Indiana University Bloomington announced on Apr. 24 that Professor Natalie Hipple has developed a new framework to help police departments respond to homelessness, an issue increasingly faced by law enforcement across the United States.
The research is significant because it addresses the growing demand on police officers to manage situations involving people experiencing homelessness—tasks that often fall outside traditional policing and can be complex and costly for communities.
Hipple, who serves as Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice and department chair at Indiana University Bloomington, led a study that produced the first comprehensive typology of how American police departments approach homelessness. Her findings underpin two major practitioner resources released this year: the “Homelessness Response Guide,” co-authored by Hipple with the National Policing Institute, and “Planning, Implementing, and Assessing Law Enforcement Responses to Homelessness” from the Council of State Governments Justice Center. “In a lot of jurisdictions, police are first responders to situations involving individuals who are experiencing homelessness, and many members of the public and even policy makers are looking to them to solve the problem, which is not their job,” Hipple said. “So, one of the key questions we’re looking at is, how do we address this problem without police leading the charge?”
Hipple’s research was informed by her experience working with Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department’s homeless outreach unit. She conducted homeless death reviews—systematic analyses designed to identify preventable factors in deaths among people experiencing homelessness—which led her team to secure a $1.4 million grant from the National Institute of Justice. Their methodology included analyzing open-source social media data from departments nationwide and conducting site visits in cities with specialized homeless outreach teams.
The resulting framework offers what Hipple describes as a “menu” of responses ranging from proactive outreach and diversion toward social services to enforcement actions when necessary. She found no single solution fits all communities or situations; notably there are no national standards guiding these efforts. “Chronic homelessness usually exists or occurs alongside some sort of substance use or abuse, and mental illness… This is why enforcement-only responses fail repeatedly,” she said.
Recent legal changes have affected local authority over encampments but have not resolved fundamental questions about responsibility for addressing homelessness beyond law enforcement’s scope. According to Hipple, effective solutions require collaboration among public health agencies, housing providers, mental health professionals, outreach workers—and those with lived experience—in addition to law enforcement agencies.
Indiana University Bloomington functions as a public research university according to its official website. The campus features historic limestone architecture according to its official website and attracts students from all 50 U.S. states as well as more than 150 countries according to its official website. The university contributes both economically and culturally within Indiana according to its official website, focusing on advancing research while serving as a hub for higher education according to its official website.
Hipple hopes that her work will provide practical guidance for law enforcement agencies nationwide: “With a menu of responses, officers can choose one option or approach… depending on the unique and dynamic situation in front of them.”
