ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses upon homelessness as a condition that is also generative of demands that ‘something be done’ – whether that be addressing actual or potential crime and disorder – and thus calls for police service. It begins by offering a brief overview of the policing literature on this topic before moving on to a review of the policy and social attitudinal shifts in this area during the periods of 2000–2010 and 2011–2020, respectively. This discussion contextualizes the social, political, and other responses to homelessness that influenced the police operational environment during this period and how the police responded to calls involving homeless citizens. This chapter then concludes with an assessment of the main findings and what they inform about the possibilities of meaningful reform regarding how police interact with homelessness as a social condition.
