LOS ANGELES, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton says a compromise has been struck with a civil rights group over when and where homeless people can sleep.
Bratton told the Los Angeles Times the deal had been reached with the American Civil Liberties Union, and would next go to City Council for approval.
He did not divulge details of the agreement that has blocked officers from making arrests since an April court ruling that said because the city had insufficient beds for the homeless, arresting them was cruel and unusual punishment.
However, sources said the deal would allow homeless people to camp or sleep only between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., and only in a designated downtown area known locally as Tent City.
The area has the largest concentration of homeless in the Western United States and is where 20 percent of the city's drug arrests are made, the newspaper said.
A Sept. 18 police count found 1,876 homeless and 518 tents in Tent City, Bratton said.
