Patrol Officer, Homeless Outreach Team
Wichita (KS) Police Department
Wichita, Kansas, United States
Officer Nate Schwiethale has worked for the largest city in his state for 23 years. While patrolling downtown, he gained extensive knowledge working with people experiencing homelessness. In 2013, he created and developed his police department's Homeless Outreach Team (HOT). It is a police unit that work in partnership with homeless service providers to refer people experiencing homelessness to resources and programs to help them out of homelessness and ultimately into permanent housing. To date, HOT. has helped over 1,500 homeless off the streets and into permanent housing while reducing the chronic homeless population.
The Department of Justice has listed HOT as a best practice on the DOJ COPS Office website and recognized by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness as a best practice in law enforcement. The HOT unit has been a model for multiple police agencies.
Officer Schwiethale is currently a Homeless Outreach Team consultant for Safe Night, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and is a member of the National Advisory Board for the Department of Justice and the DOJ COPS Office.
Nate can be contacted at NSchwiethale@safe-night.com
Proactive Alliance Homeless Outreach and Engagement
Saturday, October 19, 2024
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM ET
Police Responses to Homelessness: The Current State of the Field
Monday, October 21, 2024
2:00 PM – 3:30 PM ET