Portland Oregon car squatter woes.
March 31, 2015 2:16 AM Subscribe
I live around 20th and Division and there is a mentally disturbed person living in their car. For about the last month I have woken up to them screaming crazy stuff. I actually thought they lived around us so I shrugged it off.
I found out tonight that he lives in a car about 50 meters away. And he has been harassing my roommate when she walks to work. It is so bad that she has started taking the long way to work to avoid him. And he was outside New Seasons and got weird on her there this afternoon.
And New Seasons is about five blocks away so now she is scared to leave the house.
This must end.
Is this a 911 thing if we catch him on a screaming tirade? Or non-emergency? And how the hell has he been parked in the same place for a month without moving?
I found out tonight that he lives in a car about 50 meters away. And he has been harassing my roommate when she walks to work. It is so bad that she has started taking the long way to work to avoid him. And he was outside New Seasons and got weird on her there this afternoon.
And New Seasons is about five blocks away so now she is scared to leave the house.
This must end.
Is this a 911 thing if we catch him on a screaming tirade? Or non-emergency? And how the hell has he been parked in the same place for a month without moving?
I would not approach him if he has been threatening your room-mate. Come on, he does not have car trouble he's been living there for a month. Your street is an appealing place for whatever reason.
I would just call the police and complain about him following her and threatening her. The police will move him on one way or another (they'll either scare him so he'll go; or they won't scare him and he'll kick off at them and they'll arrest him).
posted by tinkletown at 3:03 AM on March 31, 2015 [11 favorites]
I would just call the police and complain about him following her and threatening her. The police will move him on one way or another (they'll either scare him so he'll go; or they won't scare him and he'll kick off at them and they'll arrest him).
posted by tinkletown at 3:03 AM on March 31, 2015 [11 favorites]
Yeah. The best thing to do is call the police. And have your friend call the police as well. Definitely document every incident, done, place and action. It's also likely he's harassing other people in three as well.
posted by happyroach at 3:09 AM on March 31, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by happyroach at 3:09 AM on March 31, 2015 [4 favorites]
Yeah, his troubles are not your friend's problem. Him harrassing her and screaming at her is not okay, it's illegal, and calling the police is the only answer here.
posted by jayder at 5:01 AM on March 31, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by jayder at 5:01 AM on March 31, 2015 [3 favorites]
Even in Portland, living in a car on a residential street is probably illegal. One call to the police should be all it takes to at least get him to move somewhere else.
posted by COD at 5:07 AM on March 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by COD at 5:07 AM on March 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
Is this a 911 thing if we catch him on a screaming tirade?
The suggestions that you call the police are correct, but just to be sure, don't call 911 about a screaming tirade. Call 911 only if it is an actual emergency, like he is attacking someone physically. Anything else, call the police non-emergency line, which is 503-823-3333. Get your neighbors to do this as well.
posted by beagle at 5:53 AM on March 31, 2015 [5 favorites]
The suggestions that you call the police are correct, but just to be sure, don't call 911 about a screaming tirade. Call 911 only if it is an actual emergency, like he is attacking someone physically. Anything else, call the police non-emergency line, which is 503-823-3333. Get your neighbors to do this as well.
posted by beagle at 5:53 AM on March 31, 2015 [5 favorites]
Maybe it's because I don't live in a big city, but I would call 911 if a disturbed guy was harassing someone in front of my house right now.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:06 AM on March 31, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Dip Flash at 6:06 AM on March 31, 2015 [3 favorites]
I would also call 911. Don't wait for this to escalate to physical violence.
posted by fiercecupcake at 7:13 AM on March 31, 2015
posted by fiercecupcake at 7:13 AM on March 31, 2015
So, we live in a sketchier neighborhood than that in Portland. We call the police on our neighbors for domestic violence, noise complaints, late-night yelling and drug crimes. We only call 911 when we can actually see them using drugs, or there is physical violence happening, because if you call 911, they'll just bump you over to non-emergency immediately if those two things aren't happening.
