A hearing Wednesday, June 13, on claims that a homeless man was “dumped” in San Pedro in January by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies resulted in resolutions for more training and inter-agency cooperation but did little to quell outrage on the part of some residents.

It has long been suspected that surrounding cities bring their homeless people to San Pedro because it is part of the city of Los Angeles and, theoretically, has more resources to help them.

“On the grassroots level, I am glad to see that these sadly regular actions (homeless dumping) are elevated to the level of action and repercussions it deserves,” said Amber Sheikh-Ginsberg of San Pedro who has helped to set up a joint neighborhood council working group on homelessness in the Harbor Area. “We’ve seen this forever in other areas of the city — skid row, West Hollywood, Venice. Simply moving people around is not a solution.”

The county has denied there was any issue of “dumping” in January or at other times.

On a larger scale, Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino, who called for an internal investigation into the matter, said changes need to be made in the mental health system that will provide more leeway to hold individuals so they can receive treatment.

The incident, video-recorded by neighbors, occurred Jan. 30 when Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies dropped off a homeless man, later identified as Thomas Bryan, 54, at 25th Street near Mermaid Street. The deputies had picked him up in Rancho Palos Verdes and dropped him over the border in San Pedro where later he was arrested and found to have a warrant out for his arrest.

Buscaino, who called the video “alarming” in Wednesday’s meeting of the Los Angeles City Public Safety Committee, called for more focus on finding solutions.

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The deputies, Buscaino has maintained, should have connected the man with homeless services. Instead, deputies, at the man’s request, dropped him near a bus stop so he could use his MTA pass to go back to Pasadena.

The Sheriff’s Department has said deputies acted appropriately and compassionately and that the man, when they dropped him off, did not appear in need of immediate services. Furthermore, when offered service, he denied them, the department said.

The incident is part of an ongoing discussion on how procedures that are in place when it comes to the mentally ill living on the streets may need to be revisited.

“The 5150 hold is a joke,” Buscaino said, referring to the limitations of the state’s temporary, involuntary 72-hour hold in a psychiatric facility for evaluation for those who appear to be a danger to themselves or others. “We need to find a longer solution for those who are mentally ill.”

County Sheriff’s Capt. Dan Beringer said deputies acted appropriately in the January incident.

“Several deputies made contact with this individual and determined that he didn’t meet the criteria for a 72-hour evaluation,” Beringer said. “He was offered services which he declined.”

As deputies drove toward the bus stop, the man became agitated and demanded to be let out near a convenience store on the way.

Later, he was observed lying on the street corner but he refused help when Los Angeles City Fire was called and came to the scene.

Because the man’s outstanding warrant was for a minor offense, he would not have been held in jail, county officials said.

Buscaino still maintains the man would have qualified for a 72-hour hold, but acknowledged that the issue is a difficult one that law enforcement often isn’t equipped to handle.

Buscaino supports ongoing discussions within the county about possibly expanding the state’s definition of “gravely disabled,” saying the so-called 5150 standard, the law’s legal section number, is not working.

Civil liberties concerns, however, are a significant part of that discussion with critics cautioning against laws that create ways to keep people in institutions involuntarily.

With the growing problems of homelessness throughout the city and county, however, workers are finding that dealing with the mentally ill is a particularly difficult component to finding solutions.

A recent county homeless survey found that nearly 30 percent of those on the streets suffered from mental illness.

After Wednesday’s hearing, four recommendations were approved to be forwarded to the county as the search for longer-term solutions continues. They are: