A new proposal to help the homeless might be underway in Orange and Osceola Counties.

Orange-Osceola Public Defender Robert Wesley is suggesting that law enforcement officers in both counties give the homeless citations for violations. Instead of arresting homeless persons or taking them to jail for things like panhandling ordinances, loitering or camping.

Wesley sent a letter to Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs and city commissioners noting that arrests do little to dispel the problem of homelessness.

"[It] does nothing to improve [homeless people's] circumstances or to solve their underlying problems causing homelessness, those being mental illness, unemployment [and] drug and alcohol abuse," according to the letter.

Wesley believes minor charges be dropped, if the offender gets a mental health, substance abuse evaluation, or enrolls in some kind of assistance program.

Last April, Orlando police officers made nearly 1,600 arrests in 2014 for minor crimes like panhandling and camping. Offenders were arrested more than once for the same charge, according to jail records.



Wesley said those arrests take up tax payer resources, which could be devoted to more serious crimes.

A similar program in Pinellas County has been successful for several years, he said.



