Providence Police and Thayer Street shopkeepers have teamed up to take on a crime that doesn't even require perpetrators to move - loitering.
Loitering is "a big attraction for kids," said Noel Field of PPD, who patrols Thayer Street on a bike. "We're trying to keep it so the street is there for people to use, but it's not their private dwelling," he said.
Field helped the management of Store 24, a convenience store open for 19 hours a day, post an open letter to loiterers. "I have had my business affected in a negitive (sic) way by people loitering and hanging around in front of my store," reads the letter, which is signed by Tina Sherman, the store manager.
Sherman declined to comment for this article, but her letter states that customers told her they felt "afraid" to enter her store and that she'd be "willing to testify in court" against any loiterers.
Baiku Acharya, a part-time clerk at Metro Mart, another Thayer Street convenience store, said Store 24 especially had problems with loiterers because it was "central" and "more of a superstore." He said Metro Mart did not have a problem with loiterers but that "sometimes lots of schoolkids enter, and it gets hard to monitor them all."
Jagdish Sachdev, owner of the Thayer boutique Spectrum India, said he sets loiterers on their way by himself. "If someone is in front of my store, I go out and ask them to leave," he said. He said he saw no need to involve the police, although "sometimes people hang on my awning, which is very dangerous."
Sachdev and Acharya both identified high school students as the most likely loiterers, but said homeless men were also a problem.
"The kids can be intimidating to people," said Field, the officer. "Some of them, I don't know how else to describe it - they're characters. They have mohawks." He said police officers have been taking names of loiterers. If they notice a pattern, police are prepared to make arrests, he said, though no one has been arrested yet.
Field said the posted letter and an increased police presence have improved the situation outside Store 24, but much of the loitering now takes place in front of Kabob and Curry, just up the street.
"It's a problem all the time," said Sanjiv Dhar, the restaurant's owner. "Their behavior is not conducive to a family walking on the street. The language they use and the actions they perform are inappropriate."
Dhar said police can help the problem but what's really needed is community involvement. "The Thayer Street Business Association should take a role," he said. "If I have to pay $50 to the cause of patrols, I'll pay it gladly." The loitering generally takes place only during the warmer months, he added.
"We used to perceive that this neighborhood is so safe," Acharya said. "But sometimes you never know."
