The Madison City Council passed an ordinance that limits how long pedestrians can stand on highway medians at their Feb. 7 meeting aimed at improving safety in the community, but not all community members feel this is the resolution’s true goal.
In a recent blog post, Madison Police Chief Mike Koval addressed the concerns of some community members who feel the ordinance is not about safety, but instead, “criminalizing the homeless.”
Koval said a MPD officer recently shared an email with him that was originally for the Homeless Services Consortium. The email suggested that MPD had not taken homeless advocates’ perspectives into consideration.
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But Koval said MPD didn’t ask for this ordinance.
“At the end of the day, the people who are creating these ordinances are the policy makers — the council and the mayor,” Koval said in an interview with The Badger Herald. “To suggest that somehow the police are behind these issues as some sort of a mechanism for being top-heavy towards homeless — or any people for that matter — is simply absurd.”
Most police contacts with people do not result in tickets or arrests, Koval said.
Officers look at the entire situation when they respond to a call, Koval said. They look at possible mental health issues, intoxication or drug use, if the individual is a first-time or repeat offender and several other aspects during contacts.
Instead of arresting people, officers try to get them to comply with other means before turning to tickets and arrests, Koval said.
“Frankly, many complainants who call for our services wish we were ‘tougher’ with offenders, but punitive measures are not going to get at the ‘root’ causes of what may be driving behavior(s),” Koval said. “So officers are always attempting to strike an appropriate balance of the least restrictive sanctions with the needs of public safety.”
Koval shared the story of an MPD officer who worked with a homeless individual who had a mental health illness. He said the officer worked with mental health experts to help the individual with their mental health illness.
The relationship created between the officer and the individual allowed them to work together to complete paperwork so the individual could meet requirements for housing, Koval said.
This officer helped create a push to get the individual into housing which was ultimately achieved, Koval said.
“When you hear the worn out refrain about MPD contributing to the ‘criminalization’ of the homeless, hit the ‘pause’ button and understand that our officers are far more interested and dedicated to helping rather than impeding those individuals who are struggling from the effects of homelessness,” Koval said.
