(ABC 6 News)- The Rochester City Attorney Michael Spindler-Krage dismissed the citation given to 41-year-old Krystle Echelle Moncrease of Rochester “in the order of justice”, on Thursday.

In February, the city of Rochester passed an ordinance banning homelessness encampment on public and city property. Tuesday was the first citation given to Moncrease since it was passed into law.

The reasons behind the decision involved the police officer who was writing up the citation, not complying with the steps needed to do so.

One member of a non-profit organization here in Rochester says he hopes this will serve as a lesson for this ordinance going forward.

“My hope and my great takeaway from this is that there’s greater education about when this needs to be used and the specificity of its impactfulness and when it’s used,” said Alex Hurlebaus, the executive director at the Landing MN in Rochester.

In order for the ordinance to be used, the person getting cited must be informed of the various charitable and social services available. They must be warned that their conduct is a violation of the law, and overnight shelter must be available to the person between the hours of 8 PM to 8 AM.

The Rochester Police Department also gave this statement regarding the citation being removed,

On August 20, 2024, at 3:24 am, RPD officers responded to a complaint about a person sleeping in a bus stop shelter. The officer contacted the individual and told the person that she was not allowed to camp in the bus stop utilizing it as overnight shelter. The person told the officer that she owned the shelters and requested a citation. After receiving a citation issued by the officer for violation of the no camping ordinance, the person left the bus stop shelter without further incident. Upon RPD supervisory review of the citation and examining the numerous prior contacts with police, the citation was promptly dismissed as it did not meet the requirements of the ordinance and alternative means of preventing camping in the bus stop shelter are being pursued. The person is being trespassed which is more in alignment with deterring future use of bus stops as over-night shelters. This is a new ordinance, and we will continue to use it sparingly, train officers on its requirements and continue our practice of offering resources to persons experiencing homelessness.“

Considering this is the first time the city gave out a citation on this new ordinance, they hope this incident will smooth things out going forward.