LOUISVILLE, Ky. — LMPD has a new responsefor working with Louisville's homeless community.
"In the past, it used to be you need to leave or we're going to arrest you," Officer Robert Yoshioka said. "What we have found is that we can't arrest our way out of this situation."
Officer Yoshioka and Officer Jessica Morrison were asked several years ago to start working on homeless outreach. Last week, the two officers were assigned to this task on a full-time basis as part of the department's newest homeless outreach mobile response unit.
"Instead of trying to arrest our way out of this, we are trying to help these citizens really become more successful with their lives," Yoshioka said.
The mobile response unit is tasked with helping Louisville's homeless population on a wide range of issues, from making sure people have enough food and clothing, especially in the winter when temperatures could drop to single digits, to helping to connect them with local organizations that can provide assistance with housing.
"We can also find them options of where to go, maybe start them on the path to housing, mental services, drug rehab," Yoshioka said.
The mobile response unit has also partnered with several community organizations, like Fed With Faith and Hip Hop Cares, to collect and distribute resources and to conduct outreach meetings with the homeless community.
"I know that our city has a lot of people that help out and do this service, so we're just trying to make it a little better," Yoshioka said.
"If we're not working together then sometimes we work over each other or on top of each other, and that can be counterproductive to helping the folks that need our help the most," Jeff Gill, the founder of Hip Hop Cares, said.
"The more people that we have out there with more understanding of the potential situations people are experiencing that have led them to where they are, the better the chance we can divert them to the correct resources," Fed With Faith Donations Coordinator David Smillie said.
Yoshioka said there will be times when people will be asked to relocate, for example, if people are living in an abandoned building that is in violation of the building codes. In those cases, Yoshioka and Morrison will talk with the people who are living there and help them find another place to stay along with other resources to help them with the transition.
There had been discussion by Metro Council about funding a mobile response unit, but Yoshioka and Morrison said at this time that funding has not reached their program. Instead, they are relying on their community partners to help reach the homeless population.
For more information on how to help or receive assistance:
(502) 457-5317
►Contact reporter Dennis Ting at dting@whas11.com. Follow him on Twitter (@DennisJTing) and Facebook.