OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — After a summer of operating homeless outreach from a new downtown bureau, the Oshkosh Police Department says they've seen a positive impact.
- OPD started building out its bureau at 101 Algoma Blvd. last winter.
- The bureau is home to the community impact team, a partnership between OPD and the Winnebago County Crisis Center.
- The team aims to connect those who are unhoused with community resources.
Sgt. Brenden Bonnett has been a police officer for 16 years. He now works on the community impact team out of the bureau near Opera House Square Park.
“We've been here for three months,” he says. “I do think we've made improvements down here. I do think we're helping people in the short amount of time we've been here. And you know, time will tell what we can accomplish over the years,”
The bureau was created in response to increasing concerns from downtown businesses.
“A lot of complaints about quality of life issues, ordinance violations, urinating in public, disorderly conduct in the park nearby,” he says. “So having that police presence downtown to potentially deter that was, I think, one of the main reasons why we exist here.”
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The community impact team is a partnership between Winnebago County Crisis Center and OPD.
“Law enforcement is looking at safety, and then we're kind of looking more at the mental health lens, or, you know, substance use or some other lens,” Kayla Rodriguez, Winnebago County Crisis Center Supervisor, says. “Having an alternative response, rather than either just law enforcement or having nobody at all.”
Multiple times each day, the team is connecting with people face-to-face.
“After three months, I know most people on a first-name basis, so it's just a matter about again, repeating those contacts throughout the weeks to try to build that rapport, to eventually help them get somewhere,” Bonnett says. "Without my position, without this team, that rapport would not happen because our patrol officers just don't have the amount of time in the day with the calls of service they handle to do what we are doing down here.”
Bonnet tracks calls and surveys completed by the bureau’s team. Out of the 164 surveys he’s reported since May, 91 have had no enforcement.
“We're not criminalizing homelessness,” he says. “The vast majority of our contacts are for outreach purposes to offer help. Sometimes it's inevitable that we do have to make enforcement decisions, whether that's a warrant arrest… or it's a mandatory arrest situation.”
The bureau is meant to have an open-door policy and feel welcoming for everyone.
“I'm not in a traditional police uniform, and you don't have black and white squad cars outside that might deter somebody who is either in a mental health crisis or who is experiencing homelessness that is looking for assistance,” Bonnett says.
Shawna Tracy has been homeless for nearly two years.
“I just can’t seem to find housing; it’s been a struggle,” she says.
Tracy says she’s appreciated the downtown police presence this summer.
“I just like when they check up on us, it just makes me feel comfortable, it makes me feel safe, it makes me feel needed,” she says.
As the project continues, the team hopes to replicate this model across Winnebago County.
"It's not just an Oshkosh PD issue, it's not just a human services issue, it's a community issue,” Rodriguez says.
