Anchorage partners police officers with social workers to assist city’s homeless

Anchorage city leaders are hopeful that a new team in the Anchorage Police Department will help keep homeless residents safe while connecting them with the resources they need.

Mayor Suzanne LaFrance touted the new pilot program, which is called the Homeless Outreach Prevention and Engagement team, at a press conference Wednesday.

“People experiencing homelessness are far more likely to become victims of crime,” LaFrance said. “The HOPE team consists of a sworn crisis intervention-trained officer and a social work navigator who work together to connect people experiencing homelessness to services and housing while improving community safety for all.”

Typically, the Anchorage Health Department has conducted homeless services and outreach. However, Police Chief Sean Case said his department operates around the clock, outside of usual health department hours. That puts the HOPE team in a good position to help support the work in addressing homelessness, he said.

“If we can deal with victimization and crime that’s happening within this population, while also connecting to resources, because we are the agency that frequently comes into contact with this population, we’re now just adding to the overall plan the Municipality has,” Case said.

The HOPE team has been running since the start of July and is headed by Lt. Brian Fuchs, who said a major goal is to have the team engaging with residents living in the city’s homeless camps.

“We want positive police contacts,” Fuchs said. “We want people to understand that the police are there to assist, the police are there to help. And in some cases, that’s connecting people to resources. In other cases, it may be taking a victim in and getting a better understanding of what they’re a victim of.”

The team is similar in concept to the Mobile Intervention Team, a program where officers are partnered with mental health clinicians to respond to mental health crises, Fuchs said. While that team responds to a variety of calls, Fuchs said the HOPE team is specifically aimed at helping residents in homeless camps.

“It’s a new concept as far as a mission, but the construct of the co-response model has been something that we’ve been doing for quite some time,” Fuchs said.

Farina Brown, special assistant to the mayor on homelessness and health, said having an officer with the social work navigator helps keep both providers and the people they’re servicing safe and helps build relationships.

“Sometimes it takes multiple contacts with someone before they even tell you their name,” Brown said. “And the HOPE team allows for that bandwidth to go in and create relationships and start to link people to services when they’re ready.”

If the pilot program goes well, city leaders said a second HOPE team could be out working on the streets next year.