Non-emergency response in Portland is pretty good. You're not going to get a fast response, but you will get the police out there to
Even in Portland, living in a car on a residential street is probably illegal. One call to the police should be all it takes to at least get him to move somewhere else.
Car camping in that neighborhood is a pretty big problem, particularly just south of there. A lot of homeless people rely on that particular New Seasons to cash in their cans, and to panhandle cash. You can, and probably should, call to get him ticketed, but that's not really going to solve the problem; bro can just move his car down the block…even if he pushes it the clock starts over on what the police can do.
posted by furnace.heart at 7:38 AM on March 31, 2015
Non-emergency response in Portland is pretty good. You're not going to get a fast response, but you will get the police out there to
Even in Portland, living in a car on a residential street is probably illegal. One call to the police should be all it takes to at least get him to move somewhere else.
Car camping in that neighborhood is a pretty big problem, particularly just south of there. A lot of homeless people rely on that particular New Seasons to cash in their cans, and to panhandle cash. You can, and probably should, call to get him ticketed, but that's not really going to solve the problem; bro can just move his car down the block…even if he pushes it the clock starts over on what the police can do.
posted by furnace.heart at 7:38 AM on March 31, 2015
If he's not screaming right this minute, call the non-emergency number. They'll still dispatch someone right away. You should have an accurate description of the car and the current location though. If they don't come across him, they'll step up their patrols in your neighborhood until they do. You can also ask for an officer to visit you after they make contact to let you know what is being done.
posted by vignettist at 7:40 AM on March 31, 2015
posted by vignettist at 7:40 AM on March 31, 2015
I live in Beaverton (which is not Portland but still) and unless he's in the act of screaming things, this is just a call to the non-emergency line. Depending on availability someone might be out in 5 min or maybe stop by when you're at work. It's not like he's going somewhere else. Living in a car is not illegal but he does have to move every 24 hrs otherwise he's illegally parked.
The Portland police dealings with the homeless and mentally ill is frequently disproportionate to the severity of the situation so calling 911 may not bring the resolution you think it will. I wish that MultoCo had a mental health intervention # like Lane County did (does?) but they don't so we have to work with what they have.
posted by fiercekitten at 7:42 AM on March 31, 2015
The Portland police dealings with the homeless and mentally ill is frequently disproportionate to the severity of the situation so calling 911 may not bring the resolution you think it will. I wish that MultoCo had a mental health intervention # like Lane County did (does?) but they don't so we have to work with what they have.
posted by fiercekitten at 7:42 AM on March 31, 2015
This is not your problem, but please emphasize the mental health issues so they'll know to send help that way if they have it. Too many mentally ill go untreated and they don't know how to get help or has been denied in the past. The police chasing him away will only make him someone else's problem. Maybe there isn't much resources for it seeing how many homeless + mentally ill people there are in the city, but it's still worth an extra minute of your time to try...
posted by bread-eater at 9:01 AM on March 31, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by bread-eater at 9:01 AM on March 31, 2015 [2 favorites]
It may be worth calling the county's mental health system and seeing if they can provide any outreach or intervention. They may have an easier time putting him on a psychiatric hold, if that's what's appropriate, than the police will.
And if they can't, then they might still be able to provide advice on how to ask the police to intervene.
posted by jaguar at 9:12 AM on March 31, 2015
And if they can't, then they might still be able to provide advice on how to ask the police to intervene.
posted by jaguar at 9:12 AM on March 31, 2015
I work in homeless services, and would say your best bet is to call the police - not just for you, but also for him. The police have discretionary hotel stays that they can employ for situations like that, as well as priority referral to various social service agencies.
posted by corb at 9:24 AM on March 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by corb at 9:24 AM on March 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
Multnomah County has a dedicated 24hr Mental Health Crisis line: 503.988.4888 that also provides access to 24/7 mobile crisis outreach for in-person assessment.
https://multco.us/mhas/mental-health-crisis-intervention.
posted by tallus at 9:32 AM on March 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
https://multco.us/mhas/mental-health-crisis-intervention.
