This article presents a typology of police responses to people experiencing homelessness.
Using open-source (i.e., social media) data collection complemented by in-depth case studies, the authors present a typology of police responses to homelessness across the United States. This work demonstrates that many police departments are innovative in their responses to people experiencing homelessness. While novel, this research can be used as a foundational resource to help guide law enforcement agencies in responding to people experiencing homelessness. It also lays the groundwork for future evaluation efforts that are needed to determine which police responses to homelessness produce positive outcomes or meet specified goals and which do not. The authors identified eight categories of discretionary police responses to homelessness. Subcategories were identified for several of the categories. The authors present and define each category in the typology and provide open-source examples for each discretionary response. The majority of responses are steeped in discretion and must be tailored to the local context. (Published Abstract Provided)