Orange County’s homeless population has been exploding. In 2015, the Garden Grove Police Department responded to 40 percent more calls involving homeless individuals than the previous year. From volunteering with homeless outreach groups at his church, Garden Grove Police Department Officer Brian Hatfield had a plan. He made connections with a variety of resource providers and spearheaded an effort to form what is now the agency’s Special Resources Team (SRT), a unit of five specially trained officers tasked with forming relationships with the homeless community and connecting them with resources. Since the SRT officially sprang into action in May 2016,…