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Police propose homeless outreach team and staff additions as homelessness-related calls climb
Summary
Police Chief Smith told council homelessness-related calls have risen 59% year over year and proposed a homeless outreach team — an officer, half-time county social worker and supervising sergeant — plus four additional patrol officers and a white-collar detective to reduce forced overtime and address fraud and narcotics activity.
Chief Smith told the council the police department is facing higher demand across multiple fronts and proposed a set of personnel and program investments intended to address homelessness, mental-health-related calls and specialty investigations.
Statistics and proposal: the chief said calls for service tied to homelessness rose from 552 in 2023 to 931 year-to-date this year, a 59% increase, and added: "Of the 931 calls for service, we took enforcement action on only 69 of these calls or 7%." He proposed a homeless outreach…
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