EPD honored for efforts to address homelessness

EUREKA – Though there’s more work to be done, the Eureka Police Department and its community partners were honored for their efforts to address homelessness in the city.
The Center for Problem-Oriented Policing presented EPD, the City of Eureka and mental health providers with the 27th Herman Goldstein Award at a conference in Houston.
The award recognizes groups for innovative and effective policing. EPD was specifically highlighted for vacating the Palco Marsh and establishing the Mobile Intervention Services or MIST team.
Chief Steve Watson said dozens of people contributed to these efforts and he wants the community to continue building on that success. He added, “Even though we’re a smaller somewhat isolated community here on the North Coast, the fact that we are looking outside of our limited exposure here to modern broad based policing practices like problem oriented policing and thinking outside the box, understanding the importance of close collaboration with community partners, that it’s not all just about the police department, that you have to bring all the stakeholders together to address these kind of issues, I think that’s the key takeaway here.”