Busting up a heroin camp, with no arrests

so that's a loaded syringe with heroin we probably walked up or down I'm actually kind of anxious for this one we had a story on the air about how Everett police basically respond to an heroin overdose every single day and so I called police about it and they told me to come along with them so that's where I'm going you can see why I'm a little anxious have no idea what I'm about to see vadoma Jake Wittenberg nice to meet you Kayla can I nice to meet you [Music] just in case this is the newer kid as well here so everything is preset up so it's easy to use insert this and nostril and then you just compress that and it's quick and easy if we notice those signs intoxication or overdose that's when we can use the anarchic then the cost of heroin is so inexpensive at how they don't really feel the effects of the high anymore it just keeps them from not getting sick pulling up behind immense rescue mission in Everett there's a bridge here just off the interstate it's like we're gonna check in on some people that they know by name usually there's a large group of people that kind of hang out in the area daily this is one of our stops that's Dominic down there okay the day but it's early still so so officer Davis is checking on people that he knows cops just can't arrest their way out of the heroin problem so they're trying to meet people get to know them and more or less convince them that they need to get help somewhere else other than under this bridge usually just you know reintroduce myself they know how to get a hold of us they know down here too which is always why do you have to be out there we're homeless at the moment my husband's waiting for his husband Valtor come through it what do you think when the police show up like this and do these checks I think it's on and they're just checking for our safety and make check on some of the regular to see if they're okay and Robin does heroin a problem it's just it's taken over the last couple years it's merely taken over I've lost a lot of friends and last year's I purchased a hotel room correctly we're going to inpatient treatment I just call it the hotel and they say he's not in the room but I know he's in the episodes they've been restraining the success can be client showing up to an appointment or them agreeing to go to DOL with us and get their ID one of those individuals who we have known for a long long time he was in jail for a little while and got sober dime he's ready to change so right now he's in a hotel waiting for his set date and treatment so he's doing super well and it's so exciting because he calls us and just we can have a totally normal conversation with him and it's so new because normally our conversations with him he's super high on meth now he can totally tell us about his life and about his family and what he wants to do when he gets out of treatment and it's just super cool to see who he really is as a person we'll be out 116 11 wooded area to the west north we're at a camp now where apparently there's 11 tents or so they're gonna do a check on some of the people that now live here little trails everywhere that lead to different campsites and trash all along the way they gotta watch your step through here anyone in here they see him lock them up when they're best they can the right who else is with you they're okay watch you guys come out to the door here where I can see you okay you guys remember talking with officers last week it's almost active okay yeah could you just turn around so I can see you just see your hands that's all I care about yeah thank you anyone else yeah I don't see anyone else in there no one hidin under the covers hey everyone have a seat here guys just so I can keep it keep track everybody so that's a loaded syringe with heroin probably walked up on inside and then usually the kids here well we'll get a sharps container and take care of all that put it away that's pretty common yeah what do these signs say around here right I'm part of our community outreach Enforcement Team have you guys talked with any of our social workers before okay obviously trespassing is trespassing right so that's we can catch a citation or make an arrest on that but we also want to see what we can do to help you guys get you guys through detox treatment get you on a housing list medical treatment mental health all of that stuff is anyone interested in that treatment housing yeah so Caitlin's taken down some other contact info and gonna try to stay in touch with them but there's been problems it sounds like in the past with them following up so we'll see what happens now work in progress it sounds like some of them are in their 20s no place else to go at least that's what they say you need to follow up with me and then I will work on stuff people telling me all the time they want stuff and then I work on it and then they bail on me so you guys have to try [Music] it's probably really hard I get out of gym I call we're not supposed to call or whatever like within like 72 hours are you getting out or do you feel like they're gonna actually follow up she's pregnant she was working on clean and getting her life together so she can parent so um I've come across a blog females to pregnant out here and makes things different for them at what point do you say these people are not getting into roses it's you know I don't think it's ever hopeless people can be homeless for years addicted for years and we're going to change it's always just organ progress [Music] you [Music]

Channel: KING 5

Views: 8,428,827

Rating: 4.8127327 out of 5

Keywords: heroin, opioids, homeless, everett, everett police, police, treatment, housing, jake whittenberg, jake's take, king 5

Id: gmBiPz_lmjE

Length: 7min 47sec (467 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 09 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/Ytse22]

Yeah I wish this was the case more often.

[u/[deleted]]

r/good_cop_free_donut

[u/The__________]

This was pretty awesome. I hope those folks can get the help they need.

[u/boardman2]

Jesus it’s nice to see cops actually looking out for their communities but shocking how rare it feels. I’m all for a more rehabilitation orientated look at punishment for drug use