31 Quotes by Michael Stoops

There's been a trend with a few police departments becoming more sensitized toward the needs and issues that the homeless population face. These are the kind of partnerships we support.

The most common law that targets homeless people is some version of a panhandling law, whether it's aggressive panhandling or saying you can only panhandle in certain areas of a city.

It's a good time of year to raise awareness, when it's real cold out. More Americans are thinking about poverty and homelessness this time of year.

It puts pressure on cities to rethink their criminalization strategies. No city should want to be labeled a mean city.

It just means other cities are now being meaner than Las Vegas.

No area of America is immune from homelessness.

The Atlanta ordinance says this is how Atlanta is solving Atlanta's homeless problem. You're not aloud to say anything. You're not allowed to ask what time it is; you're not allowed to ask for directions. You're not allowed to ask for food. We don't consider that to be a model ordinance.

They could have been taken off the mean list if they would have just done away with that ordinance.

In many of the cases, it's a crime of opportunity. A group of teenagers is roaming the street on a hot summer night and they come across a homeless person who might be mentally ill or alcoholic. When they hurt a homeless person, they think they can get away with it -- and they think they won't be hurt in return.