Truck Sleeper Raiser Concern

A man sleeping on top of a blue GMC truck has now drawn multiple calls to law enforcement, highlighting the ongoing concern residents have about people sleeping outside around Portsmouth. Portsmouth police were first called to Kinney’s Lane after a caller reported a man sleeping on top of a blue GMC truck and asked officers to check on him. Officers responded, identified the man, and advised him. The next day, police were called back to the same area for a repeat complaint. This time, the caller said the man’s head was hanging over the truck toward traffic. When officers checked, they said his head was not in the roadway and the man was not doing anything illegal. However, police asked him to move to a less busy area to avoid more calls. But the calls did not stop there. A few days later, callers contacted the Scioto County Sheriff’s Office after spotting the same man sleeping on the hood of a parked blue truck in a parking lot just outside of town on the Scioto Trail. One caller provided the license plate number. Another said she walks around the cemetery nearby and felt uncomfortable with the man parked next to the area. Deputies checked on him and said he was fine and not doing anything illegal. Then came another call, this time reporting that the man was lying on the hood of the truck while a woman changed clothes nearby. Once again, law enforcement determined nothing criminal was happening. The calls sound strange, but they fit a pattern police and deputies have been dealing with all over the area: people sleeping outside, under bridges, in parks, in bushes, behind businesses, in vehicles, and sometimes on top of them. For residents, it can be unsettling. When someone appears passed out, is near traffic, is on private property, or is in a public place where families are walking, people worry. Sometimes they are concerned for the person’s safety. Sometimes they are worried about their own. For law enforcement, these calls are a balancing act. Sleeping outside is not automatically a crime. Being homeless is not a crime. Sitting or lying on a vehicle is not automatically a crime either. But when someone appears to be in danger, trespassing, blocking traffic, using drugs, causing a disturbance, or creating a safety concern, officers often get called to sort it out. In this case, law enforcement repeatedly checked on the man and found no crime. Still, sleeping on top of a truck in public is one way to guarantee attention. And in Portsmouth, where residents and businesses are already frustrated by the growing number of people sleeping outside, even a strange nap spot can quickly become a police call.

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