Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson back to the program
on a couple of items. Sheriff, good morning, great to
have you back.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
You posted on Facebook this, I guess, by the grace
of God, a couple of police officers happened to be
driving by, but there was an elderly homeless guy that
was basically on fire. Can you flesh out this story
for us and what happened?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, So I actually saw the reporting first on Oman
scanner and they had reported the call indicated that two
police officers had located a presumably a homeless man had
confirmed it later who was on fire in the area
of Florence Boulevard and Paul. They saved his life. They
put him out with the fire extinguisher and he received
medical care taken to the hospital. So I went to
(00:44):
the scene to check it out, and in fact did
locate the charred remains of his camp and also in
that area, you know, unfortunately indicative of that challenge, a
lot of vindications of alcohol use, a lot of indications
of use. I actually found a drug pipe within arms
distance of that area, and I think that really typifies
(01:07):
the challenge here. You know, because as I look across
the street there was the Sena Francis House. Yeah, and
I got to tell you, Sanna Francis House is a
great operation if you want to donate to help, you know,
open Door. Sana Francis House two of the best. I've
been in it. They have a great shelter, they have
great recovery treatment center, but you have to go in it.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
So here was a man, here was a man within
sight of a shelter that chose instead to stay outside
in the cold and try to keep warm by lighting
a fire. So this speaks, This speaks to the mental
health and addiction issues that you know, we what do
we think of homeless folks that can't get lost? That
(01:47):
aspect of it right.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
When you're right, I think we got to stop referring
to it as homelessness. When we see these individuals in
these tent encampments, when we see them shuffling around with
huge shopping carts full of garbage, it's not traditional homelessness.
It's not a family that can't afford an apartment or
get evicted and they're going to live with their parents.
We're talking unaddressed behavioral health and addiction. And when decades
(02:12):
ago when we shut down our behavioral health infrastructure, you know,
and trying to save money and trying to focus that
more towards community based care. Unfortunately, what we did not
realize is that there's a lot of folks that are
acutely ill and they need that they need those mental
health institutions to be safe and get the care they
(02:33):
need and potentially reclaim a life of dignity. And I
tell you it's get a lot of calls from constituents.
A lot of folks living across the county. They're scared
of folks living in encampments behind their house in an alley.
A lot of these encampments are full of stolen properties,
stolen mail, stolen bikes that are being shopped up and sold.
A lot of business owners and say, hey, my insurance
(02:54):
rates are going up because of these break ins to
my customers cars, my customers employees are disrupted. It's a
it's a serious issue. And I'll tell you this. On
the state level, it is illegal to camp on county,
state or National Resources District property. Per state law. It's
classified misdemeanor, no jail time, but it's five hundred dollars fine.
There is no equivalent law for city properties, and I
(03:17):
do think that our state legislature in our city councils
probably need to consider mimicking that state law.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Well, that's interesting to mention that because this is inside
the city of Omaha where I got this email from.
Ken said, ask the sheriff about homeless camps. There has
been one at the corner of Saddle Creek and coming
for several weeks. Now, public health and safety issue that
the police and mayor need to do a better job
of addressing. So you say this has to start with
a council sheriff, right, there has to be some mechanism
(03:48):
for them to act.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Well, I don't I in my opinion, And again I
you know, i'm county government, but I can give opinion.
So I think that I don't think it's a wise
public policy to allow people to stand on center islands
in the middle of busy roadways and get hit by cars.
I don't think it's so wise public policy to allow
people to camp on public property that's not carefully designated
as a camping area. I just think I think we
(04:13):
were lucky to have the tools out in the county
that the state law that's that clear line to say
it's prohibited. And I think that ultimately, if we do
allow it, although it may be a short term solution,
I question whether we're enabling or maybe making the problem worse.
(04:33):
We've had an eight time increase in people living outside
over the last ten years, according to flat Water Free
Plus reporting, and I think this is something that we
have to come to terms with.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
On another matter, we talked several weeks ago about the
excessive speeding on the street racing, and you announced a
new tool that you're using for crackdown is having some effect, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Two things, you know, both the dougas kind of Sheriff's
Office community team, the CAT team, they've been out there
assertively looking for these reckless drivers, and we put out
a warning to them if you engage in this reckless behavior,
and if we believe evidence of your reckless behavior exists
on your digital devices and your cars or your cell phones.
