S.F. Police Somehow Oppose Outreach Event in the Park, Even Though Many Homeless Live There

by Josie Raymond · 2010-10-01 14:54:00 UTC
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Get this. Police didn't want an event full of services for the homeless to be held in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park because that would bring homeless people back to an area cops have been working to shoo them away from. Huh?

The event is the semi-regular Project Homeless Connect, spearheaded by Mayor Gavin Newsom, designed to provide homeless individuals with referrals to housing programs, medical care and substance abuse treatment, HIV testing, haircuts and more. It's a one-day, one-stop shop for services. Previously it has been held at an indoor location downtown, but providers decided to move this week's event to the park to try to connect with people who wouldn't come into an auditorium. Makes sense.

In expressing concerns about the event further entrenching homeless people who refuse to leave the park (about 50 people live there now, down from a peak of about 300), a police captain engaged in unhelpful stereotyping. "We're trying to get them out of the park and [the event is] bringing them back," Lt. Mark Solomon, acting captain at the Police Park Station, told the San Francisco Examiner. He was alarmed, or he said he was alarmed at least, by the event's proximity to a playground in the park. "We're dealing with people with mental health issues, and [sex offenders] and people who carry weapons, and we're bringing them to a children’s playground. It just doesn't make sense."

Actually, Officer Solomon, what doesn't make sense is foisting your own misinformed stereotypes on an entire group of people. I would think a member of law enforcement would know that homeless people don't often carry out crime sprees, and that most people arrested for sex crimes or weapons charges have permanent addresses.

The point of Project Homeless Connect is to give people the tools they need to leave homelessness. I'm betting that social workers in makeshift booths will do that a lot better than police officers chasing homeless people around and issuing trespassing citations that will never be paid.

Photo credit: Frank Kovalchek

Josie Raymond is a Change.org editor who has reported from the streets of the South Bronx, written for several magazines that folded (not her fault) and fixed thousands of typos.
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