NOREEN: Cops deserve credit for new approach to homeless
Ten months after a controversy over how cleanups were being conducted at homeless camps, the man whose video triggered it all says police deserve a lot of credit for helping vagrants — in some cases turning lives around.
Robert Moran, who founded The Street Church and feeds about 85 homeless people every Sunday, touched off a firestorm when he captured police on a video, rifling through suitcases and other belongings at a homeless camp during a sweep conducted the Keep Colorado Springs Beautiful.
Many in the community were outraged. The resulting publicity led to community meetings at the Gold Hill Substation, attended by police brass, Mayor Lionel Rivera and numerous community activists.
The immediate result was a moratorium on the cleanups. When they resumed, Moran and others volunteered to accompany cleanup crews and police to make sure valuables owned by homeless people weren’t just thrown away.
But Colorado Springs police decided on a more proactive approach. Three officers working out of Gold Hill — Brett Iverson, M.J. Thomson and Dan McCormack — formed the homeless outreach unit.
“Probably about three months ago we wanted to go out and see what was going on with the homeless population,” said Commander Kurt Pillard. “They’re trying to link individuals with services.”
Homeless people know where to get food or a shower, Pillard said, but “there was a huge disconnect for the other services.”
Moran, who has observed the outreach unit in action, said “I was so impressed with the cops. They could talk to people and give referrals without being seen as the enemy.”
Moran’s anger over the homeless sweeps of 2008 has been transformed into admiration. “They’ve made real progress. It’s a step in the right direction.”
While the outreach unit can rightly be portrayed as the human side of the department, Pillard said it has also helped reduce the department’s workload. He said within a one-mile radius of the intersection of I-25 and Cimarron Street, there have been about 10 calls for service a day involving homeless people, and “we’ve reduced calls for service dramatically.”
Pillard provided an anecdote: “One guy in particular said, ‘Look I’ve got a job lined up but I don’t have any tools.’ They gave him a voucher for tools and he was out of the camps the next day.”
Sure, most won’t be helped that easily, but as the police and guys like Moran know, homelessness is such a chronic problem, success is measured by little victories. Police weren’t too happy about Moran’s video, which was posted on The Gazette’s web site and made the rounds on local television.
But it led to real results, including more efficient police work.
As Pillard put it: “It made us take another look.”
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