At a time when homelessness in the United States is at an all-time high, with more towns and states criminalizing sleeping in public places, a police officer in South Carolina gave a helping hand instead of putting handcuffs on a homeless man’s wrists.
Lieutenant Tim Conroy of the Greenville Police Department assisted a homeless guy in reuniting with his family in another state.
Lieutenant Tim Conroy, who manages the quickly expanding Central Business District, works with residents and companies in Greenville, South Carolina’s rapidly rising downtown region. One of his team’s responsibilities is to rehabilitate the homeless population.
According to the department, Conroy met a man known only as Mr. Bryant, who had been homeless for two years while patrolling the streets.
Conroy, determined to assist Mr. Bryant’s family and unconstrained by state borders, tracked down the man’s relatives in Virginia.
The man and his family were “overjoyed” when they were reunited, according to police.
“Lieutenant Conroy located Mr. Bryant’s family in Virginia, and they were overjoyed to hear that he had been found,” the department writes on its Facebook page. They arrived to fetch him up and return him home. It’s encouraging to witness the beneficial results of such initiatives.”
According to a recent National Homelessness Center research, “almost every state, 48 in total, has at least one law prohibiting or restricting the conduct of people experiencing homelessness.”
These “behaviors” in South Carolina include camping, sleeping, panhandling, loitering, or loafing in designated areas.
And, as of January 1, 2023, anyone caught sleeping in a public place anywhere in Missouri will face a misdemeanor charge.
City leaders in the state capital of Columbia, less than two hours distant, are taking “aggressive strides toward addressing homelessness.”
Columbia made headlines in 2013 when it was revealed that the city was sending homeless people to a shelter 15 miles away.
Some communities, including Greenville, take a different approach than the harsh love examples imposed by other governments.
In 2019, a New Jersey cop assisted a homeless guy in reuniting with his family after they had been apart for 24 years.
According to CBS, Jose Lopez went from New Jersey to Florida after his divorce and lost contact with his two kids, then 17 and 10.
Lopez called his daughters several years later, but after suffering many strokes and being homeless, he fell silent again.
It didn’t, however, weaken his spirit or his drive to find his girls again.
Lopez traveled to New Jersey on his Social Security benefits and arrived at the Secaucus Junction rail station, where he encountered a transit police officer who, seeing his helplessness, volunteered his assistance.
Lopez was put in touch with Crisis Outreach Officer Sean Pfeifer, who assisted the guy in completing his journey.
“Mr. Lopez was determined to find his family, and I wanted to make sure that I was there to assist him,” Pfeifer said in an interview with CBS.
Lopez also met his fully grown daughters and grandchildren at the emotional reunion.
“I think I’m in heaven. I have two best friends.” Lopez told CBS, “I’ve got a good friend.”
Meanwhile, around the beginning of Covid, the Hillsboro Police Department, in collaboration with several community partners, linked a homeless guy named Scooter with his family in Arkansas.
“Even with the pandemic making certain aspects of this challenging,” Hillsboro Police say on Facebook, “we’re thrilled to report Scooter is now happily reunited with his brother and living with him safely in Arizona.”
We want to thank these cops and agencies for being amazing examples of humans improving their communities!
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