Politics & Government
Police Report Progress on Homeless Outreach Initiative
An LAPD officer briefs the Pali Community Council on positive connections made between local homeless people and social workers and police.
The community's Los Angeles Police Department senior lead officer told the Pacific Palisades Community Council on March 22 that recent outreach efforts by county social workers and police yielded a positive reception from local homeless individuals.
"I don't know if it was the cold weather, or it it's that they see other homeless people getting shelter and it's not having a negative effect on the freedoms that they're afraid they're going to be giving up ... they were very receptive," said Senior Lead Officer Michael Moore, who last week accompanied Los Angeles County social workers on an outreach mission in the Palisades. "Right now it looks very positive."
This week social workers will begin scheduling regular meetings with homeless people who have expressed interest in receiving help from the county, said Moore. On March 22, Moore, other officers and social workers sought out homeless people known to congregate at "PCH and Sunset, the lower portion of Temescal Canyon Park, and Chautauqua-PCH west channel."
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"One of the guys that we talked to ... immediately said 'yes, I need be put in a hospital, I need help right away,'" Moore informed community council members in reference to an individual he said is a veteran of the U.S. armed services.
PPCC President Janet Turner and featured county officials and representatives from organizations that help the homeless.
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"This is all because of our meeting here on the homeless issue that Flora [Gil Krisiloff, senior field deputy for L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky] was able to help get some of this started for us," Turner said. "It's a wonderful first step and very fulfilling."
PPCC member Barbara Kohn spoke on assistance she recently received from a local homeless woman. Kohn said her car got stuck on Sunset Boulevard and required a push from an L.A. County Sheriff who was assisted by the young homeless woman.
"It's so important that people realize that stories and who they all are, and to put a story to a person as compared to just a number," Turner added.