posted by tallus at 9:32 AM on March 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
Try mental health, homeless services, or non-emergency police (as a last resort). Using 911 might unnecessarily escalate the situation in the minds of the police. This guy probably doesn't need 2 squad cars with officers who have no context surrounding him. More likely, he needs some kind of non-threatening engagement and then assessment on next steps from a professional who understands homeless and mental health issues.
posted by homesickness at 10:49 AM on March 31, 2015
posted by homesickness at 10:49 AM on March 31, 2015
If you call the police, ask for their community affairs officer.
posted by corb at 10:54 AM on March 31, 2015
posted by corb at 10:54 AM on March 31, 2015
A transient screaming at someone is a 911 issue. Next time it happens, make that call. Call the non emergency line now.
posted by EatTheWeek at 12:07 PM on March 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by EatTheWeek at 12:07 PM on March 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
The police may be able to ask him to leave, but that may not do much. It doesn't sound like he has done anything really worthy of arrest per se. Some police officers will be quick to give a homeless person a hard time, but some police are sympathetic.
Some specific homeless people will move on to avoid trouble if the police are called. Others will not and may even be antagonized. Some homeless people are pretty thick-skinned about things like dealing with the police, in part because you deal with the police a lot when you are on the street, even if you aren't doing anything wrong. In the three years I have been homeless, I have interacted with the police way more than in the 46.5 years I lived before that.
I actually thought they lived around us so I shrugged it off.
Other than finding out he is homeless, did something change that made you more concerned? Because it sounds to me like your current state of distress might be a case of prejudice -- as if homeless crazy people scare you but crazy neighbors are somehow fine in your eyes. If so, you might want to rethink that. Either a person is both crazy and dangerous or they are not. Where they sleep doesn't by itself make them more or less inherently dangerous.
And he was outside New Seasons and got weird on her there this afternoon.
Even if a person was not mentally ill before they ended up on the street, the way homeless people get treated by most people they interact with is pretty crazy-making. It can do a lot to erode an individual's social skills. So I find myself wondering what specifically he did that was weird.
FWIW, I have had good results with talking to other homeless people in a respectful fashion, being civil and polite like it was any other social occasion, and offering them help if I had it to offer.
One woman in downtown who used to scream profanity on a regular basis stopped acting so completely whacked out after my sons and I gave her food a few times and talked to her like a normal person. It wasn't that much food, because we were on the street ourselves at the time. It was leftover milk and potato wedges from our lunch. We couldn't finish it and those items weren't going to keep, so we gave away what was left while it was still edible. Much to our surprise, she began acting a whole lot less crazy after we did that maybe two or three times.
So, I think you have a few options here.
1) You can call the police and hope that actually just gets this person out of your neighborhood and makes it no longer your problem. It may or may not do that.
2) You can call around and see if there is some organization that might be willing to reach out to him and try to help him with his problems so he becomes less of a problem generally.
3) You can consider trying to help him yourself in some fashion instead of calling an agency.
Information is very hard to come by on the street. So, he might have no idea where he can get help. You might be able to help him at no risk to yourself by putting together a flyer with information and sticking it under his windshield wiper one day while he is sleeping or away from the car. Frame it as something intended to be helpful to him and do your best to not be seen leaving it there.
If you want to go the flyer route, you might look for things like day shelters where he can go for the day (to be safe-ish and off the street and also get some social contact -- extreme social isolation is pretty crazy-making), hot meal sites, food pantries, mental health services, homeless services centers that offer a menu of services, and even just list information sources like 211. In a lot of cities, you can call 211 (IIRC, for free from any public pay phone even) and find out what resources are available in the area. Some people on the street simply do not know where to go to get help. If they are mentally ill and socially isolated, there may be no one telling them where and how to seek help.
I am sorry you are dealing with this. Best of luck.
posted by Michele in California at 3:04 PM on March 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
Some specific homeless people will move on to avoid trouble if the police are called. Others will not and may even be antagonized. Some homeless people are pretty thick-skinned about things like dealing with the police, in part because you deal with the police a lot when you are on the street, even if you aren't doing anything wrong. In the three years I have been homeless, I have interacted with the police way more than in the 46.5 years I lived before that.
