Reporting the story as straight as an arrow because it’s too tiring to come up with cute phrasing: The Los Angeles Times reports that the Los Angeles Police Department has been “ordered”—as in from the top, by the chief—to “show compassion and empathy towards homeless people.”
Encounters with the city’s homeless population have long been among the most sensitive and legally fraught parts of being a Los Angeles police officer.
…
On Tuesday, the LAPD moved to reset this relationship. The Los Angeles Police Commission approved a new policy directing LAPD officers to treat homeless people with “compassion and empathy.”
Top LAPD officials say the policy is part of a larger effort to rethink the way officers approach the city’s growing homeless population and try to ease tensions.
“It’s important on a number of levels as we begin to move forward in what I hope will be a big transition in the way that our streets appear and the way that some of the most vulnerable of the people in Los Angeles live,” Chief Charlie Beck said.
To those who argue that police officers are not social workers, consider this: Not arresting people, giving people written warnings, and even a stern “talking to” may appearing laughable in this day and age, but they’ve long been part of a police officer’s arsenal, under the rubric of “discretion.” A rise in the militarization of police departments across the country was not just a physical phenomenon, but an ideological one as well. Just as efforts are now underway to remove weapons of far away, foreign wars from the streets of America’s cities, there must be an ideological shift as well. People who have long been criminalized because of their identities and their existence must have their human rights respected.
It will take time to see whether or not this new policy yields any concrete changes in the lives of Los Angeles’ homeless population. While it is noteworthy, wonderful, and pathetic that the policy exists at all, there must be no resting on laurels. The LAPD must continue its efforts and other departments across the country need to follow suit—quickly. If this is what it takes, instead of plain old common sense and discretion, then so be it.