ST. LOUIS / RICHMOND HEIGHTS (KMOX) -- A man walking his dog in downtown St. Louis Sunday afternoon saw a Richmond Heights police car drop off a homeless man near Central Library.Denis Beganovic snapped a picture and put it on Twitter."This is the third time I've seen a county municipality police department drop off a homeless person downtown," Beganovic, who lives in the Park Pacific building at Olive and Tucker, told KMOX. "These are people who... some of them have mental health issues, some of them have drug addiction issues, they shouldn't be passed around like a hot potato. They should be taken care of by everybody."Richmond Heights interim Police Chief Craig Mueller says the man asked for a ride to downtown St. Louis because he stays at a shelter there."Under those circumstances the officer took the discretion, the supervisor approved it, it's not that unusual," Mueller told KMOX."For somebody to criticize the Richmond Heights Police Department for doing something of this nature... it's easy to take a picture and then write your own text to it," he said. "But you don't know the beginning of that story, you don't know the end to that story. You probably should be thanking that officer."Mueller says Richmond Heights has no policy, written or otherwise, to drop off homeless people downtown -- but it's not unusual to give people what he calls "courtesy rides."Also among the critics of the practice is St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson, who told KMOX it's common for surrounding municipalities to drop off homeless people downtown."It's not fair to be the dropoff spot for the homeless, although, I will say this: we want the most vulnerable in our population to be taken care of," Krewson said. "What we'd really like is a much more collaborative relationship with the County and municipalities so there are services provided throughout this region."Last year, Krewson says the city spent $17 million in federal and local funds on helping its homeless population.Additional editing by Alex Degman© 2020 KMOX (Entercom). All rights reserved.