Police sweeps have become passe in the field of fighting vagrancy, and in the run-up to the inauguration, D.C. opted for recently tested, more comprehensive approaches.
“If the goal is to reduce crime, and that’s the only goal, then sweeps can be an effective strategy,” said John Roman, a law enforcement researcher at the D.C.-based Urban Institute. “But if you care about the well-being of the people, it’s not good unless you link to services.”
In preparing for this weekend’s mass movement of homeless people, D.C. sought the advice of cities which that recently accomplished the same thing: Denver, for the Democratic National Convention, and St. Paul, Minn., for the Republican National Convention.
In Denver, homeless people were offered everything from a free haircut to zoo and museum passes in order to remove them from downtown streets.
“Denver was very successful,” said Nan Roman, president of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. “They started early, there was a lot of outreach, everybody was on board, it was comprehensive.”
In St. Paul, where one of the city’s largest homeless shelters is across the street from the site of the convention, officials decided to expand the services rather than shut them down. As D.C. will do, the shelter remained open 24 hours and opened up extra space for people pushed away by large crowds.
“A few years ago sweeps were more common,” Nan Roman said. “That’s been changing, and strategies are being passed from city to city about how better to protect people.”
