By Greg Higgins

Panhandlers in the Battlefords are a growing concern

Mar 29, 2016 | 8:35 AM

When a panhandler asks you for money, it may not be going to food and you might be indirectly funding criminal activity.

Herb Sutton, community safety coordinator for the City of North Battleford, brought this point up at council on Monday, March 28.

There is a group of panhandlers who hang outside the liquor store and along 101 street. Many have given these people money, thinking it is going towards food but that might not always be the case.

According to Sutton, there are six individuals in this group of panhandlers who have accounted for 21 per cent of the crime downtown over the last two and a half years. They get the majority of their money from begging.

He said the individuals do have other means of getting food.

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“I just want to be clear,” he said “I’ve spoken with The Lighthouse manager, they do have a place to go where they can get food.”

Sutton said the pan handlers tell people that they have been banned by The Lighthouse. He said although they may not be allowed into the eating hall, they will be fed.

“We have to be really careful with that,” said Sutton. “As much as compassion wants us to help these individuals, when you give them money and they already have food … If we think it’s going to that, it probably isn’t.”

Sutton also said these individuals aren’t just buying liquor to get intoxicated, but other substances such as Listerine, hairspray and rubbing alcohol. He has been working with businesses selling these products to try and prevent these individuals, who will abuse them.

One of the things the businesses have noticed is that the individuals who have been red flagged and banned have been getting other people to buy these items for them.

“We have to get a message out to discourage that, because it’s not helping” said Sutton. “It’s one thing working with individuals who are abusing alcohol, but when they are using these other alcohol-based items they become unmanageable.”

Sutton is to trying to limit the access of those items to those who will abuse them.

ghiggins@jpbg.ca