An audience of business owners and neighborhood residents packed a west Augusta gym Tuesday to hear what the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office plans to do about crime tied to homelessness on Washington Road.
The sheriff’s office sent 95 business owners in the section – running along Washington Road from Center West Parkway and Boy Scout Road to Fury’s Ferry Road and 200 feet on either side of the road – inviting them to join the Property Owner Response Team, or PORT.
Those who signed on give the sheriff’s office authority to enter their property and remove or arrest individuals and encampments, whether the owner is present or not, Sheriff Richard Roundtree said.
“We want to start controlling where the homeless can live,” he said. “We agree that squatting on private property is not going to be acceptable.”
The new program has active participation by the court system. Richmond County Superior Court has agreed to take criminal cases directly, in part because it oversees where many would end up – drug court, mental illness court or veteran’s court, the sheriff said.
Business owners such as hoteliers and salon owners as well as the public has seen an uptick over the last few years of panhandling and camping in the Washington Road area. Hotel owners recently have complained the sheriff’s office won’t help them evict squatters who refuse to leave their hotel rooms despite not paying.
Augusta is a magnet for homeless people across the two-state area due to the availability of resources and nonprofits that provide them with services, he said.
While homeless people l might be riding the rails or otherwise catching rides to Augusta, they’re not being bused in by other cities, Roundtree said.
If the program is successful, Roundtree said he’d like to see it expand to other areas.
Judy Evans, a longtime resident of the Boy Scout Road area, asked about shopping carts and other debris left on state rights-of-way near the I-20 overpass.
Evans said the program’s critics probably weren’t helping.
“If you criticize, if you’re not going to be a part of the solution,” she said. “Whether you’re a business owner or property owner you can get behind what they are doing. We’re interested in helping.”
Commissioner Sean Frantom, who represents the area, said in a tweet he was pleased with the event. “What a turnout by District 7 and surrounding people to hear the sheriff,” Frantom said.
The loudspeaker system in use at Warren Road Recreation Center malfunctioned repeatedly during Roundtree’s presentation. Audience members had no access to a microphone and most of their questions were inaudible to others present.
