Coordinated enforcement targets day laborers

Months-long county effort follows complaints about workers congregating outside stores in Wheaton, Aspen Hill areas

Hudson said police conducted a two-week period of educational fliers and warnings followed by one week of enforcement, which included arrests for trespassing, false identification and outstanding warrants.

Hudson said 33 field interrogation reports, 23 trespass notices, one arrest for false documents, four parking tickets and four traffic citations were issued during the period. She also said Dunkin’ Donuts received more than 400 complaints from shoppers last year, and upwards of 100 day laborers could be seen outside the store.

‘‘We are sensitive that people need to find work, especially in challenging economic times,” Stephen Caldeira, a spokesman for Dunkin’ Brands, said in an e-mail. ‘‘However, when the livelihoods of others within a community are affected by those trying to find work, a new issue is created.”

Most of the enforcement was done by police, said Assistant State’s Attorney George Sims, with his office helping with fliers promoting day labor centers operated by Casa of Maryland, which has locations on University Boulevard in Wheaton and Silver Spring, as well as Crabbs Branch Way in Rockville.

‘‘We told them, unless you are patronizing businesses, you can’t be here,” Sims said.

Cpl. Fernando Martinez of the Fourth District station in Glenmont said complaints about the day laborers ranged from harassment of women at the bus stop on Randolph Road to blocking pedestrian traffic to stealing from trucks outside the Dunkin’ Donuts. Martinez said during the educational period, day laborers and unlicensed contractors were warned that if they came back, they would be arrested.

‘‘We were not playing games, but we didn’t really want to lock them up,” he said.

There was also night enforcement the week of April 16, which resulted in arrests for public drunkenness and drug possession, Hudson said.

The ‘‘Veirs Mill Enforcement” effort included nine officers, with three from the Fourth District and six from the First.

Tony Acquaviva, president of the neighborhood association for nearby Holiday Park, said day laborers have caused problems for shoppers, but the volume in the area has decreased recently.

‘‘I never had problems with people per se,” he said of the laborers. ‘‘But because of congestion, for example, if I was going to pick doughnuts up, I wouldn’t go to that one because of the congestion.”

As the enforcement went on, police suspected unlicensed contractors were frequenting the intersection of Veirs Mill and Randolph roads because of the high concentration of laborers for hire.

John Creel, an investigator with the county Office of Consumer Protection, was brought on site to educate officers on licensing laws and speak with unlicensed contractors on how to comply.

As part of the ‘‘Veirs Mill Enforcement,” Creel said six ‘‘settlement agreements” were signed with unlicensed contractors, where he provided licensing information and threatened prosecution if the contractors were caught working without a license.

‘‘I think the educational approach, the approach of signing a settlement agreement, has been a smashing success,” said Creel, adding that investigators typically file three to five unlicensed contractor citations per month. ‘‘Several of these people weren’t aware of the requirements and thought they had a license.”

The penalty for doing home improvement work without a license is a $1,000 fine and a maximum of 30 days in jail, said Ralph Vines, an administrator with the Office of Consumer Protection.

After the enforcement at Veirs Mill and Randolph, Fourth District police began similar efforts at the Home Depot on Georgia Avenue in Aspen Hill, as well as the 7-Eleven across the street.

Sgt. Ken Sanger of the Fourth District said the four to five beat officers that patrol the area conducted a two-week campaign beginning March 11, which included the same flyers and education methods from the Veirs Mill enforcement.

‘‘I’m very satisfied with the method. If it were up to me, I’d use it again,” Sanger said. ‘‘The majority of people still didn’t know about day labor sites. Word of mouth spreads quickly.”

Sanger said day laborers congregate at Home Depot, which experienced theft from the trucks of contractors shopping at the store, littering, public defecation and laborers asking female shoppers for money after helping them unload their items.

Craig Fishel, a spokesman for Home Depot’s Southern Division, said the store has a no solicitation policy, where any hiring by contractors or congregating of day laborers is prohibited.

‘‘We want all of our associates and customers to have a positive experience while shopping at Home Depot,” he said. ‘‘So if they are being harassed and local enforcement is getting involved to stop it, that is certainly a positive situation.”

Since the enforcement efforts, Sanger said the problem has decreased from 70 to 100 laborers congregating per day to no more than seven reported in a single day.

Gustavo Torres, executive director of Casa of Maryland, said he has seen a slight increase in workers at his organization’s day laborer centers as a result of the enforcement, which helped workers realize the security the centers provide.

‘‘For us, it is very critical to ensure that the employer and worker be protected,” he said, adding that last month the Wheaton center provided 450 jobs to laborers. ‘‘[We want] to ensure workers receive payment and that the employers know who the person is that they hire.”