# Should you \[give panhandlers money / call the cops on panhandlers\]? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 14, 2009, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328 "2009-01-14T21:30:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Hi\_Neighbor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hi_neighbor/32/494_2.png) [@Hi\_Neighbor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hi_Neighbor)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328/41 "2009-01-15T16:58:28Z")
Oftentimes, I’m indifferent to beggars and give them money depending on how I feel that particular day. However, when I was a student in Pittsburgh, there were a few beggars that hung around campus. On the way to classes, students would the same ones nearly every day, and eventually “warmed up” to them. The bums were even given nicknames (i.e. “Shuffles”) in the school newspaper. At any rate, I’ve purchased an entire pizza for a bum. On another occasion, I bought a Chinese food dinner for a bum and his dog (I really felt bad for the dog). I do think back to one instance as a child when I gave a beggar some money. He was asking passersby for nickels and dimes. I gave him a quarter, and the guy literally looked at it, stared back up at me, and lectured me on the difference between a quarter and nickels and dimes. He made a scene and kept saying, “I asked for nickels and dimes, not quarters!” What a bastard. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328/42 "2009-01-15T16:58:59Z")
I pass them up without guilt or regret. They aren’t out there begging to survive (there are plenty of shelters and places for food and they know it) but rather begging for money for extras (alcohol, cigarettes, etc.) and I’m not into funding that. We’re getting record low temperatures here (-20 last night) and they showed on the news people who worked at shelters driving around the city offering warmth and food. They showed a guy flattly turning them down cause he wanted to hang out longer to beg. ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328/43 "2009-01-15T17:11:42Z")
It’s beyond me how people can enjoy being spiteful and stingy so much. God forbid somebody should want the same little luxuries you do if you have judged them to be inferior or unworthy. ---
**Author:** ![Karyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/fbc32d/32.png) [@Karyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karyn)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328/44 "2009-01-15T17:17:42Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Are anti-vagrancy laws constitutional? In those old movies, you always see a cop walking his beat with a nightstick-telling some hobo to 'move on". The cops used to enforce these laws-I don’t see this today. I ran a homeless shelter for years and at least here in California vagrancy laws are illegal and non-aggressive panhandling is protected free speech. Communities can regulate the time, place and manner of panhandling but they can’t outlaw it all together. In terms of the OP, get over it. They aren’t hurting you if they aren’t aggressive and you can’t legislate poverty out of existence no matter how inconvenient it is for you to have to remember that it exists. Sure, lots of people panhandle for booze and drugs and no one is forcing you to give them money. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328/45 "2009-01-15T17:35:06Z")
> [@Dilton\_Doiley\_Philosopher\_King](#): > > I used to give panhandlers money all the time. Even though I believed they would likely spend it on alcohol, I believed it was the right thing to do: I had money and they needed it. Sometimes I’ve given them money and they’ve gone right across the street and actually bought food (although I’m not sure that they got their best value by getting fast food instead of going to the grocery). But for the most part, I gave it to them knowing they would spend it on alcohol. > > But lately, I’ve found them to be more of a nuisance. Aggressive begging on the street, yelling at me when I reject them. There are also those who stand at the end of an exit from a freeway, sign in hand, hoping that some schmoe will feel guilty because they are forced to look at them when they are stuck at the red light. And that’s why I don’t like them there, I like my freeway-to-street transitions to be smooth and guilt-free. > > And so, since panhandling is illegal in my city, I’ve taken to reporting them to the cops every time I see them at this red light. > > Is that wrong? While some of them are just scamming, surely some of them are actually in need of money. By calling the cops on them, am I depriving them of a livelihood which they can’t seem to get by other means? That is, should their right to ask for money trump my city’s right to clean up its bum population? A government should have the right to set standards of behaviour in public places, including a proscription against actively accosting anyone for any reason–panhandling or witnessing. Whether your personal approach to alms for street beggars is “right” is written on your heart. It cannot be inferred from an individual’s action regarding a particular bum at a particular moment. The wealthy man who gives $10 with a flourish but has no compassion has not achieved a measure of behaviour exceeding the man who gives nothing to panhandlers but volunteers his time at the soup kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328/46 "2009-01-15T18:14:45Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > A government should have the right to set standards of behaviour in public places, including a proscription against actively accosting anyone for any reason–panhandling or witnessing. But those laws would also have to make it illegal to say hello to your neighbor if you see her walking by. > [@Hi](#): > > I do think back to one instance as a child when I gave a beggar some money. He was asking passersby for nickels and dimes. I gave him a quarter, and the guy literally looked at it, stared back up at me, and lectured me on the difference between a quarter and nickels and dimes. He made a scene and kept saying, “I asked for nickels and dimes, not quarters!” What a bastard. How old were you? He may have thought you were too young to know the difference. Or maybe he felt bad taking a quarter from a little kid. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328/47 "2009-01-15T18:27:36Z")
> [@Dilton\_Doiley\_Philosopher\_King](#): > > Because they aren’t paying taxes? Many people, for various reasons, don’t pay taxes. Let’s “clean up” our cities of these bums, once and for all. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328/48 "2009-01-15T18:30:11Z")
