Interview with Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich: A Look at Homelessness

Written By Guest Columnist: Venus Delcambre-Morris, Neighborhood Watch Coordinator
with Spokane County Crime Prevention Office

There are different categories of homelessness that need to be discussed. There are the economic homeless; homelessness that’s caused by drugs and alcohol; homelessness that is caused by mental illness; foster kids who are homeless because they have aged out of the system; a sub-population of people who are dealing with mental disabilities and some who are homeless because they just choose to live that way.

People who are in the economic homeless category have a multitude of different factors of why they have ended up living on the streets. They may have lost their job, or have suffered a hardship such as medical bills or a recession. These are people who have basically lost everything and have ended up homeless – living out of a car. Very few of the economic homeless turn to a criminal lifestyle to live. If they do come into the criminal justice system, it’s as victims and not perpetrators. But, you’re going to find that there is a potential of ending up a victim of crime throughout the different categories of homelessness.

The next category is the homelessness that drugs and alcohol create. Those are people who may have been very productive members of society but got wrapped up in drugs or alcohol. I have seen this play out time and time again. Very successful business people get addicted to methamphetamine and then their business is gone, their home is gone, they end up divorced and ultimately, they end up homeless and in the criminal justice system, both as a victim and as an offender.

Another population to look at is those who are dealing with mental health issues. The mental health homelessness is a growing population and is going to continue to grow. Here in the State of Washington, one of the reasons that it’s growing is because this state has a philosophy that seems to force the issue of mental health to be handled at the local level with the expectation of proper support networks which includes funding and resources. However, funding is being slashed and people are being dumped out of state hospitals, such as Eastern State. A lot of people don’t realize that there is this term called ‘Least Restrictive Alternative’ (LRA) that is being used for both mental health and the civil commitment of sexual predators. LRA’s application to sex offender incarceration will have a devastating effect on local communities. The ‘Least Restrictive Alternative’ term means that they are taking people out of institutionalized settings and trying to put them in a group home environment. Some of these folks aren’t stable enough for that. Meaning, if they violate their terms and conditions, (especially on the mental health side), they don’t go back to Eastern State Hospital but instead, they get kicked out of the group home setting. Some end up on the streets and from there they end up in the court system as an offender committing crimes. Some of these crimes are not just low-level crimes, there are some major felonies that are being committed. Recently, there was an 8-year-old child that was stabbed at a Hico store. The offender had been touched by mental health services twice in the prior five months. That situation and others... these are very serious offenses. I am all for diversion, I am all for mental health courts, I am for all the training that law enforcement can get. However, the reality concerning dealing with those who are suffering from mental illness and are also homeless, you are expecting to manage it, solve or resolve it by tasking the patrol on the streets to do so, then we’re in for some severe failure. Because by the time someone suffering from a mental health crisis encounters a patrolman on the street it is too late. These contacts very rarely go well. I don’t care how much training a patrol officer has; the odds are no longer in their favor for a peaceful resolution of the crisis.

Our training is only as effective as the individual that we are dealing with allows it to be. Many times, the person we are trying to help, puts us in a position that we are not allowed to make any other choice other than having to use some type of force to resolve the issue. We see this time and time again. There was an individual in Cheney, the situation was a mental health crisis, and that individual was determined that he was going to force police officers to kill him. He came up with a plan in which no matter what the police officers did or said, he was going to force them to shoot him. He wrote a letter detailing where his mind and what his thought process was. In the letter, he apologized to the police officers for making them shoot him and then, he executed his plan and a police officer was forced to shoot him.

