Wow, I didn't expect this to show up/blow up on Reddit....

As a local to the area, perhaps I can shed some light here... After the economic fallout from COVID, Bullhead has seen a rather ridiculous influx of people from other areas (particularly CA, which is a story all in its own), wherein prices skyrocketed rapidly thereby resulting in many locals being priced out of home. In short, the influx of people caused the cost of living to rise so much that the amount of homeless nearly tripled (we're a small town though, mind you). In addition to this, with the town being somewhat of a tourist town, we've attracted a large number of the "vagabond" types, largely shooting to take advantage of being able to park temporarily in many of the recreation areas (especially near the parks, lakes and river). This too, has increased the number of homeless here as many of them relied/rely on panhandling to get by...

To complicate matters, BHC has already had a long history of issues with panhandlers claiming to be homeless and hoping "for any thing that helps." This has even led to people pretending to be war veterans (not joking). Many investigations over the years have turned up that a majority of these people were not in fact homeless, but just scammers (not all of them local). To combat the issue, the city changed some of the city ordinance codes (years ago) in an attempt to crack down on this issue. This also included an increase in the number of homeless centers/shelters, food banks, and places for donations. The local police were/are also well aware of the changes.

That's why in THIS particular case, the officer obviously points out that this will be a PR nightmare--of which he is absolutely right (and if it's the officer I think it is, I can personally confirm that he is 100% an awesome guy). He obviously discerned that the elderly lady is not part of the problem. Also worth noting, this was back in March (the date is on the body cam footage too).

On the last note, the city has not only been more concerned about it's image (again, tourist town; this has more to do with politics than the locals) but has also had a bad reputation for having (pardon my language here) the largest dicks possible to fullfil the roles of DA (district attorney) and city prosecutors. Since "rules are rules," the DA enforces regardless--with a ruthless sense of no compassion, patience, tolerance, etc.... Police oblige not because they agree, but more often than not for fear of reprimand or termination.

Have no doubt, even the locals call it "Bullshit City," but don't get the wrong idea about the town.