Photo: James Rojas/WBZ NewsRadio
SOMERVILLE, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — The Somerville Police Department has increased its presence in both Davis Square and Seven Hills Park, areas which have seen the highest number of homeless encampments in the city.
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WBZ NewsRadio spoke to Ruth who is currently experiencing homelessness. She said that it is a tough situation for those involved.
“They need to build more shelters. They could open a school gym at night, there’s lots of things they could do, there’s lots of places they could put us if they really wanted to,” she said.
More than 300 directed patrols have been conducted in the area by both plain clothed and uniformed officers as a direct response to the encampments, alleged open drug use and alleged inappropriate behavior.
A Somerville resident who didn’t want to be identified for this story said that the encampments haven’t directly affected her, but she has noticed the side effects of the problem.
“[Hypodermic] needles are an issue. It’s sad, this is like a family heavy area, [and] they’re needles around. That is unfortunate,” she said.
In a city-wide zoom meeting last week, Somerville Chief of Police Charles Femino said that the department’s goal is to identify people in need of help and direct them to the resources that they need.
WBZ NewsRadio’s James Rojas (@JamesRojasMMJ) reports.
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