Using a Harm Index to Prioritize Encampment Response

• In Event: Smart Policing Initiative: Rethinking and Refocusing Police Intelligence and Activities to Enhance Public Safety

Abstract

How and why individuals experience homelessness in the US depends heavily on the geographic location. Therefore, responses to people experiencing homelessness must be tailored to the local context. The City of Boulder (Colorado) and its residents recognize that encampments create community and environmental harms as well as increased opportunity for harms to individuals living in encampments. The inability of the community to use some public spaces is concerning. As part of their Smart Policing Initiative Project (SPI), the Boulder Police Department SPI project team used the SARA problem-solving model to develop a harm index to identify and prioritize encampments for tailored responses. The harm index measures three kinds of harms: harms to individuals (i.e., unhoused), harms to the community, and harms to the environment. This paper will focus on the harm index creation process, which led to identifying five encampments that are the focus of the SPI project response. The harm index will ultimately be used to help assess the impacts of the responses on each encampment.

Authors

• Natalie K. Hipple, Indiana University Bloomington

• Julie Wartell, Problem Analysis Group