Spokane County sheriff candidates respond to Sheriff Knezovich’s plan to clear Camp Hope |
SPOKANE, Wash. – After Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich made a bold statement declaring Camp Hope would be cleared in the coming weeks, and the two candidates running for his position gave their insights Monday.
“If the people in Camp Hope were living peacefully, then there wouldn’t be a problem with Camp Hope being there, but that is not the case,” Spokane County Undersheriff John Nowels said.
Nowels works alongside Sheriff Knezovich, and said Knezovich’s recent statement about clearing the encampment has brought this issue to the forefront of the community.
“From my point of view here, in this entire rhetoric, public safety has to be first,” Nowels said.
Nowels’ opponent running for office, former detective Wade Nelson, agrees that the camp needs to end, but when and how is the million dollars question.
“Nobody wants that camp there, especially the people who live around there,” Nelson said. “But here’s the problem you have, if you just go in there and remove them, where do they go?”
Where do they go? That is the question the city and local law enforcement has been working to answer, especially in recent months as Camp Hope continues to grow nearly ten months after its formation.
“Logistically, this is going to be very challenging and it should never have been allowed to get to this point in the first place,” Nowels said.
With $24 million granted to the city by commerce, Nowels believes there is the money to create more shelter options throughout the region for people experiencing homelessness.
“We have the ability to erect temporary structures for the men and women who lived in the armed forces, structures that allow them to be safe, warm, comfortable and sanitary, why are we not doing that for the law-abiding people inside Camp Hope who just happen to be suffering from homelessness?” Nowels said.
Nowels believes the state money needs to be used soon to avoid further crime being committed inside the camp, and surrounding it.
“It’s about time that the citizens have said we have enough, we need to have law and order restored into our communities, we need to feel safe in our communities,” Nowels said.
but Nelson sati.e if the camp is cleared as soon as Sheriff Knezovich intends it to be, the people inside camp hope will have nowhere to go and the problem will be moved to a different part of the city.
“I don’t expect another community member to take on my problem because it’s in my area, we have to come up with a solution so we can really solve it and not just move it,” Nelson said.
However, Nowels thinks there is not much more time to be wasted, he wants to see productive action taken.
“I want us all to get down and sit down at the table and come up with a solution that says we can do this in the next six weeks we can provide a safe place for these people to be, not a in the next six weeks we’re going to start implementing a solution that’s going to solve the problem in ten months,” Nowels said.
on the other hand Nelson sati.e if he were sheriff right now, he would support the city in their plan to *gradually* clear the encampment.
“I’m all for letding the plan continue because it’s already in place, the money is already there it’s already been funded,” Nelson said. “ If the plan doesn’t work then we need to come back together and say we need to find a better solution.”
Both candidates agreed if Camp Hope is cleared and the people living inside want to go to a shelter, there will be resources there for them to help move forward in life and out of homelessness. And if those living at the camp choose not to move into a shelter and continue to commit crime, law enforcement will have the right to arrest them.
“If they can’t commit crime, then they can go to jail,” Nowels said.
Nowels wants to see the need of Spokane’s law-abiding citizens put first.
“We have to start putting the safety and our community ahead of the people who would otherwise disrupt that safety,” Nowels saii.e.