In the past four months, there have been as many as 17 crimes, many of them thefts, that have occurred close to the public parks and trails in Bloomington.
This does not include the numerous calls and reports that the Bloomington Police Department receive each week that do not become cases.
Seminary, Bryan and Peoples parks as well as the B-Line Trail are all a part of a new city and police initiative for increased camera surveillance in order to cut down on crime in the city.
These locations are areas with high populations of homeless people camping or living there.
These locations are soon going to be monitored with new cameras by Bloomington police as community service groups and programs, such as the Shalom Community Center and the Monroe County Public Library, work with the homeless to get them better access to resources and into permanent housing.
Mayor John Hamilton said in August the cameras would be a “pilot effort” to deter criminal activity.
“They will not be monitored live, but it is intended they will prove a deterrent, and also a tool for enforcement if needed.” Hamilton said.
Those areas are places where a number of homeless spend much of their days and nights.
These locations come up often on police calls for a number of crimes, but mostly theft, BPD Capt. Steve Kellams said.
A crime map of Bloomington, which is available through the City of Bloomington website for free, indicates that just within a few blocks of the parks and in the parks themselves almost a dozen thefts have occurred since May.
Two agencies that play separate roles are the Monroe County Public Library and the Shalom Community Center in Bloomington.
“We’re a welcome place for all people,” said Marilyn Wood, director of MCPL. “Anyone can come in and make use of our services. While the cameras are designed to deter or solve crimes that occur in those areas, there are other city and community services available that are working to inform and assist the homeless population.”
Wood said the library has a number of resources and directories that are made available to anyone.
The library houses directories to both city and community social services, and Wood said the employees of the library are there to assist with gathering information without judging those who are requesting it.
The Shalom Community Center is different in that it assists homeless in the community and works to get them housed at least temporarily in their overnight shelter, A Friend’s Place, and then later permanently through their Rapid Re-housing Program.
The Rapid Re-housing Program helps to pay rent, moving fees, security deposits and other financial burdens for those seeking housing.
This gets homeless people off the streets and works to make everyone safer, similar to the goal of the new cameras.
The most recent crime in an area with high homeless populations occurred in Seminary Park when a woman, who was homeless, had $30 stolen from her bra as she slept.
The thefts occur not only to residents but also to members of the homeless population.
It remains to be seen if the cameras will help deter crime in the first place. Kellams said electronic surveillance has been very helpful in solving crimes after the fact and until they are installed it’s impossible to determine their full effect.
The city is working through BPD with funding for the new cameras, while the money for the Rapid Re-housing Program is acquired through the state and federal levels and then used by the Center to assist those with getting their own housing.
“Homelessness is a huge problem,” Forrest Gilmore, the executive director at the Shalom Community Center, said. “It’s a national problem that we experience locally.”
Gilmore also said they have two case workers who go out to known areas where people camp or live and try to get them better access to federal and state resources. These areas include Seminary, Bryan and Peoples parks.
“It really works,” Gilmore said.
A large amount of those they help have some access to aid, but there is also another portion which has no access.
The center tries to help both groups. Gilmore said that at the center they are attempting to do more than just manage homelessness.
“I think our housing focus is the right way to go,” Gilmore said. “Not just trying to manage homelessness, but ending homelessness.”
The new cameras to be installed will be of help for the homeless, but the cameras are more focused on managing the issue of crime. And even then, Kellams said he was unsure of how effective the cameras would be in the long run.
“The thought of having something there is better than nothing,” Kellams said.
