THERE IS AN EMERGING CONSENSUS, long overdue, that the police should aggressively enforce the law on skid row. The question is how aggressively. Police Chief William J. Bratton is considering two proposals. One would sweep thousands of homeless people from their tent-and-box cities; the other would allow them to remain but would arrest those who commit even the most minor crimes.
The first idea -- call it zero tolerance for street living -- is unrealistic. Bratton tried this approach when he arrived in 2002, attempting to get people off the streets by removing their shelters, but the effort was entangled in litigation with the American Civil Liberties Union. We disagree with the ACLU's claim that people have a right to sleep on the sidewalk, but we sympathize with the argument that in the absence of enough shelter beds and services, throwing thousands of homeless people in jail isn't the solution.
