Natalie Hipple
Associate Professor Of Criminal Justice, Indiana University Bloomington
Key Findings
- The Homelessness and Panhandling Unit’s initiative has been credited with lessening the impact of the homeless population on the criminal justice and public health systems.
- The Homelessness and Panhandling Unit services show engagement from participants so they spend more time indoors focusing on their mental health or substance use issues and less time on the streets.
Description
In the paper, “Policing and Homelessness: Using Partnerships to Address a Cross System Issue,” Hipple examines the stake and strategies that law enforcement officers have in managing homeless populations in Indiana. Although homelessness itself is not a crime and is more than a police issue, officers are increasingly asked to address and balance complaints and ordinances against the homeless community while also attempting to better serve them. In 2011, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) created the Homelessness and Panhandling Unit (HPU) as a response to increased citizen complaints about the homeless population. The HPU utilizes the SARA model (scanning, analysis, response, and assessment) to guide their work instead of a incident-based reactive approach. The solution the HPU found through the SARA model was to create partnerships to support the homeless populations by addressing mental illness, addiction, victimization and crime, while also providing other social services and transitional housing, and using non-arrest strategies when possible. This initiative has not had a complete evaluation to show its merits, but it has been credited with lessening the impact of the homeless population on the criminal justice and public health systems. Further, the services show engagement from participants so they spend more time indoors focusing on their mental health or substance use issues and less time on the streets.