SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – A warning from police for those looking to give this holiday season. Authorities say they are on the lookout for people who appear desperate or destitute. The ones who stand on street corners and ask you for things like rent money or funeral money.
“It’s bad here,” Scott Abbott said.
He says he has been living on the streets of Springfield for the past five years.
“Since I became homeless, I have struggled to survive every day,” he said.
Abbot relies on his handwritten sign asking for change, and even then, he says, he might only make a dollar or two a day.
He said, ‘You can’t force them to give it to you. It’s up to them.”
But Abbott says not everyone living on the street is asking for money honestly.
“They lie about what they say, disabled or disabled. But many of them are not. They put things on the boards to get extra money and lie about it,” he said.
Recently, authorities in Rolla issued warnings about groups of traveling beggars. People trying to use sympathy or a fake story to get money.
While some say they have seen such groups in Springfield, police say no charges have been filed yet.
“I don’t know what we necessarily get police reports about people feeling like they’ve been ripped off by a beggar. But if you’re in a positive mood this season, there are a lot of nonprofits doing great work in the community with the unsheltered population,” said Cris Swaters with the Springfield Police Department.
She says it’s illegal to manipulate.
“In Springfield, we have a pedestrian safety ordinance that prohibits standing on the median or curb unless you intend to cross the street. That applies to everyone. Both the person giving and the person asking would be in violation of the pedestrian safety ordinance,” she said.
Abbott says he avoids problems, keeps to himself and avoids possible scammers.
“I don’t talk to them. I stay away from those kinds of people. I help whoever I can, but it’s hard to help when you can’t get help yourself,” he said.
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