MONTREAL, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Advocates for the homeless in Montreal are asking why police issued 30,551 bylaw infraction tickets to indigents last year, knowing they will never be paid.
A study released Wednesday said 3,852 men and 518 women were ticketed for the most common violations: public intoxication; drinking in public or in a park; loitering or obstructing traffic and being in a park after hours.
On the city's subway, or metro, the most frequent offenses were not paying a fare; sleeping or lying in the subway or on the platform; smoking or drinking and blocking traffic, The (Montreal) Gazette reported.
The Canadian city has an estimated 30,000 homeless people, the report said.
The newspaper said one unidentified 51-year-old man has racked up fines of more than $88,000 for 374 tickets since 2006.
Matthew Pearce, director of the Old Brewery Mission, told the Gazette police are wasting time and money by issuing tickets to the indigent.
"It's an act of futility if you expect them to pay," he said. "You and I could spend all day riding the subway reading the paper and we wouldn't be cited for loitering."
