Good cop - Bad Cop: A homeless recovery tenet

 Olive Branching: Delpino receives a bike from the Homeless Initiative

In many ways David Delpino is a garden variety story of homelessness. More than 9 months ago after serving his time in a state penitentiary he passed by the institutional reentry program with no avail and landed on the streets of Town N' Country as just another homeless man. 

To the many that have passed David by on the streets holding his hand-scrawled sign -- he may be considered an outcast. If you were to read his resume of misdeeds many would shun him as an abject failure defunct in a personal implosion of life's missteps.

Considering the Homeless Initiative is based on a law enforcement platform it would seem counter productive to reach out to a character with such ill repute. That's until you understand the initiative's broader application and purpose -- and the far reaching consequences of homeless plight. When we say the consequences of homelessness impacts every member of a community it's not to be taken as a trite remark -- or another bumper sticker slogan to garner sentimental support.   

The mere imagery of homeless plight manifestly tears at the social fabric of our communities and slowly contributes to blight. Dismissing Delpino as an imprisoned loss only escalates the underlying causation of decay and contributes to an unkempt urban landscape. 

The "Broken Window's Theory" states that monitoring and maintaining urban environments in a well-ordered condition is a signaling effect to criminals that says someone is paying attention. Criminals by their very human nature move into neighborhoods in which they feel comfortable committing their misdeeds. When the streets are clean and orderly it spurs a diffusion of benefits that not only discourages the criminal element from moving in but also supports property values in affected neighborhoods. 

For anyone to qualify as a candidate to participate in the Homeless Initiative there is one main criterion that must be met: the candidate must be on the street and homeless. It's a one item check list and beyond this litmus test we clean the slate and start their individual homeless recovery journey from scratch.  

Delpino in on-the-job training with David Duncan

What may be curious to the casual observer is Delpino's presumed predisposition with the apparatus of law enforcement and the resistance that may arise when this same mechanism flips the switch in the name of outreach. And, you wouldn't be mistaken if you were inclined to believe that Delpino clutched some animosity towards law enforcement over his recent experiences with the justice system.  The Homeless Initiative, however, thrives on the unconventional and the unorthodox, and many have quietly whispered that the obvious dichotomy between the two arch rivals would never work.

After two years of street engagement as a uniformed law enforcement officer I can safely say the street engagement model, even with the likes of David Delpino, has profoundly passed the stress test on the street. Not only has it hurdled the assumed imaginary obstacle but the virtues of the uniform have enhanced our street strategy otherwise known as olive branching.

When I first met Delpino on the street I knew that he harbored a deep entrenchment with the boys in blue regardless of the branch or insignia. But, I also knew Delpino's resentment was with the uniform and not the person inside of it.  It was during one of these first meetings with Delpino on the street that a plan came to order.

"Good Cop -- Bad Cop" Finds The Homeless Initiative

David now employed with our help

It might be a psychological tactic used for police interviews but it also serves the Homeless Initiative very well when olive branching is thrown into the mix. There is a slight modification with the standard police tactic -- which mysteriously has its merit today -- and its hybrid I deploy out on the street to gain compliance and cooperation with those that exhibit resistance to the uniform. In Delpino's example I had to first be the "Bad Cop" then, when the timing was right, flip the switch and suddenly cocoon into the "Good Cop" without any warning.  

There were many times during the "Bad Cop" persona that I was hard on Delpino, threatening to arrest him on any minor infraction leading to the day he finally had his fill with me when I kicked him out of the cold weather shelter to brave the frigid winter night. A few days later I caught up with him "flying" his cardboard sign on Hillsborough Avenue -- a county ordinance violation and the most direct and expedient route to jail.  

This was the day of reckoning for Delpino -- or so I hoped -- as I reached into my pouch and pulled out my handcuffs.

I remember crafting my words carefully: 

"OK, David, I now have a reason to surely put you in jail -- I'm going to let you decide ... where do we go from here?"  

Training supervisor, David Duncan and Delpino

It turned out to be one of those rhetorical questions that he didn't need to answer and the olive branch of assistance was extended and accepted bypassing his assured trip to jail all at the same time. But, for the olive branch to be extended there must be a prerequisite and reciprocal exchange of earnest and forthright intent. Delpino has to prove to me his desire and motivation to receive help and get off the streets is legitimate and sincere. At each step of assistance Delpino and every other homeless candidate must display their worthiness by simply following through on the play-by-play of direction and advice -- to realign their old ways of thinking and give their best shot with assimilating back into a productive member of society. 

Since this day Delpino has come to the center of the fold  jumping on board with the Homeless Initiative at full clip. Delpino now is just one of a few candidates now employed with our private-sector jobs partner, Mobile Auto Glass Repair, as an on-site sales representative. He has proven his salt with customer congeniality bringing in seven sales contracts just last week, "A healthy order of business in windshield repair ..." said David Duncan, Delpino's training supervisor. 

To help Delpino along the way with his forward progress the Homeless Initiative has provided him with a bicycle for transportation to and from work, Hillsborough County Health Care, and a replacement pair of prescription eye wear after his last set took a beating beyond repair. It's these tempered measures of assistance that continues pushing them forward -- one part olive branching -- one part assistance, to help keep their heads above water until they reach the tipping point of self-sufficiency.

And, it is during this monitoring phase that we look for signs of personal growth and realignment to a level of normalcy. In a recent visit to Delpino's job site he told me that he opened a checking account after getting a couple of pay checks under his belt. It was the sure-footed sign of progress that I was looking for and he did it on his own direction without my advice.

This morning I read a very fitting quote on Facebook that appropriately frames David Delpino's story:

 "Every Saint Has A Past And Every Sinner Has A Future." -- Oscar Wilde   

Deputy Steven Donaldson
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office
Homeless Initiative
District III Office: (813) 247-0330
Email: sdonalds@hcso.tamp.fl.us
Facebook.com/HelpCopsHelpUs
HelpCopsHelpUs.org