ROBOCOP ROUST AND ROBBERY

By Becky Johnson

April 14, 2004

Santa Cruz, Ca. --- Robocop is the evil twin of Officer Eric Seilly,
the Homeless Harassment Officer ..er I mean..Homeless RESOURCE
officer. Seilly is bad enough. Last week he seized the van belonging
to Donald Algren a.k.a. Dirtclod of Camp Paradise fame, and dumped the
only occupants out, Don\u2019s wife Kay, her wheelchair, and dog on
the sidewalk. But Robocop a.k.a. SCPD Officer Perry has been a regular
dynamo when it comes to militant economic cleansing of the streets of
Santa Cruz.

On Tuesday, according to J.J. Ballard, Robocop showed up at the long
yellow wall across from McDonald\u2019s on Ocean St. to hassle three
men. J. J. was there with Roger and Shortdog about 9:30 AM.

Officer Perry confronted the three men, issued no citation, and made
no arrests. But he took away all the belongings they had with them
including survival bedding and about 30 copies of Street Spirit with
Roger had been selling.

Did he have a reason for taking all their stuff? Did he give them a
receipt? Is he trying to stop them from selling Street Spirit since
vending papers is a legal activity and requires no permit.

Seilly has issued tickets to the three men when they camped on private
property with the owner\u2019s permission and issued open-container
tickets despite the fact that it is not illegal to have an
open-container on private property. According to reports, Seilly also
claimed he was going to make trouble for the owner.

"And the owner went down to the police station and told them to back
off or he would file a complaint!" remarked J.J. a smile, broadly
painted across his face.

J.J. Ballard was arrested by Seilly and convicted of felony "prowling"
when he drank a beer on private property near a closed office building
near Denny\u2019s on Ocean St. Ballard spent nine months in jail and
now has one strike against him. A self-proclaimed alcoholic, and a
longtime local homeless man, J.J. has become a top Street Spirit
vendor, out-selling any other vendor in the Santa Cruz area.

HUFF in the meantime has gone on record as supporting compassionate
businesses and organizations which adopt a supportive rather than
punitive policies for dealing with homeless people, found literally on
our doorsteps.

For more information: Call HUFF at (831) 423-HUFF for recorded
message. Be sure to leave one of your own! And visit
www.santacruz.indymedia.org and www.santacruz.indymedia.org