SPOKANE -- Dozens of men and women take to street corners across the city every day to panhandle, with the lure of easy money clogging intersections and triggering additional crimes.

It’s an increase in panhandling that’s causing new problems for police in Spokane and Spokane Valley. The problem for authorities is that panhandling can be a lucrative business, with a person being able to earn as much as $30 an hour.

It's no wonder their numbers are on the rise and because of a poor economy drivers are giving more than ever before.

Panhandlers call it "Flying the sign." All they need is a piece of cardboard, a raggedy old backpack and they're open for business. Spokane, which is in the throes of double-digit unemployment, is also a very kind and generous community, with drivers willing to give large amounts of money to those seemingly in need.

Local law enforcement agencies worry that the combination of generosity and more panhandlers will lead to a competition for commuters’ cash, which will lead to beggars becoming more aggressive.

“We have an awful lot of people who are claiming street corners and panhandling,” Spokane County Sheriff’s Sergeant Dave Reagan said. “I think the begging, if it's not become fashionable, has certainly become acceptable.”

Experts say some panhandlers prefer living on the street, which gives them flexible hours and plenty of opportunities to turn generous donations from concerned drivers into beer and malt liquor purchases.

“If a corner becomes lucrative it's going to be staffed, word gets around this is the place to be if you want to bum money off of motorist,” Sergeant Reagan said.

For panhandlers who are looking for the locations to make top dollar the place to be is Spokane Valley where locations like the Pines exit off Interstate 90 provides panhandlers to target sympathetic drivers, a long-running stop light at the top of the westbound ramp giving them time to strike up conversations with potential benefactors.

The benefactors of Spokane’s panhandler population come from all walks of life.

The guy who gives because he’s concerned he might be there some day. The mom who has her kids pass money out the back window of their car. People motivated by their faith to give to those less fortunate.

An unemployed man who gives charitably because he feels it’s good karma. A woman who got kicked out by her roommate in the middle of the night but still feels compelled to give to someone else down on their luck. The woman who passes along a granola bar and a hand warmer instead of cash because she doesn’t want to further substance abuse.

While many of the people you’ll see on the street corners are homeless panhandlers, sometimes you might find someone who’s not what they seem.

Jim Suckow is a Spokane resident who drives his van to the Argonne exit off Interstate 90. Once there he parks his van and hauls around a green duffel bag to give the appearance his homeless. The reality is he isn’t.

Suckow earns up to $70 a day to supplement to his social security check by takes turns with other men waiting to panhandle on what's become a lucrative corner. Jim used to feel guilty about taking money under false pretenses, but he said he stopped feeling guilty the day he got his first $100 bill. After that day he’s been “flying the sign” ever since.

James Posey panhandles for cash as well. He wants to work but can only stand for brief periods of time due to his sciatic nerve and three ruptured discs, so he works Sprague and Pines to keep his pregnant girlfriend out of the weather.

“Apartments are $500 and on up for one bedroom and so I do what I have to to get by,” Posey said.

The problem for Posey and others is that competition for handouts keeps getting tougher all the time due in part to the perpetual public relations problem of panhandling being associated with alcohol.

“So many people come out to do this that people have started to turn their backs on people like me because there are a lot of people who come out here and do this for the alcohol and everything,” Posey said.

In the Sullivan Road business district the area has been inundated with beggars and transients looking to make some money.

“There's a lot of panhandling on the pump island out here, there's aggressive behavior after they've been cut off from drinking to much, there's public urination as well as defecation outside,” Don Larkin, who owns a Chevron station in the Spokane Valley, said.

Larkin says he'd gladly sell less beer if he could keep panhandlers out of his store and rest rooms but was threatened with legal action.

“I was contacted by the Center for Justice and was told if I don't treat them the same as I do all my other customers I would find myself in a further legal battle,” Larkin said.

Larkin and local law enforcement officials agree on something. Spokane is generous to a fault, the handouts from the community creating more problems than they are solving.

“Oh I think if somebody stood out here for four hours and didn't get a single donation they would either move on to a more lucrative city or they would go to one of the charitable organizations that are built around helping those types of folks and we'd see the problem decrease,” Sergeant Reagan said.