![]() ![]() ![]() The officers continued south on Las Vegas Boulevard, discussing what to say to people who decline services. “If you ever see us walking around, ask for help.” “I don’t want you to kill yourself,” Henderson told the man. He blurted out that he had lost friends to suicide. One man, standing under a tree near the rotunda outside Caesars Palace, told police that he was 32 years old and had been on the streets since he was a child. Officers try to talk to everyone who appears to be living on Las Vegas Boulevard, Reese said. Reese said he considers the team’s efforts a success when people accept resources they’re offered, like being taken to Salvation Army or even accepting a bus pass from the Clark County CARES Housing Assistance team that joins officers on some of their walks. “We’re seeing people we talked to week after week … but we’ve given them our numbers.” “It’s frustrating coming to the Strip,” Reese said. Reese said officers had spoken with at least 55 people on the Strip in two days in the past month. More than 11,000 of them had accepted services and nearly 2,000 people had accepted shelter, according to Metro data. Separately, Metro’s Community Orientated Policing division monitors homelessness and maintains contact with people living on the streets in each area command.Īs of May 1, Homeless Outreach had made more than 37,000 contacts with people since the program started. The department’s Homeless Outreach Team, launched in 2018, prioritizes offering services to those in need valley-wide. Henderson gave him a pair of black socks from a bag he keeps in his cruiser, and in less than 15 minutes they had convinced the man to take a ride to Salvation Army. “Usually he doesn’t really want nothing, but hopefully he’ll go,” Reese said of the man he had seen on the Strip in the past. He declined to give his name and smiled at the officers as they passed. Their first encounter was with a man sitting on a warm vent outside Flamingo. Steven Reese joined Henderson and Nunez for a three-mile walk along Las Vegas Boulevard. The man rolled from the bench, grabbed his backpack and walked away.Ī few days later, Sgt. “We just try to offer help, it’s up to them to take the help,” Nunez said after trying to talk to a man sleeping on a concrete bench at Charlie Frias. Two other Metro officers patrol areas within Las Vegas city limits. Woods, Nunez and Officer Dwayne Henderson make up Metro’s three-man Homeless Outreach Team that walks Clark County streets, offering to connect people with organizations that offer food, housing and help finding employment.Įvery Monday through Thursday, beginning at 5:30 a.m., they canvass parks, the Las Vegas Strip and various locations across Clark County where homeless people gather. The officers wished him a good day and walked away. “Even if it’s just one night, you can take a shower down there, take your dog and wash your clothes,” Woods told him. Woods and Nunez said the start of the month meant the couple could apply for public assistance, suggesting that Velez could stay at the Salvation Army on West Owens for the day, rather than sleep in his car. They’re hoping to find more permanent housing, Velez told the officers. Velez said he and his dog had been living in the car for a few weeks with his girlfriend, who was working a new job at a nearby Rebel convenience store that May 1 morning. Food and clothing was scattered across the seats. He and his dog, Doodles, looked up at the men in hunter green uniforms.Īll the windows had been covered with tarp and blankets. “Metro police, homeless outreach,” they said.įorty-five-year-old Luis Velez rolled down the window of the only car in the parking lot. Orui Woods and Angel Nunez announced their presence. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal) a warm, clear Monday morning, a pair of Metropolitan Police Department officers knocked three times on a blanket-covered back passenger side window of a black sedan at Charlie Frias Park. Members of Metropolitan Police Department’s Homeless Outreach Team and Clark County Department of Social Services, from left, Officer Angel Nunez, Ashley Williams and Officer Dwayne Henderson, talk to people on the Strip near Harrah’s in Las Vegas Thursday, May 4, 2023. ![]()
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