North Las Vegas Police see increase in complaints about day laborers

Updated: Jan 15, 2010 01:42 AM CST

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Over the past few months we've brought you a series of stories involving day laborers. It all started with a fence Star Nursery put up last fall to keep the workers off their property.

It was the only solution they could come up with after receiving thousands of customer complaints. But star isn't the only business getting complaints, and now one law enforcement agency is taking action.

Most of us have seen them, the men hanging out on the corner near nurseries looking for any work they can find. Many people want work and there are only people searching for work and nothing more.

A day laborer we talked to in North Las Vegas told us he's just trying to make some money.

"I don't believe we are bothering anyone," he said.

North Las Vegas Police say they've received an increasing number of complaints about workers over the past few months, so they are taking action.

The police have stepped up, took the opportunity to warn the day laborers and then actually started enforcing those ordinances.

Day laborers in North Las Vegas will now be cited if they're caught violating nuisance laws, like jaywalking or urinating in public. That means up to $1130 in fines or up to six months in the slammer.

The strict enforcement didn't come as a surprise to the day laborers in North Las Vegas. Warning flyers were handed out to them in English and in Spanish just last month.

"Hopefully just letting them know that officers are out here stepping up that enforcement is enough to get them to abide by these simple guidelines," said

Star Nursery put up signs and painted lines on the sidewalk drawing the boundaries. The fence they put up last fall to keep day laborers out, had to come down late last month because of financial reasons.

Customers say any extra enforcement is a good thing.

"That makes me feel good I'm glad makes everything stay good, they're not doing things they shouldn't," explained one customer.

The worker we talked to says he plans to follow the rules on the police department's flyer.

"We always want to obey the laws. The laws are to be respected. You don't want to do anything that's bad."

Police swing by the nurseries in between calls. They says strict enforcement seems to be working. North Las Vegas Police Department say they've received fewer complaints since it started.


http://www.ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11826818