> [@Freejooky](#): > > No, you shouldn’t give them money. Something tells me that most of the people responding to this don’t live in urban areas and actually have to deal with vagrants every day. I lived in NYC, as an adult, for 25 years. We don’t even know where you are. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328/49 "2009-01-15T18:36:24Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > The advice I always give in these threads: if you don’t want to give money that’s fine, but don’t literally ignore them. You walk past a bum and he says, “spare change?” – if you neither break stride nor turn your head, and you generally act as if you can neither see nor here him, it’s both incredibly rude and rather likely to lead to an unpleasant incident. Just smile and say “no, sorry” or “not tonight.” Ignoring a lot of things on the street (while still being aware of them) worked fine for me for years in the city. It’s not incredibly rude to ignore something that has nothing to do with me. (And I think the word “bum” is incredibly rude, so there you go. 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![EasyPhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@EasyPhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EasyPhil)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328/50 "2009-01-15T18:38:01Z")
Calling the cops on someone just panhandling is not a nice thing to do, to me it’s like being rude to waiters. What if circumstances where such that you needed to ask a stranger for money because of some series of events left you without money, a wallet, transportation and food, would you want someone to call the cops on you for just asking for help? Saying “no” or “sorry” is one thing, but calling the cops? ---
**Author:** ![Hi\_Neighbor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hi_neighbor/32/494_2.png) [@Hi\_Neighbor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hi_Neighbor)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328/51 "2009-01-15T18:56:40Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > How old were you? He may have thought you were too young to know the difference. Or maybe he felt bad taking a quarter from a little kid. I was young - maybe 10 or 11. I just remember that he wasn’t very polite or thankful. He just went into a tirade and belittled me for apparently not knowing the difference between a quarters, dimes, and nickels. I thought I was just being generous. Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328/52 "2009-01-15T19:02:14Z")
> [@Hi\_Neighbor](#): > > I was young - maybe 10 or 11. I just remember that he wasn’t very polite or thankful. He just went into a tirade and belittled me for apparently not knowing the difference between a quarters, dimes, and nickels. I thought I was just being generous. Oh well. My guess is that perhaps he wasn’t exactly in the pink of mental health. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328/53 "2009-01-15T21:06:15Z")
Some of those horrible pan handlers had jobs and homes not long ago and were asking themselves the same question’ should I give money to the panhandlers’. There but for fortune go you or I. ---
**Author:** ![Anna\_Nimity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Anna\_Nimity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anna_Nimity)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328/54 "2009-01-15T21:16:53Z")
I live in an urban area and see homeless/panhandlers nearly everyday. I can’t give change to everyone, as I’m not working now and have money issues of my own. However, I do give change when I can and usually to those who seem to need it more…old, mentally ill, desperate looking, etc. I would never call the cops unless someone was being physically threatenig and I cannot imagine the lack of normal human compassion that would lead someone to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Brad\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8dc957/32.png) [@Brad\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brad_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328/55 "2009-01-15T22:18:02Z")
I simply can’t give change to everyone. But especially not the folks who sit at the same spots every day and get pissy if they don’t get what they feel is a decent amount. Or the pockmarked toothless 23 year olds who say they really need money because they lost their wallet on the train on the commute in, since the train is on the other side of town, and they are coming from the opposite direction. I’m not heartless, but I’m not naive either. ---
**Author:** ![Ocean\_Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8797f3/32.png) [@Ocean\_Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ocean_Annie)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328/56 "2009-01-15T22:50:36Z")
> [@Ensign\_Edison](#): > > It’s beyond me how people can enjoy being spiteful and stingy so much. God forbid somebody should want the same little luxuries you do if you have judged them to be inferior or unworthy. Thank you. If sanctimony was replaced with humility, Americans might be able to save this sinking empire. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328/57 "2009-01-15T22:59:51Z")
> [@Ensign\_Edison](#): > > You mean like giving it to panhandlers? Yet they don’t just not do it themselves – they lecture me and anyone else about doing it. That second sentence totally befuddles me. I’m still trying to work it out. Maybe my brain got frozen. ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328/58 "2009-01-15T23:04:47Z")
> [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](#): > > That second sentence totally befuddles me. I’m still trying to work it out. Maybe my brain got frozen. Whether a person gives money is up to them. What I’m complaining about is when they also lecture others who do choose to give. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328/59 "2009-01-15T23:08:26Z")
Look, I’ve been unemployed since July 7th. I took the train downtown St. Louis for a job interview. I brought $4.50 worth of quarters, just enough for the round trip fare. I am absolutely strapped right now, but even if I weren’t, I don’t feel like I have to justify myself to someone who asks me for money. I’m sorry, but it is an invasion of my personal space. I’m not that comfortable with ANYONE I don’t know coming right up to me in the city, no matter what the intentions are. How do I know? I’m a small girl. I go where I’m going and pretty much look straight ahead, while being aware of my surroundings. If you approach me, I will try to get out of your way, or say, “excuse me,” or “no, thanks I’m good,” and keep on moving. Also, aside from train fare I absolutely do not carry cash around with me…ever. But, again, I don’t think I should have to feel like I’m being put on the spot every time I walk downtown. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328/60 "2009-01-15T23:09:30Z")
> [@Ensign\_Edison](#): > > Whether a person gives money is up to them. What I’m complaining about is when they also lecture others who do choose to give. Thanks. Agreed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-you-give-panhandlers-money-call-the-cops-on-panhandlers/481328.md?page=4)