Police on the Bethel College campus have been a hot-button topic for students, faculty, staff, and alumni alike. This issue is larger than just what students experience on the Bethel College campus. For instance, recent arctic cold and winter storm conditions have brought anti-unhoused rhetoric to the surface in the nearby city of Wichita, resulting from Wichita Police Department (WPD)’s recent outreach.
According to a KWCH 12 News article by Angela Smith, the WPD’s Homeless Outreach Team spent recent days canvassing and speaking with unhoused individuals on the streets of Wichita to encourage them to go to local shelters.
In the article, Smith summarized that “110 contacts [were] made, 76 refused, 21 gave ‘maybe later’ responses and 13 accepted the offer of a warm shelter.” Smith further highlighted the refusal of these individuals to go to a shelter, by quoting the WPD and placing them in a positive light. This supports stigma towards unhoused individuals by simplifying the issue to them declining shelter, without consideration of what they factor into that decision. A similar article was circulated by the other major news outlet in Wichita, KAKE.
I spent three years working in downtown Wichita, often directly with unhoused people, and with that experience it is impossible for me to not see the lack of nuance that is given to this issue. During that time, common issues for unhoused people were things like previous banishment from local shelters, experiences of discrimination and poor treatment, safety concerns, religious differences, lack of understanding for mental illness, and much more. We must ask if this outreach was conducted in uniform and if it was, how ineffective did that factor make it?
The National Alliance to End Homelessness offers that homelessness disproportionately affects people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, and those who struggle with mental health issues due to structural and historical equity issues.
Considering the statistical makeup of unhoused individuals, a police-run approach to unhoused outreach would likely be unsuccessful due to degraded and broken relationships between police in the USA and the American people. Not only that, it could pose a very real safety concern for unhoused people who may be experiencing mental illness, confusion, or upset or even just those encountering an officer who may be approaching the scene with anti-unhoused bias.
Caitlyn Hammack, a local social justice advocate working as the Kansas State Organizer for Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity raises vital questions. She suggests asking “why these individuals refused to go to the shelter. If the cops go out and offer people shelter and 75% of the people decline, this isn’t a feel-good story for the cops and the city. This is a story about our resources not meeting the needs of the people actually experiencing homelessness in our city.” She continued to highlight gaps like the lack of storage for belongings and a lack of pet-friendly shelters. “There’s gaps that can be filled, but we continue to shame and blame the people sleeping on the street,” Hammack concluded.
Advocacy cannot and should not stop at the Bethel campus. While police are a real and prevalent issue for students, this is only indicative of a larger broken system across the USA. We must learn from our struggles here at Bethel and work to advocate for equitable and respectful treatment of everyone, especially the unhoused population, and push for non-stigmatised outreach. If so many unhoused people would rather sleep in negative degree temperatures on a bed of snow and ice than in a shelter – the people are not the problem.
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