A lot of these guys memorialize their dangerous driving and
(05:17):
put on the internet, and we're going to seize your vehicle,
seize your phone is evidence until we can acquire a
search warrant to get to get the data inside that
in combination with aggressive enforcement by DCSO and opd OUR
partners and opd OUR sources in these racing groups have
told us that we've really disrupted their behavior. They've canceled
(05:40):
some meetups, canceled some street and parking lot takeovers. And
now we're going to work with our state Senator Peers
at Captain calf and this next session really try to
up the consequences for this behavior. I'd like to see
us emulate policies around the country that make mandatory impound
for thirty days on these vehicles. If you're walking around
(06:00):
the city or the county with a gun pointing to people,
we're going to impound your gun. But if you do
it with a car, then you know we should be
able to impound your car to separate you from that
deadly weapon.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
And on the World Herald report of that, one scholar
question whether it's you have the authority and a longtime
public defender call the directive blatantly on constitutional that you
can't you can't see.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I'll tell you now now, we're very careful to follow
the law. And you know Tom Riley is one of
the best public defenders and jealous advocates in the region.
He wouldn't be doing his job if he didn't say
that that's his job to defend the accused to my
job to enforce the law and keeping us in people alive.
And so ultimately, the court system has that checks and balances.
(06:45):
Everything has to be approved by a judge or have
probable cause to seize evidence. And even then there's checks
and bounces appeals in the civil court system as well.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Okay, about a minute or so left here, and so
many people are interested in whatever happen. And in the
case of Leo, the duct taped dog who thank god
it was found and saved, this investigation apparently is ongoing, Sheriff, right,
it is.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Very complex investigation. Right now, we've got some investigators working
parallel with the Nebraska's main society investigators double checking evidence.
There is a potential suspect that we're looking at, but
we've got to make sure we have probable cause. And
I'll tell you, we've seen a lot of these brutal
dog and animal abusers and killers that have gone through
(07:30):
the felony court system. They've received probation, not even a
day of jail time. We've got to make sure that
when we do broadsweeping public policy changes like sentencing reform,
that we still give judges the ability to give appropriate
consequences to folks that do these terrible crimes against animals.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Right. I would also suggest, but I beat this drum
every year, every election cycle, and never makes any difference.
Elected judges who are tough elect tough judges. We don't know.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Nobody knows we've got great judges, and that I'll tell
you that's not the problem. Governor Ricketts and Governor Pillen
have appointed some fantastic judges. We've tied their hands with
recent sentencing reform laws, and we've kind of tossed the
baby out with the bath water, and I think we
need to take a second look at some of those
decisions as well.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Sheriff, thanks always great to have you on Merry Christmas.
Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson
Welcome Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson back to the program
on a couple of items. Sheriff, good morning, great to
have you back.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
You posted on Facebook this, I guess, by the grace
of God, a couple of police officers happened to be
driving by, but there was an elderly homeless guy that
was basically on fire. Can you flesh out this story
for us and what happened?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, So I actually saw the reporting first on Oman
scanner and they had reported the call indicated that two
police officers had located a presumably a homeless man had
confirmed it later who was on fire in the area
of Florence Boulevard and Paul. They saved his life. They
put him out with the fire extinguisher and he received
medical care taken to the hospital. So I went to
(00:44):
the scene to check it out, and in fact did
locate the charred remains of his camp and also in
that area, you know, unfortunately indicative of that challenge, a
lot of vindications of alcohol use, a lot of indications
of use. I actually found a drug pipe within arms
distance of that area, and I think that really typifies
(01:07):
the challenge here. You know, because as I look across
the street there was the Sena Francis House. Yeah, and
I got to tell you, Sanna Francis House is a
great operation if you want to donate to help, you know,
open Door. Sana Francis House two of the best. I've
been in it. They have a great shelter, they have
great recovery treatment center, but you have to go in it.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
So here was a man, here was a man within
sight of a shelter that chose instead to stay outside
in the cold and try to keep warm by lighting
a fire. So this speaks, This speaks to the mental
health and addiction issues that you know, we what do
we think of homeless folks that can't get lost? That
(01:47):
aspect of it right.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
When you're right, I think we got to stop referring
to it as homelessness. When we see these individuals in
these tent encampments, when we see them shuffling around with
huge shopping carts full of garbage, it's not traditional homelessness.
It's not a family that can't afford an apartment or
get evicted and they're going to live with their parents.
We're talking unaddressed behavioral health and addiction. And when decades
(02:12):
ago when we shut down our behavioral health infrastructure, you know,
and trying to save money and trying to focus that
more towards community based care. Unfortunately, what we did not
realize is that there's a lot of folks that are
acutely ill and they need that they need those mental
health institutions to be safe and get the care they
(02:33):
need and potentially reclaim a life of dignity. And I
tell you it's get a lot of calls from constituents.
A lot of folks living across the county. They're scared
of folks living in encampments behind their house in an alley.
A lot of these encampments are full of stolen properties,
stolen mail, stolen bikes that are being shopped up and sold.