Next, we have a very severe homeless sub-population of young teens. The foster care system is another system that feeds kids to the street. It’s been estimated that in the Spokane Valley, there are 1,500 homeless kids. These kids sometimes are on the streets or between homes couch surfing. Once a kid in the foster care system turns 18, they are out and there is no support network, there is no safety net, there’s nothing but the streets. If I have a meeting within a mile and half of the Safety Public building, I walk. I go for walks all the time in downtown Spokane and I talk to many kids along the way. I don’t know how many kids I have talked to downtown who have told me, ‘Sheriff, do you think that I really want to be out on the street? I aged out, and the minute that I aged out, I was forced out and there is nowhere to go, there was nothing.’ We, as a society, are not paying attention to this injustice, and very few people want to talk about it. The other sub population is those with mental disabilities. People don’t realize that we have a massive wave of potential homelessness coming in regarding those with mental disabilities. That infrastructure is not all that secure with funding. There just is not enough housing and you have a lot of elderly parents that are worried because there is no safety net for the dependent child that they have living with them. These parents are afraid of what is going to happen to their child when they pass on. Where will their child go? There is nowhere. We’ll have this major tidal wave to deal with if we do not start planning for it and finding ways to deal with it. If we don’t start paying attention quickly, and start figuring out what safety nets we are going to have, this demographic of folks will end up homeless, and on the streets. If they are on the streets, they will be victimized... heavily victimized. Or, they will end up getting incarcerated because of minor level skirmishes with the law.

Lastly, there’s one class of homeless which is not “politically” correct to talk about, however, they seem to be the population that we heavily focus on especially in our political dialogues. Those are the folks, who live on the street, who just want to live their life that way. They will tell you, this is my lifestyle, I don’t want to get a job, I am perfectly happy living on the street and living by handouts. To hear that is surprising and sad because there are so many people who don’t want to be on the streets. The same services that we are trying to give people who truly need help are being consumed by people that don’t care to work and want to live on the streets.
And, amazingly these are the people who have the audacity to demand better services. My response to these folks is simple: O.K., if you want to be on the street, if you want to live that way, you’re on your own.

The small amount of services we have should be directed at those folks who don’t want to be homeless but were forced to be there due to hard times, or they fell through the cracks of the system, or have mental health issues. Some reading this will think that what I am saying is harsh, but if one chooses this lifestyle, then I’m not giving them anything. I’m not. If that’s the way they want to live then so be it. I’m going to be focused on the ones that truly want out of that situation.

I believe that the City of Spokane has made a drastic mistake in the way that they are dealing with homelessness. They are going with the model of a handout rather than a model of a hand-up. If you are going to go with a model of a handout, there is no incentive to change one’s life... none. And, there’s really no way these folks will be motivated to change if government is giving them free stuff. They don’t need free stuff, they need motivation to change their life.

With a hand-up mentality to homelessness, there are three things that can help; a home, job skills and a job. If you can solve those three things for an individual who’s on the street, you have cured their homeless problem and they can become productive members of society again. These three things are the solution to homelessness.

For those who have mental health issues, stabilization, is the key. We have to help get them stabilized, and then we have to make sure that they have a safety net of the treatments and medications and other things that they need. Then, and only then, do they have a chance of transitioning into working and being productive in society.

If we help foster kids by getting them housing, education or job skills and a job... they are going to succeed in life, no ifs, ands or buts about it. These kids want off the streets, but we are going to have to teach them some life skills. These kids deal with a lot of issues such as abandonment and other things that proper mentoring can help get them through.

The homeless issue is a multifaceted problem, which we truly do not have a proper focus on. People are on the streets, but we don’t look at the “why” are they on the street. If you fail to look at the “why” then you fail in designing the proper safety nets tailored for the person who finds themselves on the streets. Perhaps the day we stop just giving free stuff and truly look at the “why”, we will devote our resources to those who want to change their lives and not those just looking for a free ride. There are people who truly need our help, let’s focus on them.

A Note From Deputy David Morris: I hope you have enjoyed this interview of Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich. As you can see, he is a very thoughtful speaker and community leader. Interviews of the Sheriff are printed in every Neighborhood Watch Newsletter, about three times per year. If you want a copy of the newsletter emailed to you, email your request to VDelcambremorris@SpokaneSheriff.org. Mrs. Delcambre-Morris will make sure the newsletter is sent to you, directly.  In the meantime, see to your safety. Trust your instincts! Be watchful of your surroundings. Call Crime Check at 509-456-2233, or 911 if you see suspicious or criminal behavior. In fact, in almost any situation in all of Spokane County, if you need answers or help from law enforcement, you should start by calling Crime Check at 509-456-2233.  As always you can reach me at my email address: DWMorris@SpokaneSheriff.org.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CAN BE DIRECTED TO DEPUTY David Morris OF THE CRIME PREVENTION UNIT OF THE SPOKANE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: DWMorris@SpokaneSheriff.org