Finance Committee grills police on downtown encampments, approves invitation to police chief

The Brockton Finance Committee on March 3 invited Police Chief Brenda Perez or her designee to brief the committee on the Brockton Police Department’s strategy for enforcement and implementation of the city ordinances prohibiting camping on public property and prohibiting loitering in public places. Lieutenant William Schleeman of the department’s Community Engagement Unit appeared on behalf of Chief Perez and described current tactics, community partners and outstanding needs.

Schleeman said the department has deployed plainclothes officers in unmarked cars on all three shifts to downtown areas and has used those officers to arrest people for a range of offenses, from public drinking to drug distribution and outstanding warrants. “We do mitigate our enforcement with that compassion, with that humanitarian piece of it,” he said, adding that officers refer people to service providers when possible.

Schleeman listed several…