Program Recover Discussion focuses on Homeless in Pulaski

Program Recover Discussion focuses on Homeless in PulaskiBy WILLIAM PAINE

Patriot Publishing

 

The leadership of the Town of Pulaski met this week with county officials and members of several community organizations to discuss solutions for dealing with the relatively large homeless population in town.

About 50 individuals gathered at the former Fine Arts Center Annex on 4th Street for a meeting led by Pulaski Town Manager Todd Day. All members of the Town Council were present, as were numerous town employees including nearly every member of the Pulaski Police Department.  Other groups represented at the meeting included the New River Valley Regional Commission, CarePortal, the City of Refuge, Taking it to the Streets, the NRV Housing Project, the Calfee Community Center and the Pulaski County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.

“On a local level, we want to make this community a better place to be,” said Day, who began his presentation by citing national crime statistics and comparing them to local crime stats.

According to the FBI statistics that Day quoted, incidents of vandalism in the Town of Pulaski are more than twice the national average. Incidents of trespassing in town are six times the national average. Even more disturbing, reports of breaking and entering in town are 13 times higher than the national average for this crime.

“Wherever I go everybody says the same thing,” said Day. “Y’all have a problem there, and it’s absolutely the truth. The whole objective of this meeting is to introduce a program that we feel will work, but it’s going to take the cooperation from everybody.”

 

“There’s a clinic in this town that’s not making things better,” Day added. “Everybody I talk to say the methadone clinic is causing a lot of problems. It’s like a beacon. It brought people from all over the place. We’ve seen people from Boston, Knoxville, Texas, Georgia and Wichita, Kansas.”

Terrie Sternberg of the Pulaski County Ministerial Association responded to this by saying that the issue with homelessness could not be placed soley on the existence of the Pulaski Medical clinic, as the problem of addiction was more nuanced.

Day acknowledged that there are a variety of circumstances that could result in an individual becoming homeless and continually emphasized that the meeting was called to find a way to deal with these individuals, short of arresting them.

The Pulaski Town Council recently passed ordinances to limit loitering and camping by vagrants in town, but Day stated that police officers could use discretion based on the circumstances of each individual case.

“Two new ordinances were put into place because our constituents keep calling the PD,” said Day. “We plan to use those as a tool to help incentivize individuals to accept the help when we introduce those individuals to a helping hand. So, it’s up to the officer to make a decision. They may give 2,3,4, 5 warnings before arrest. I do not know of another method to get individuals the help they need when laws are being broken, other than take them to an individual organization. That’s what we’re here to introduce tonight.”

Many of those facing arrest for offenses like trespassing are coping with mental or drug addiction issues that, according to Day, are best handled by professional organizations.

“We want input that can help us put a program together,” said Day, while noting that many encounters occur after-hours, when local organizations that provide aid are closed.

 

Day then posed a question.

“Who can we call at 3:00 in the morning?  We’d like to call some organization that is trained to address an individual that may need a helping hand, but the complication is that this happens at all hours of the night and I have no idea how to deal with it.”

“So, you’re looking for a touch point to serve someone that needs housing, someone that needs mental health services, someone that needs substance abuse services to find underlying causes for the crime that they’re committing,” stated Pulaski County Director of Prevention and Recovery Katie Thompson.

Pulaski County Administrator Jonathan Sweet suggested the police have a “cheat sheet” that would provide an appropriate phone number to call relating to issues pertaining to each individual.

“Our officers are trained to go out and speak with people who are experiencing a mental health crisis or dependency issues like Alzheimer’s,” said Pulaski Police Chief Samuel Shumate. “Most of our officers have had crisis intervention training and that helps. They do a really good job of diagnosing and we try to cut breaks where we can. Unfortunately, we’re not getting a lot of help. So, our options are jail or leave you out here on your own and whatever happens to you happens to you.”

Chief Shumate also stressed the importance of dealing with the individual at the time of the encounter, whenever that may be.

Sweet asked, “Will you transport these individuals where they want to go?”

“Yes, we absolutely are,” Day replied. “The idea for us is that the individual stick with the program, because I cannot keep telling the business or the landowner that I let that same individual keep coming back. We don’t want to use the new ordinances. We want to lend a helping hand, but we have to respond to crimes.”

Day also stated that two individuals have been hired by the Pulaski Police Department specifically to deal with the homeless population. Officer Michael Albert, who recently retired after 27 years in the Blacksburg Police Department, was hired as the police department’s new Community Resource Specialist.

“Police don’t want to arrest everyone they come in contact with,” said Albert.  “In some cases, we can use an Emergency Custody Order, which is not an arrest but provides custodial detention to get that person looked at. It’s another tool in the toolbox.”

Thompson asked if the police department would keep track of the individuals who had been sent to an agency that provided assistance.

“Yes, officers will document encounters with individuals,” said Day. “So, the idea is to get the individual the help they need and remove them from being on the streets. We’ll take them back 2,3, 4 times, whatever it takes.”

Sternberg asked about the possibility of a permanent shelter for the unhoused.

“I’ve never denied a request for a warming shelter and we’re willing to transport,” Day responded. “We know there’s a number of facilities in the region, not in town obviously, but we’re willing to transport.”

Day added that two old schools in town were currently being transformed into housing units, which could help alleviate the housing shortage in the area.

“I’m very, very empathetic for people that don’t have a place to live,” said Town Councilman Joel Burchett Sr. “I know a lot of them. I’ve talked to them. I also have to keep in mind the taxpayers of the community and the neighborhood.  I, in good conscience, could not support putting a shelter in a residential area, if the taxpayers don’t want it there. So, I keep that part in mind as well. The elephant in the room is the clinic.”

Several individuals representing local non-profits seemed enthusiastic about the possibility of taking a new approach to solve the issue of the homeless population in town and the crimes associated with them, but no solid commitments were made at Monday evening’s gathering.

“We’re willing to set up another meeting in the next couple of weeks,” said Day at meeting’s end. “This issue is it’s literally tearing Pulaski apart. And I mean, it’s literally eatin’ away at it.”