I actually thought they lived around us so I shrugged it off.
Other than finding out he is homeless, did something change that made you more concerned? Because it sounds to me like your current state of distress might be a case of prejudice -- as if homeless crazy people scare you but crazy neighbors are somehow fine in your eyes. If so, you might want to rethink that. Either a person is both crazy and dangerous or they are not. Where they sleep doesn't by itself make them more or less inherently dangerous.
And he was outside New Seasons and got weird on her there this afternoon.
Even if a person was not mentally ill before they ended up on the street, the way homeless people get treated by most people they interact with is pretty crazy-making. It can do a lot to erode an individual's social skills. So I find myself wondering what specifically he did that was weird.
FWIW, I have had good results with talking to other homeless people in a respectful fashion, being civil and polite like it was any other social occasion, and offering them help if I had it to offer.
One woman in downtown who used to scream profanity on a regular basis stopped acting so completely whacked out after my sons and I gave her food a few times and talked to her like a normal person. It wasn't that much food, because we were on the street ourselves at the time. It was leftover milk and potato wedges from our lunch. We couldn't finish it and those items weren't going to keep, so we gave away what was left while it was still edible. Much to our surprise, she began acting a whole lot less crazy after we did that maybe two or three times.
So, I think you have a few options here.
1) You can call the police and hope that actually just gets this person out of your neighborhood and makes it no longer your problem. It may or may not do that.
2) You can call around and see if there is some organization that might be willing to reach out to him and try to help him with his problems so he becomes less of a problem generally.
3) You can consider trying to help him yourself in some fashion instead of calling an agency.
Information is very hard to come by on the street. So, he might have no idea where he can get help. You might be able to help him at no risk to yourself by putting together a flyer with information and sticking it under his windshield wiper one day while he is sleeping or away from the car. Frame it as something intended to be helpful to him and do your best to not be seen leaving it there.
If you want to go the flyer route, you might look for things like day shelters where he can go for the day (to be safe-ish and off the street and also get some social contact -- extreme social isolation is pretty crazy-making), hot meal sites, food pantries, mental health services, homeless services centers that offer a menu of services, and even just list information sources like 211. In a lot of cities, you can call 211 (IIRC, for free from any public pay phone even) and find out what resources are available in the area. Some people on the street simply do not know where to go to get help. If they are mentally ill and socially isolated, there may be no one telling them where and how to seek help.
I am sorry you are dealing with this. Best of luck.
posted by Michele in California at 3:04 PM on March 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: UPDATE::
A car parked behind him this afternoon and he started screaming at them. I called the non emergency number and they said to call 911. Called 911 and police were here in about ten minutes. But the person that was screamed at was gone. And for the record this isn't normal screaming. It is threating to cut your face apart.
The police officer on the scene called me and said since I wasn't a injured party nothing could be done. And he did say that the person in the car has a record of a severe mental illness. So the cops bailed and he is still parked outside our apartment.
When the cop called back I asked about how it is legal to park a car in the same place for a month and live in it... He said that this is keeping "Portland Weird."
posted by johnpowell at 3:34 PM on March 31, 2015
A car parked behind him this afternoon and he started screaming at them. I called the non emergency number and they said to call 911. Called 911 and police were here in about ten minutes. But the person that was screamed at was gone. And for the record this isn't normal screaming. It is threating to cut your face apart.
The police officer on the scene called me and said since I wasn't a injured party nothing could be done. And he did say that the person in the car has a record of a severe mental illness. So the cops bailed and he is still parked outside our apartment.
When the cop called back I asked about how it is legal to park a car in the same place for a month and live in it... He said that this is keeping "Portland Weird."
posted by johnpowell at 3:34 PM on March 31, 2015
The squeaky wheel gets the grease; be persistent.
posted by The Hamms Bear at 11:07 PM on March 31, 2015
posted by The Hamms Bear at 11:07 PM on March 31, 2015
If the police are being no responsive, a call to your city council person or other local elected official's office will usually produce results quite quickly.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:41 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Dip Flash at 5:41 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
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