Bellingham police and city officials continue to wrestle with the impacts of a 72-hour parking rule for vehicles including RVs and cars that shelter people experiencing homelessness.
Bellingham Police Department Lt. Claudia Murphy updated City Council on Monday about the continued enforcement of the rule.
A moratorium had been placed on the rule during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was reinstated last Nov. 30 based on updated guidance from Gov. Inslee, Murphy said. She also said the parked cars had become a health and safety hazard not only for waterways and individuals but also for entire neighborhoods as garbage and raw sewage accumulated.
In her presentation, Murphy explained the public health threats posed by the vehicles and the process for enforcing the rule, which states that vehicles parked on city streets must be moved at least one block every 72 hours to avoid being towed.
“I swore to this city 29 years ago that I would do nothing but protect and serve, and there are days when I come home and I truly feel like I have done neither by allowing a human being to live in a vehicle,” Murphy said, adding that the individuals are often living amid garbage and human waste within the makeshift home.
Murphy said she and other BPD officers first focused on empty vehicles and those that posed the most severe public and environmental health risks. The BPD team then approached individuals living in campers, engaging in repeated conversations to inform them of the law and consequences — towing and sometimes vehicle crushing — if they did not comply, Murphy said.
“We got to a point where we had two groups of people left: unwilling and unable,” Murphy said.
Extensions were provided for people unable to move their vehicles, either for mechanical or health reasons. But when necessary and within legal limits, BPD ordered vehicles of people unwilling to move to be towed, and in some cases crushed, with their belongings inside, Murphy said.
She acknowledged that stripping an individual of their shelter and belongings is a difficult decision, but said she believes it is in the best interest of the individual to seek resources provided by Human Services and other departments and non-profits. However, some individuals refuse all assistance, she said.
Murphy said they will continue to enforce the rule in the interest of public health and the environment.
“Part of it is about relationship-building,” Murphy said, adding that she has connected with individuals who ultimately respect the 72-hour parking rule.
But, she said, “we have an element of folks who are either incapable or unwilling to change where they are, and we have to address that” for the sake of public health.
