A police officer in South Carolina offered a helping hand to a homeless man rather than putting handcuffs on his wrists at a time when homelessness in the US is at an all-time high and more cities and states are outlawing sleeping in public places.
By linking him with his relatives in another state, Lieutenant Tim Conroy of the Greenville Police Department assisted a homeless man in finding a place to call home.
One of his team’s duties is to provide rehabilitation for the homeless people.
The agency claims that while Conroy was out on the streets, he saw Mr. Bryant, a man who had been homeless for two years.
Conroy became motivated to help them and was not confined by state lines. He found Mr. Bryant’s family in Virginia.
According to the authorities, the man and his family were “overjoyed” to be reunited.
Lieutenant Conroy identified Mr. Bryant’s family in Virginia, and they were ecstatic to learn that he had been found, the department wrote on its Facebook page. They arrived to collect him and transport him back home. Observing the benefits of such efforts is inspiring.
According to the National Homelessness statute Center’s most current study, “almost every state, a total of 48, has at least one law restricting behaviors that prohibit or restrict conduct of people experiencing homelessness.”
In South Carolina, those “behaviors” include camping, sleeping, panhandling, loitering, or loafing in designated areas.
If you are found sleeping in a public place in Missouri on or after January 1, 2023, a misdemeanor complaint will be made against you.Less than two hours away in the state capital of Columbia, city leaders there are “making aggressive strides toward addressing homelessness.”
In 2013, word broke that the city of Columbia was transporting homeless individuals to a shelter 15 miles away. Some local governments, like Greenville and others, are eschewing the severe penalties employed by other jurisdictions in favor of a different approach.
In 2019, a police officer from New Jersey helped a homeless man who had been estranged from his family for 24 years. After his divorce, Jose Lopez, according to CBS, moved to Florida from the Garden State and lost contact with his two children, who were 10 and 17 at the time.
Lopez attempted to call his daughters many years later but was unable to do so because of his frequent strokes and homelessness. But that didn’t make him less determined to find his girls again.
Lopez traveled to New Jersey using Social Security payments and arrived at the Secaucus Junction rail station. He came upon a transit policeman there, who saw his predicament and offered to assist.
The man was helped to complete his journey by Sean Pfeifer, a Crisis Outreach Officer with whom Lopez had a connection.
In an interview with CBS, Pfeifer said, “Mr. Lopez was determined on locating his family, and I wanted to make sure that I was there to help him with achieving that.
During the tearful reunion, Lopez also got to see his grown daughters and his grandchildren.
“I feel like I’m in heaven. My two best friends are girls. Lopez told CBS, “I’ve got a terrific pal.
The Hillsboro Police Department and a variety of community partners were able to reunite Scooter, a homeless man, with his family in Arkansas close to the start of Covid.
Although the pandemic complicated certain aspects of this, Hillsboro Police is happy to inform that Scooter has been reunited with his brother and is currently living with him safely in Arizona.
These police stations and officers deserve our gratitude because they are outstanding models of how people can improve their communities.
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