Abstract
This report summarizes the implementation and evaluation of a federally funded three-year pilot project in Sacramento County called the Strategies for Policing Innovations-Homeless Outreach Team (SPI-HOT). Faced with a rapid growth in homelessness in the community—an increase of 45% just in the last five years—and increasing community pressure to respond proactively, the Sacramento County Sheriffʼs Office-North Division received federal funding in 2016 from the Bureau of Justice Administration (BJA) to establish a joint-response outreach team staffed with patrol deputies and local social service providers. In recognition of the limitations of previous strategies – including active enforcement of an anti-camping ordinance—the overall objective of the SPI-HOT pilot was to develop a new service & community-oriented policing approach for addressing homelessness that de-emphasizes enforcement strategies.