Can police camping ticket geographies facilitate homeless outreach? Identifying harms and people in homeless encampments

Abstract

Unsheltered persons experiencing homelessness (PEH) encounter many kinds of harm, and it is often unclear what data sources can be leveraged to connect PEH to services. The present study contributes by first examining crime near encampments, and then determining the utility of police tickets to aid outreach to PEH who camp in public spaces. Using Boulder Colorado and Boulder Colorado Police Department data from November 2021 to October 2022, location quotients suggest that crime is approximately three times more concentrated near encampments identified by residents, and seven times more concentrated near encampments identified with police data. Police tickets for outdoor camping were concentrated among a small number of all ticketed persons. People ticketed most camped in the same area multiple times, and had camps established within a small number of geographically proximate locations. Results suggest outreach efforts to specific PEH could be enhanced with police camping ticket geographies, and this supports a coordinated response to homelessness.