SAN DIEGO - A new study highlights how well San Diego Police are following the city's so-called 'Progressive Enforcement' model when it comes to responding to calls with people who are homeless.
Researchers from San Diego State University told members of the San Diego City Council on Tuesday that officers are only offering shelters and other services 13 percent of the time and some officers are being hostile toward the homeless.
“What we're sharing today, are data that really indicate that police are not the best positioned to be first-responders to homelessness," Megan Welsh Carroll, associate professor of criminal justice and public administration at SDSU told NBC 7. "The folks that we spoke with shared a lot of, quite frankly, overtly racist and homophobic slurs that police will use.”
The police department said it tries to balance compassion with the need to address public safety and that officers undergo bias training to ensure officers treat all residents with respect.