In recent weeks, people pushing and prodding for spare change on the streets of downtown have come up against a bigger roadblock than disdainful pedestrians and disgruntled business owners. In what city officials have a called a “first of its kind” operation, Knoxville Police Department officers earlier this month started going undercover to target panhandlers they say are acting aggressively when asking people for money.

Since March 11, KPD has undertaken three of these “sting” operations in different parts of downtown and the Old City. So far officers have issued 12 citations and made three arrests for “aggressive panhandling,” a broad and often subjective term that encompasses some genuinely-unfriendly actions, like “recklessly making physical contact” with a person, but also covers more benign behaviors such as asking the same person for money a second time within 20 feet, according to the city’s ordinance. There is also a separate 13-part ordinance dictating when and where general panhandling is permitted.

“Aggressive panhandling is basically when folks feel threatened by that behavior, and that are kind of subjective, but any behavior that makes you feel uneasy fits the rule,” says Rick Emmett, downtown coordinator for the city of Knoxville. “Almost every resident downtown and businesses as well have a story about aggressive panhandling [and how it has affected them]. Every meeting I go to for downtown associations—and there are four or five of them a month—this is a topic at every single one of them.”

Anecdotal stories from Knoxvillians being hit up for money on sidewalks downtown are in no short supply, at least if a recent flurry of online comments to news articles and blog posts are any indication. But opinions on what is or isn’t “aggressive” vary widely, and for every tale of an unsavory run-in there seems to be another downtown-frequenter that attests to never having an issue. Many say they have been approached by a panhandler at some point, but whether or not those interactions are aggressive or particularly bothersome is open to interpretation. To put it simply, people are divided on the issue.

Downtown District Association President Kelly Absher gets approached for money on a regular basis, he says, but he has never felt threatened in the five years he’s lived downtown. His friend Rhonda Moody, on the other hand, says some of the same actions that don’t rattle Absher leave her a little shaken.

“I think most the time when I feel threatened it’s because people come up and knock on my [car] window. It does feel threatening when they’re right there in your face,” she says. “Usually they’re not being aggressive, but it can be scary being a woman.”

Longtime business owner Robin Easter says she’s seen panhandling ebb and flow over the past 26 years, since she opened a storefront for Robin Easter Design on Jackson Avenue in the Old City, but says she has never had an encounter she would consider aggressive or threatening.

“There will be periods of time when you get people who are a little more aggressive, and then they’ll move on. Then there are some homeless people here who are perfectly nice people and don’t panhandle,” she says. “I think the bigger thing, bigger than arresting people, is educating the public on how to interact with panhandlers. People need to understand that handouts are perpetuating things and aren’t going to help a person in the long run.”

Eddie Young sees things a little differently. He’s quick to note that his organization, the East Tennessee Peace and Justice Center, doesn’t condone aggressive panhandling, but he claims the city’s ordinances against panhandlers are so broad that they amount to discrimination and infringe on First Amendment rights to freedom of speech—an assertion a number of state and federal court rulings seem to support, though none of those judgments have been handed down in Tennessee.

“We do defend the right to solicit in a passive way, and that’s really what the city is targeting here. They’ve essentially banned that action because of a few aggressive panhandlers out there,” he says. “But I think it’s like driving to work in the morning: Just because there are a few aggressive drivers, you don’t ban driving.”

ETPJC publishes the Amplifier, a free monthly newspaper sold by mostly homeless men and women for donations. It pays $25 annually for a solicitation permit from the city. Each citation for aggressive panhandling carries a $50 fine and the possibility of court costs, says city spokesman Eric Vreeland. Emmett, Knoxville’s downtown coordinator, says it’s pretty much the only tool the city has to combat aggressive panhandlers. He says the recent efforts by KPD will not continue long-term, but were brought about by a recent influx of new, more aggressive panhandlers showing up downtown that have triggered complaints.

A number of residents, business owners, and city officials are quick to draw a distinction between people who are homeless and people who panhandle. While some panhandlers may indeed be homeless, not all of them are. Of the three people arrested for aggressive panhandling recently, two listed their address as the Knox Area Rescue Mission, an indication they may be homeless. The third told police she lived in a mostly boarded-up house in the Marble City neighborhood of West Knoxville.

It costs an average of $73.45 a day to house an inmate in the Knox County Jail, Sheriff’s spokeswoman Martha Dooley says. At our press time on Tuesday, two of those arrested for aggressive panhandling remained behind bars and one was released over the weekend. Thus far it has cost at least $1,033.30 to house the three, a number that includes “three hots and a cot” (meaning three meals a day and a bed, plus any medical treatment and “all that kind of stuff”), according to Dooley.

The Tennessee Legislature last year adopted a statewide panhandling law which makes aggressive panhandling a misdemeanor. That has mirrored national trends as more municipalities adopt anti-panhandling rules. Between 2011 and 2014 the number of U.S. cities with outright bans on panhandling increased by 25 percent, while the number of cities with some sort of panhandling restrictions rose about 20 percent, according to a report from the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. In all, about 24 percent of cities ban begging all together, while 76 percent have prohibitions on begging in certain places, the same report says.

Knoxville has had similar laws on the books since October 2006, when the City Council voted unanimously to put in place an ordinance restricting panhandling in general and another singling out aggressive panhandlers. It does not ban panhandling all together. Those provisions were last updated in November 2014 when Council members voted unanimously to prohibit panhandling within 20 feet of any entrance or exit. That’s in addition to bans already in place on panhandling within 20 feet of intersections, bus stops, pay phones, ATMs, restaurant patios, parking lot pay boxes, and public restrooms. Young says that left a total of about five locations downtown where someone could legally ask for money.

In recent years no fewer than a dozen cities and three states have faced lawsuits over restrictive panhandling ordinances or outright bans. While each of those situations are different, judges have overwhelmingly sided with panhandlers, and some ordinances struck down in court are similar to parts of Knoxville’s current regulations. In a number of cases, city governments (and by way taxpayers) were forced to cover legal costs ranging up to $1 million.

The city of Worcester, Mass. had its ordinance targeting aggressive panhandlers cut down by a federal judge in 2013. It included a provision barring panhandling after dark. Knoxville has in place a similar restriction. The American Civil Liberties Union is currently seeking to recover $1 million in legal expenses in that case.

A California state judge in 2010 ruled against a city of Arcata ordinance that banned begging within 20 feet of a business entrance or exit. Fort Collins, Colo. settled a case brought by the ACLU in 2015 after agreeing to drop a section that ticketed people panhandling near an ATM, though it kept in place rules specifically targeting aggressive panhandlers. Knoxville also bars panhandling within 20 feet of business entrances and ATMs.

Other municipalities that have had courts rule against their local panhandling ordinances or have agreed to settle amid a legal challenge include Sacramento; Grand Junction, Colo.; Lowell, Mass.; Portland, Maine; Hawaii County, Hawaii; Springfield, Ill.; Springfield, Mo.; Salt Lake City; Draper, Utah; and Bolivar, Mo. The majority of those challenges were brought on by state chapters of the ACLU. A spokesperson with ACLU TN declined to comment for this story.

Young says he believes Knoxville’s panhandling laws are unconstitutional. He is currently looking for a pro bono attorney to help file a lawsuit against the city of Knoxville.

Featured image: thinkstock.com.

Clay Duda

Former Mercury staff reporter Clay Duda has covered gangs in New York, housing busts in Atlanta, and wildfires in Northern California. And lots of stuff about Knoxville.