VICTORY: Georgia city overhauls panhandling policies and pays up after FIRE defends man holding ‘God Bless the Homeless Vets’ sign

• Alpharetta will train officers on the First Amendment, stop punishing people from peacefully demonstrating or panhandling in public places, and pay up
• Plaintiff Jeff Gray: “FIRE taught Alpharetta that everyone has the right to free speech”

ALPHARETTA, Ga., Aug. 5, 2024 — One man holding a sign is bringing change to the state of Georgia. 

The City of Alpharetta will change its policies and pay $55,000 to settle a First Amendment lawsuit brought by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. FIRE sued to protect all Americans’ right to demonstrate in public places after Jeff Gray was arrested for holding a sign saying “God Bless the Homeless Vets” outside city hall. As part of the settlement, Alpharetta will prohibit officers from falsely asserting that panhandling is unlawful, train its police officers on citizens’ First Amendment rights, discipline officers who violate the First Amendment, and pay damages and attorneys’ fees. 

“The City of Alpharetta stomped on my right to freedom of speech and they would have gotten away with it if not for FIRE,” said Gray. “FIRE taught Alpharetta that everyone has the right to free speech, including people who are poor or homeless.  Working with the wonderful team at FIRE has been one of the best experiences of my life.”

COURTESY PHOTOS OF JEFF GRAY

In January 2022, Gray stood on a public sidewalk outside of Alpharetta City Hall holding a sign reading “God Bless the Homeless Vets.” To raise awareness of the plight of homeless veterans, Gray, a veteran himself, holds this sign in front of city halls and other public places and, with his own camera rolling, documents how the public and police treat others — posting the positive and negative responses on his YouTube channel. 

Minutes into his peaceful demonstration, Alpharetta police told Gray he was engaging in illegal “panhandling” and threatened arrest if he did not stop. Gray explained that he was no asking others for money and that, regardless, asking others for money is speech protected by the First Amendment. Alpharetta police then handcuffed Gray, seized and turned off his video camera, searched him to find his identification, and then banned Gray from Alpharetta’s downtown.

Gray, it turned out, was not the only one threatened with arrest for “panhandling.” Public records revealed that Alpharetta police regularly stopped people for panhandling and threatened them with law-enforcement action. They also repeatedly told people that panhandling was unlawful anywhere. It’s not. The First Amendment protects the right to ask others for help. But that did not deter police from threatening arrest when people asked for money for their family or even their church — and an Alpharetta sergeant told Gray he could not so much as hold a sign in Alpharetta. “Controversy,” one officer told him, was “disorderly conduct.”

According to the settlement, each quarter for the next three years, Alpharetta will provide incident reports involving panhandling to FIRE, which may then seek body camera footage of those incidents. Alpharetta will also train its officers annually on the First Amendment. The agreement also establishes the following new police department policies:

• Officers are prohibited from telling the public that panhandling is unlawful.
• They are prohibited from issuing trespass notices that ban people from open public spaces. 
• Police-misconduct complaints that an officer violated the First Amendment are classified as “serious complaints” that require a higher level of internal investigation.
• Any officer who violates the First Amendment will be disciplined.

WATCH: HOLDING A SIGN IS NOT A CRIME

“Alpharetta officers tried to run Jeff out of town because they thought holding a sign was disorderly conduct,” said FIRE attorney Adam Steinbaugh. “They’ll think twice next time. Jeff’s victory paves the way for everyone in Alpharetta and the state of Georgia to speak freely in public.”

FIRE filed two other lawsuits on Gray’s behalf in 2023 to protect Americans’ right to speak on a public sidewalk outside government buildings; the first, against the police chief of Blackshear, Georgia, and the second, against Port Wentworth, Georgia. Gray’s lawsuits against Blackshear and Port Wentworth were settled in July 2023 and November 2023, respectively.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to defending and sustaining the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought — the most essential qualities of liberty. FIRE educates Americans about the importance of these inalienable rights, promotes a culture of respect for these rights, and provides the means to preserve them.

CONTACT
Katie Kortepeter, Communications Campaign Manager, FIRE: 215-717-3473; media@thefire.org