Bodycam footage shows Tampa police clearing bus shelter where houseless people

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Last Wednesday evening, a summer storm passed through Tampa, and an estimated 30 houseless people sought refuge under two large bus shelters in downtown.

They rested and ate dinner under the shelters near the corner of N Marion and E Tyler Street, until five responding units from the Tampa Police Department (TPD) arrived to move them from the property.

TPD bodycam footage obtained by Creative Loafing Tampa Bay shows one of the responding officers—whose body cam footage begins after people are already being dispersed—approach a sleeping person on a bench, lean in to make contact, and tell them, “You gotta go.”

The video then shows the person wake up, wrap up their sleeping bag, and join the rest of the crowd in leaving from the sheltered area.

Volunteers from Tampa Food Not Bombs (FNB) had just brought dinner as part of the organization’s mission to help the unhoused. The people police forced out were just trying to rest in peace after their meal, and no one else was attempting to use the bus shelters at that time of night, according to FNB volunteers.

After TPD posted no trespassing signs under the downtown underhangs they usually gather at, the shelters are some of the last places houseless people have to seek refuge from the rain and heat.

FNB posted a video of the incident, writing in the caption, “Tonight during our share the monsters showed up out of nowhere to harass our unhoused friends downtown.”

The video shows multiple squad cars pulling up with their lights flashing, and an undercover police vehicle riding by and observing the people as they disperse.

Volunteers from FNB say the police told the unhoused people they were trespassing on Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) property by being under the bus shelters, and had to move.

CL obtained a police report of the incident, which confirmed that five units arrived on the scene around 8 p.m. In the report, the incident was only referred to as a “building check,” that the situation was “cleared,” but no details about the expulsion of the people were included.

“This was a self-initiated call due to ongoing complaints,” Jamel Lanee, Public Safety Information Coordinator for TPD wrote in an email. “We have been working with HART regarding complaints from the company and customers. We have a signed Trespass Affidavit on file, which allows us to ask people to leave the property when HART or security is not around.”

CL asked if it is standard operating procedure for officers to not include that they moved a large group of people from shelter in the report, and Lanee said that notes are not required for every call.

“There was no police action taken (No citations or warnings were issued) therefore no report is required because everyone complied,” Lanee wrote.