, Ocoee’s ordinance requires panhandlers to register with the city to obtain a permit. It also makes it illegal for vehicle occupants located in traffic on a city right-of-way to “offer money or other articles of value” to a panhandler.

“I believe it’s something that we’ve seen growing throughout the years and there are probably a lot of different reasons for it,” Ocoee Police Deputy Chief Steve McCosker. “We’re in West Orange — a county where we still have, even though there’s a lot of them being cleared, we still have a lot of wooded areas, so homeless people go there. We still have multiple bus stops people use for transit to different locations, and while they’re waiting for the bus, they go ahead and conduct panhandling. So it’s definitely something that’s growing.”

The law prohibits panhandling anywhere within 100 feet of any bus stop, train stop, school or liquor store. It also forbids panhandling in public transportation vehicles and facilities, in city rights-of-way, public parks, fairgrounds, sporting facilities, ATMs, city-owned parking garages and lots, and on private property or commercial retail establishments unless given written permission.

“Right now, you have people panhandling on businesses, and the businesses generally don’t realize until later, and they don’t appreciate it,” McCosker said. “And then you have other situations where you have panhandlers who are either panhandling on the streets or on the sidewalks and causing issues with traffic.”

The ordinance also sets guidelines for how panhandlers may interact with individuals they solicit. Panhandlers are forbidden from coming within three feet of the person being solicited unless that person has indicated they wish to make the donation; using profane or abusive language; following a person who walks away or otherwise indicates they are not interested in making a donation; blocking the path of the person being solicited; or using any statements or gestures that could be interpreted as threatening.

In addition, it includes provisions to discourage panhandlers from using deceit, such as pretending they are homeless, using makeup to simulate a deformity or injury, pretending to be a military veteran, pretending to be stranded or out of town, and pretending to be mentally or physical disabled.

“We’ve had the whole gamut of experiences,” McCosker said. “We’ve had people who truly needed help, and whenever we encounter them, we go ahead and find out what type of help we can assist them with or point them in the direction of where there is that type of assistance. But we’ve also had people on the opposite end of the spectrum who didn’t really need help and were just out for collecting.”

But the stricter law, McCosker emphasized, is chiefly targeted to individuals, church groups and sports teams who endanger themselves or others when panhandling in city right-of-ways, vehicular traffic and private property. 

“A church group will come in and bring about five or six people, and then they’ll go to an intersection like Clarke and Silver Star that’s very busy,” he said. “They’ll be in the medians with buckets and other things trying to solicit donations. And our fear is that it’s just not safe.” 

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Contact Gabby Baquero at [email protected].