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NYPD Scales Back "Outreach" To Homeless In Subway System
By
Mirela Iverac
Published Jul 17, 2020
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John Minchillo/AP/Shutterstock
By
Mirela Iverac
Published Jul 17, 2020
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Just a year after forging an unusually close—and controversial—partnership between the NYPD and a city social service agency, the de Blasio administration has reversed course and is drastically reducing the ways in which police interact with the city’s homeless.
“The NYPD played, I think, a constructive role, but as we've talked about how to figure out what needs to be shifted to civilian agencies, what can be effectively shifted?” Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a press briefing earlier this month in which he outlined the general policy shift but did not give details. “It's become clear that our Department[s] of Social Services and Homeless Services can handle this work.”
Central to that work was a “subway diversion program” created last July. Under that program, homeless New Yorkers who received summonses for violating transit rules, such as fare evasion or taking up more than one seat on a subway train, could get them cleared if they agreed to engage with the Bowery Residents’ Committee, an outreach organization under contract with the city.
“All New Yorkers should feel safe and comfortable on public transit,” de Blasio said shortly after the launch. “With this collaborative partnership, we’re striking the right balance.”
But this summer, following weeks of protests against police overreach and tense budget negotiations with the City Council, City Hall quietly eliminated the diversion program, as NY1 first reported.
But the administration has gone even further. The NYPD’s Homeless Outreach Unit is being disbanded. Police officers will no longer be part of the Joint Crisis Coordination Center, which uses a vast camera surveillance system to monitor where homeless people are in real time. And the police department’s oversight and training of security personnel at shelters is also ending.
Also, Social Services Commissioner Steven Banks told non-profit providers this week that his agency would handle 311 calls related to the needs of homeless New Yorkers, and that NYPD will no longer be part of this response, according to individuals who took part in the conference call.
Advocates who’ve argued against the increased involvement of the police in homeless outreach welcomed the change.
“We have long said that police are not an effective way to reach homeless people,” said Shelly Nortz, deputy executive director for policy at the Coalition for the Homeless. “Everyone who's done work successfully to reach out to very marginalized homeless people, who've been sleeping on the streets for a long time, knows that it's all about relationship development and trust development.”
Despite the recent changes, the NYPD remains in charge of enforcing transit rules in the subways and ensuring, together with the MTA’s police department, that customers leave the system during the overnight closure. This week, a video of an incident where a police officer punched a homeless man who was taking two seats surfaced. The NYPD and the Department of Social Services didn’t respond to questions about whether anything will change in how the department arrests and issues summonses to homeless New Yorkers.
Throughout the existence of the subway diversion program, city officials insisted it was helping people move into shelters but failed to provide any evidence to back up the claim. Councilmember Stephen Levin, who chairs the General Welfare Committee, said the administration ignored criticism of the program from councilmembers and advocates.
“They didn't take the opposition seriously,” Levin said. “But as a result, I think, of the protests they absolutely have. And that's what's moved the policy.”
But Levin cautioned it wasn’t yet clear if the lives of homeless people would improve. He said the administration still needs to ensure there are enough beds in safe havens—non-traditional shelters with more privacy and fewer rules which are preferred by people who’ve lived on the streets for a long time.
“This was a policy move that happened very quickly,” he said. “But it's our responsibility now to actually come up with some real plans and a framework that is going to actually meet those needs*.”*
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Mirela Iverac
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