You may still see what appear to be panhandlers at intersections in Jackson that are part of the Capitol Complex Improvement District, but, as of Feb. 19, none of them have applied for a permit to solicit.
The permits, which cost $25 each and are good for one day from 9 a.m. until one hour before sunset, were made available starting Jan. 1. A permit may be obtained at the Capitol Police headquarters at 350 High Street.
Capitol Police Chief Bo Luckey said he’s not surprised by the reception. “That’s pretty much what I expected,” he said.
The Safe Solicitation Act passed by the Legislature during the 2025 session authorizes the chief of Capitol Police to issue permits for solicitation within the Capitol Complex Improvement District.
The CCID incorporates the primary business areas and downtown Jackson, which is where panhandling tends to occur.
Capitol Police officers are stopping and asking people they see panhandling if they have permits, he said.
“Officers have the discretion to cite panhandlers for being in violation or, what typically happens, tell them to move along and where to get a permit,” Luckey said. “We’re not trying to make their lives any harder, to put them in the judicial system or to create more challenges than they have.”
Officers stay busy and may be headed to answer a call when they notice a panhandler but cannot stop at that time, he said.
“By the time they’ve cleared the call, those individuals will have moved on,” he said. “They know panhandling is not legal without permits and will move on.”
A long popular location for panhandling is the I-55 Frontage Road at Lakeland Drive in front of St. Dominic Hospital.
Luckey said he stopped at that location about a month ago and spoke with individuals there.
Not everyone at that location was soliciting, he said. One individual was there just listening to music on his phone, he said.
Before the permits became available, Capitol Police officers tried to educate anyone they saw soliciting that permits would soon be required, he said.
Sean Tindell, commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, said the permits are meant to make things safer for people soliciting and people driving.
“The goal is to make sure that individuals are safe, that we don’t have too many people in one area and that they’re doing it in locations that by law are allowed,” he said.
Officers can revoke a permit if someone soliciting is creating a hazardous situation by walking out in traffic to receive a donation, Luckey said.
“We’re seeing more and more individuals lose their lives because they’re struck by vehicles,” he said.
Many of the people who are on the streets soliciting have cell phones and access to the internet, Luckey said, and could use funding platforms like GoFundMe to ask for donations.
The Safe Solicitation Act took effect on July 1, 2025, and is binding in every county and municipality unless a county or municipality opts out through a vote by the board of supervisors or the governing authority of the municipality by Jan. 1, 2026.
Peter Teeuwissen, interim chief administrative officer for the city of Jackson, told the city council on Sept. 23, 2025 that Jackson Mayor John Horhn’s administration recommended allowing the six-month opportunity to opt out to pass and then meeting with the Jackson Police Department to determine how to enforce it locally.
“This administration recommends allowing the law to take effect and not try to establish a permitting system,” he said.
The cities of Ridgeland, Madison and Gluckstadt opted out .
The act is very specific about when and where solicitation can take place and provides penalties for anyone who violates those.
Solicitation can take place only between the hours of 9 a.m. and one hour before sunset.
The law prohibits a solicitor from impeding traffic and requires that he or she enter or remain in a roadway, street or thoroughfare only while controlling traffic signal prohibits vehicular traffic. A solicitor must remain within 100 feet of or from the intersection approved by the permit.
Solicitation activities are not supposed to interfere with the “safe and efficient movement of traffic and shall not cause danger to the participants or the public,” according to the legislation.
No one soliciting “shall persist after solicitation has been denied, act in a demanding or harassing manner, or use any sound or voice-amplifying apparatus or device,” according to the law.
According to the law, only one permit will be issued for an intersection on any given day. Permits, which are not supposed to cost more than $25, are to be issued on a first-come basis and will require the individual seeking one to list his or her name, mailing address and telephone number plus the location and times the solicitation will occur.
The legislation gives the governing authority the right to “stop solicitation activities at any time if the conditions or requirements of the legislation are not met.”
Anyone guilty of intentionally obstructing or interfering with the “normal use” of vehicles or pedestrians on a public street or highway or sidewalk will be guilty of a misdemeanor. Conviction of such would carry a fine of not more than $400 or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than four months or both.
