As elected officials, we are often briefed on difficult citywide issues that require careful study and consideration. When business owners in my district approached my office about the rise in aggressive panhandling, we wanted to ensure we were protecting businesses without harming our at-risk population.

Due to their comments and those of numerous constituents, I submitted a council consideration request, or CCR, asking the city to review and strengthen our city’s panhandling ordinance.

Our CCR serves two purposes. One is to find a way to deter professional panhandlers from clogging intersections, and encroaching on businesses and harassing their customers.

The other is to reach out further to our impoverished and vulnerable population, and connect them to local resources to get them off the streets and into places that can serve their needs.

Part of the problem is identifying the professional panhandlers from our homeless population. Professional panhandlers are organized. They target high-traffic areas and often operate in groups.

Their job is to appear homeless, penniless and in need of help, and they wager on your sympathy to collect donations. Some hang out in parking lots, asking for money from shoppers and patrons as they enter and leave. Others work high-volume intersections at peak traffic hours, darting between lanes and creating a public safety hazard. Some offer trinkets or bottled water for purchase, while others simply hold a sign.

Some of these individuals choose this existence, while others are forced into it through trafficking organizations.

Because San Antonio is a waypoint or end destination for trafficking groups, it is important that we strengthen policy to help the exploited and cut off a criminal organization’s financial support.

Both the San Antonio Police Department and Bexar County have dedicated task forces to address trafficking. We want to make sure our city’s panhandling policies reflect their mission in this regard and do not penalize without merit.

Asking for money is not a crime. Contributing money is not a crime. San Antonio Police Chief William McManus has often stated that we can’t arrest the problem away, and I agree.

We need to work together on this. It is not in anyone’s best interest to dart into traffic and cause a public safety concern, or harass small-business owners and deter shoppers. We need a system of accountability with those who refuse help and continue working an intersection, and a stronger safety net to assist those who need a way off the streets.

In Governance Committee recently, we heard from McManus on what we can do to reduce the number of panhandlers on our streets.

One initiative he proposed was educating small businesses on how to enforce trespassing rules. When a business owner has a “No Trespassing” sign in place, SAPD can enforce this rule and assist in deterring aggressive panhandlers in parking lots.

Other initiatives included lobbying at the state legislative level to expand social programs that aid the homeless, and researching community service penalties instead of financial ones.

I hope that San Antonio’s social welfare programs see this conversation as a call to arms. Think of how effective it would be to place signs under bridges with a nearby shelter’s phone number.

Imagine the impact of having our churches work with SAPD to assist victims.

When we can aid, rather than arrest, the truly unfortunate, we are left with a panhandling population subject to accountability.

It’s OK to not want to go to Haven for Hope; it’s not OK to cause traffic hazards and prevent businesses from operating.

A professional panhandler or a victim of circumstance causing a dangerous distraction at a street corner is not safe for anyone.

We must come together as a city and implement the best methods available to resolve this difficult issue.

Mike Gallagher represents San Antonio City Council District 10.