Wichita police Homeless Outreach Team praised by Kansas House of Representatives

Helping the homeless has earned a group of Wichita police officers praise from the Kansas House of Representatives.

The Wichita Police Department’s Homeless Outreach Team program was recognized in Topeka this week for its work in reducing chronic homelessness in Wichita.

Rep. Steve Anthimedes, R-Wichita, proposed the commendation because “it just seemed like the right thing to do,” he said Friday. The entire Wichita delegation in the House stood with him in the commendation.

“Instead of giving the man a fish, they’re teaching the man to fish,” Anthimedes said. “… Downtown used to have a quite large homeless population, and now you don’t see it as much. It’s just a great program, and I really wanted people to know that.”

The team’s three full-time members – officers Nathan Schwiethale, Dave Nienstedt and Lisa Berg – and supervisor Sgt. Brett Stull were presented with plaques. Schwiethale was the officer who spearheaded the program, Anthimedes said.

Schwiethale, who was doing a majority of his police work in the downtown and Old Town areas, said he was receiving a lot of 911 calls about homeless people camping out in parks and committing other relatively minor offenses.

“We’d write them tickets, and they’d turn into warrants because they can’t pay them – then they’d go to jail, and they’d come back out,” he said. “It was a revolving door in and out of the court system. What we were doing was not working.

“I realized that we would never arrest our way out of homelessness, so we needed to look at a different approach.”

Officers in the program – which tries to be as 24/7 as possible, Schwiethale said – attempt to link homeless people with resources rather than arrest them for minor offenses.

The program has been a success – in addition to the House recognition, it has recently earned the recognition of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, which published an article about the program on its website.

Schwiethale was named the Wichita Police Department’s 2013 Officer of the Year for his work in spearheading the program.

He said he was recently asked to contribute to a national guide on law enforcement and homeless outreach teams.

“Part of the intent to the program is the perception change,” he said. “There’s always been a big trust gap between the homeless and police and providers. They’re starting to trust us. The homeless call us every day when they need help.”

In addition to finding housing through the Wichita-Sedgwick County Housing First program, the Homeless Outreach Team established the “Finding a Way Home” program, which links homeless people to family members willing to provide housing. The program has housed more than 100 individuals in this way.

It has also helped more than 50 homeless people find employment.

“They are very hard-working, dedicated men and women that are making it work,” Anthimedes said. “It saves taxpayer dollars, puts people to work and gets them off of the street.”

This story was originally published February 6, 2015 at 8:43 PM with the headline "Wichita police Homeless Outreach Team praised by Kansas House of Representatives."