Behind the Badge
Sitting on a curb in front of a home in a Westminster neighborhood, a disheveled, disoriented homeless woman is being tended to by Westminster Police Department Homeless Liaison Officers Nicole Brown and Roland Perez.
The officers, with assistance from a social worker, spend nearly two hours helping the mentally ill woman.
They contacted shelters and other nonprofit organizations, hoping to get the woman into a warm bed along with needed services.
After discerning that the woman made her way up from San Diego, Brown made the 90-mile trip to that city to get the woman safely into a shelter.
Nicole Brown becomes Westminster Police Department’s new Homeless Liaison Officer.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
The desire to help such disenfranchised individuals and make positive changes in their lives is the reason Brown pursued a career as a police officer.
“When you help people in law enforcement, you are actually the first person on the scene to actually do something about it and make a change,” Brown said.
Brown has been on the job in Westminster for about a year and a homeless liaison officer (HLO) for about two months.
“I just don’t think that anyone is hopeless,” said the 31-year-old Brown, who has volunteered to feed the homeless and serve the less fortunate in other ways for years before becoming a police officer. “This is not the prettiest job, dealing with the homeless. You might get someone off the streets and they might go back to the streets and it’s that cycle. But to actually be able to make an impact on someone’s life for the better is why I wanted this position.”
Nicole Brown, Westminster Police Department’s new Homeless Liaison Officer responds to a call about a homeless women found inside someone’s garage.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Several years ago, Brown had been coaching a girls’ soccer team when she met another coach who was a police officer.
“He convinced me to apply for a police department job,” Brown said.
She attended the police academy at Rio Hondo College in Whittier and then applied to be an officer at Westminster Police Department.
Brown pursued the homeless liaison position after doing ride-alongs with Perez, who was the department’s only homeless liaison officer until Brown joined him.
“I like having her around as a partner,” Perez said. “She has compassion. She is all about notes. Everything is organized. She keeps me focused.”
Westminster Police Department Homeless Liaison Officers Roland Perez, left, and Nicole Brown talks to Jackie Pia of City Net on how to get medical and social help for a woman found inside someone’s garage.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
On some days, Brown is joined by Jackie Tapia from City Net, an organization that connects homeless individuals with a variety of services, one of the most important being shelter.
Tapia is a lead case manager for City Net’s Homeless Emergency Assistance Program (HEAP).
On days Brown is not partnering with Tapia, Brown makes connections with homeless individuals who need and may want help getting off the streets.
“She is doing what she loves to do, which is reach out to the homeless community,” Tapia said.
Tapia’s job is made easier because Brown already knows where to find individuals who want help.
Westminster Police Homeless Liaison Officer Nicole Brown, left, Jackie Tapia, lead case manager for City Net’s Homeless Emergency Assistance Program (HEAP), and Westminster Police Homeless Liaison Officer Roland Perez talk to a homeless woman about getting help after a homeowner called police about a woman who walked into her garage and started eating food from the refrigerator in the garage. The homeowner was understanding and let her keep the food.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
“She is incredibly compassionate, incredibly patient,” Tapia said. “She’s incredibly respectful about our job and what role we play with our homeless community. It’s a really good working relationship. If someone needs supportive services, then she lets me come in and provide that… It’s mutual and it works perfectly.”
Being a homeless liaison officer, Brown comes across the most marginalized members of the community.
There are obvious challenges.
Westminster Police Department Homeless Liaison Officer Nicole Brown performs a safety search of a homeless lady before taking her, not to jail, but to where she can get medical and social help.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
“I think the hardest part about this position as HLO is (meeting) the people that you know really need help and they want help but you don’t have a bed available or the resources aren’t there right now,” she said. “That is a little frustrating.”
But her job isn’t about doom and gloom.
There is a flip side.
“You get a lot of community relations too from it,” Brown said. “You talk to a lot of business owners and residents, so you get to see a lot of the good. Instead of just arresting people who have committed a crime, you are actually getting to see people who want to help or want to make a difference.”