A lot of business owners and say, hey, my insurance
(02:54):
rates are going up because of these break ins to
my customers cars, my customers employees are disrupted. It's a
it's a serious issue. And I'll tell you this. On
the state level, it is illegal to camp on county,
state or National Resources District property. Per state law. It's
classified misdemeanor, no jail time, but it's five hundred dollars fine.
There is no equivalent law for city properties, and I
(03:17):
do think that our state legislature in our city councils
probably need to consider mimicking that state law.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Well, that's interesting to mention that because this is inside
the city of Omaha where I got this email from.
Ken said, ask the sheriff about homeless camps. There has
been one at the corner of Saddle Creek and coming
for several weeks. Now, public health and safety issue that
the police and mayor need to do a better job
of addressing. So you say this has to start with
a council sheriff, right, there has to be some mechanism
(03:48):
for them to act.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Well, I don't I in my opinion, And again I
you know, i'm county government, but I can give opinion.
So I think that I don't think it's a wise
public policy to allow people to stand on center islands
in the middle of busy roadways and get hit by cars.
I don't think it's so wise public policy to allow
people to camp on public property that's not carefully designated
as a camping area. I just think I think we
(04:13):
were lucky to have the tools out in the county
that the state law that's that clear line to say
it's prohibited. And I think that ultimately, if we do
allow it, although it may be a short term solution,
I question whether we're enabling or maybe making the problem worse.
(04:33):
We've had an eight time increase in people living outside
over the last ten years, according to flat Water Free
Plus reporting, and I think this is something that we
have to come to terms with.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
On another matter, we talked several weeks ago about the
excessive speeding on the street racing, and you announced a
new tool that you're using for crackdown is having some effect, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Two things, you know, both the dougas kind of Sheriff's
Office community team, the CAT team, they've been out there
assertively looking for these reckless drivers, and we put out
a warning to them if you engage in this reckless behavior,
and if we believe evidence of your reckless behavior exists
on your digital devices and your cars or your cell phones.
A lot of these guys memorialize their dangerous driving and
(05:17):
put on the internet, and we're going to seize your vehicle,
seize your phone is evidence until we can acquire a
search warrant to get to get the data inside that
in combination with aggressive enforcement by DCSO and opd OUR
partners and opd OUR sources in these racing groups have
told us that we've really disrupted their behavior. They've canceled
(05:40):
some meetups, canceled some street and parking lot takeovers. And
now we're going to work with our state Senator Peers
at Captain calf and this next session really try to
up the consequences for this behavior. I'd like to see
us emulate policies around the country that make mandatory impound
for thirty days on these vehicles. If you're walking around
(06:00):
the city or the county with a gun pointing to people,
we're going to impound your gun. But if you do
it with a car, then you know we should be
able to impound your car to separate you from that
deadly weapon.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
And on the World Herald report of that, one scholar
question whether it's you have the authority and a longtime
public defender call the directive blatantly on constitutional that you
can't you can't see.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I'll tell you now now, we're very careful to follow
the law. And you know Tom Riley is one of
the best public defenders and jealous advocates in the region.
He wouldn't be doing his job if he didn't say
that that's his job to defend the accused to my
job to enforce the law and keeping us in people alive.
And so ultimately, the court system has that checks and balances.
(06:45):
Everything has to be approved by a judge or have
probable cause to seize evidence. And even then there's checks
and bounces appeals in the civil court system as well.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Okay, about a minute or so left here, and so
many people are interested in whatever happen. And in the
case of Leo, the duct taped dog who thank god
it was found and saved, this investigation apparently is ongoing, Sheriff, right,
it is.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Very complex investigation. Right now, we've got some investigators working
parallel with the Nebraska's main society investigators double checking evidence.
There is a potential suspect that we're looking at, but
we've got to make sure we have probable cause. And
I'll tell you, we've seen a lot of these brutal
dog and animal abusers and killers that have gone through
(07:30):
the felony court system. They've received probation, not even a
day of jail time. We've got to make sure that
when we do broadsweeping public policy changes like sentencing reform,
that we still give judges the ability to give appropriate
consequences to folks that do these terrible crimes against animals.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Right. I would also suggest, but I beat this drum
every year, every election cycle, and never makes any difference.
Elected judges who are tough elect tough judges. We don't know.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Nobody knows we've got great judges, and that I'll tell
you that's not the problem. Governor Ricketts and Governor Pillen
have appointed some fantastic judges. We've tied their hands with
recent sentencing reform laws, and we've kind of tossed the
baby out with the bath water, and I think we
need to take a second look at some of those
decisions as well.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Sheriff, thanks always great to have you on Merry Christmas.
Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson
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