FOND DU LAC, Wis. (WFRV) – A new program is transforming how authorities handle police calls involving homeless individuals.
Fond du Lac police chief Aaron Goldstein said they recently studied police call trends at their dispatch center. He said that between June 2024 through January 2025 they received about 200 police calls that involved homeless individuals. After doing an analysis of all the calls, Goldstein said that about 80 percent of them didn’t require police enforcement, an individual just needed some help connecting to resources.
Goldstein said this got him to thinking.
“I have a vision almost like we have our mental health program, to have a co-response like model to help the community experiencing homelessness,” Goldstein said.
He said the police department has been using a co-response model with mental health professionals and social workers for many police calls. He wanted to use a similar model for police calls involving homeless individuals.
Goldstein reached out to Amy Loof who is the executive director of ‘Solutions Center Shelter and Support Service in Fond du Lac. They operate the St. Katharine Drexel Shelter to help those experiencing homelessness.
This collaboration led to the creation of the Drexel Outreach Response Program. It got off the ground at the beginning of March.
“So anything that somebody is in need of or a resource that they need to be connected to we’re doing that right there in the moment,” Loof told Local 5 News when asked about the importance of the program. “Being able to connect with them at that moment and get them what they need or where they need to go in that moment is key.”
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A trained case manager from St. Katharine Drexel Shelter will help police respond to calls involving homeless individuals. In some cases, a police officer will make first contact with the individual, and then the case manager will be able to talk and help the individual after.
In many other cases, Goldstein said that police enforcement isn’t even needed so the case managers will be responding to the calls on their own. Loof said that in general homeless individuals are more comfortable interacting with case managers than police officers which is another reason why authorities began this program.
When the case managers arrive to help the homeless individuals, they can try to on-board them into local shelters, provide them with supplies like hygiene kits or food, or help them with an array of other things depending on what that individual needs.
“It’s amazing to know that we’re getting those resources and meeting them where they are at, we aren’t asking them to come where we are,” Goldstein said about the program. “I think there’s a lot more awareness as well. We’re talking more about the unsheltered and the unhoused.”
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Goldstein said since the program began they’ve used case managers for 13 calls involving homeless individuals. Loof detailed one of those cases that happened recently at a Fond du Lac truck stop.
“Just a brief conversation with her we were able to do an intake form with her and get the background checks done with her while we were talking,” she told Local 5 News. “We had an open bed, brought her into the shelter and she’s doing very well and her mental health has stabilized.”
“Success is helping person at a time because everybody has their own individual needs,” Goldstein added. “I believe you can have community standards and show compassion, understanding, and dignity to those who are unhoused and experiencing homelessness.”
Loof said that before the COVID-19 pandemic there were around 150 people in Fond du Lac experiencing homelessness. She said that number has risen since then because of higher prices and a difficult housing market.
