Sgt. Ed Olsen Puts Restorative Policing on the Map

Three and a half years ago, Sergeant Ed Olsen was ordered to turn the vague idea of restorative policing into an actual operation. With a résumé that boasts 23 years of law enforcement work and positions on the SWAT team, detective bureau, and major crimes unit, Olsen’s transition to the new approach — which connects homeless people with social services and works to prevent the nuisance-type crimes often associated with transient groups — has rendered real change, and the results speak for themselves.

During the first two years of the restorative policing program, 171 people participated in a diversionary system for repeat offenders who commit minor, nonviolent crimes. (The group had previously been responsible for 6,000 calls for police, fire, and medical services.) Fifty-two of them graduated, meaning they were not arrested or cited for six months; 119 were placed in social service programs that treat alcohol, drug, or mental health issues; 25 secured permanent housing.

City Hall was so impressed with the program’s early success that it augmented the effort with Redevelopment Agency funds in 2011. The money paid for sworn officers Keld Hove and Craig Burleigh, as well as three restorative outreach specialists and six community liaison members, who work to curb homeless-related problems along the downtown and Milpas corridors. Just last week, a Milpas business owner worked with Olsen to help a homeless man — who had been loitering and disrupting his business for years — acquire a valid identification so he could seek help through official channels. “How cool is that?” Olsen asked.