GRANTS PASS, Ore. – Police in Grants Pass have been citing homeless who do not move their belongings after 7 days.
The encampment on J Street has about 75 tents and 100 people residing there, according to MINT’s (Mobile Integrative Navigation Team) Chief Physician Dr. Bruce Murray MD.
At least 25 of those residents have medical conditions and cannot physically leave without help.
Dr. Murray says he wrote letters for the 25 people claiming they were disabled and medically fragile but when the time came, he says police said they would still cite them.
“They came to me and said ‘we are citing some of the people that you declared medically fragile.’ I said ‘excuse me? Yeah, we don’t think they are medically fragile, and plus we know they have used drugs and so we are citing them.’ I said, ‘so you are making medical decisions? You are countermanding my order?’ They said ‘yes, we’ve been told by the police chief and by the city that those don’t have any legal standing or meaning and we aren’t going to move them now, we don’t know when we will move them, but they are being cited.'”
Volunteers with MINT on Wednesday put in a water source for residents so they don’t have to worry about where their next drink will come from or leave the encampment in search of water.
NBC5 News reached out to the Grants Pass Police Department for comment on the citations but the department has not responded.
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