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Why Police Are First Responders To The Homelessness Crisis
An LAPD car on Wall Street in Skid Row, Los Angeles. (Matt Tinoco/LAist)
Talk to any police officer for more than a few minutes about homelessness, and you'll eventually hear the adage, "Well, cops aren't social workers."
It's true. Cops are not social workers, but they represent a sizable portion of the day-to-day response to Los Angeles' homelessness crisis, all on the taxpayer's dime. The result is a disproportionately high number of contacts between police and unhoused residents of Los Angeles.
Police are called out in a myriad of circumstances relating to homelessness. In many cases, it doesn't end well. Approximately one-in-three times that an LAPD officer uses force, it's against an unhoused person.
Now, as calls to "defund the police" make their way into the political mainstream, the long-simmering calls to decriminalize homelessness and create alternative first responders, such as social workers and mental health experts, are becoming a clamor.
How did it happen that police became first responders to the homelessness crisis?
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
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Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
