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MOSES LAKE — During a routine patrol just before midnight Sunday, Officer Rick Francis of the Moses Lake Police Department came across a hungry homeless man in 5-degree weather searching for food in a trash bin along North Stratford Road.
For Francis, faced with a minor but citable offense, there was only one thing to do: the officer got the homeless man out of the trash and bought him some hot food and coffee.
"I realized, this guy's not prowling, he's probably hungry," Francis said in an interview. "If somebody's hungry, you gotta do the right thing."
Francis isn't the only officer in the MLPD to try to bring some small gesture of kindness to homeless people in the area, and each seem to be motivated by the same reason, Francis said--they're human, and they want the best for their community.
"People think that we get in this job because we like to drive fast and carry guns--that's not why we get into this job," Francis said. "Most everybody gets in this career because you want to help people, and right now, in six degree weather, the most vulnerable people are the homeless."
Sometimes helping homeless individuals means not penalizing every person that commits a crime in order to feed themselves, Francis said.
"Somebody might call and say, 'somebody's trying to steal food here,' and you show up and yeah, they're hungry," Francis said. "I end up probably talking to the retailer and say, 'if I pay for the items, will you not press charges?,' or something like that."
Sunday wasn't the first time Francis paid for a hot meal for a homeless person, and while Francis pays for his charity out of pocket, the police department has a dedicated fund to aid the homeless or needy that is paid for by community donations. The fund has been used in the past for everything from hot meals and hotel vouchers for the homeless to gas money for people who get stuck on the interstate, Police Chief Kevin Fuhr said in an interview.
While homelessness is a year-round issue, winter presents unique challenges for those who rely on panhandling to pay for food, Francis said. While many manage to eek out enough money to sustain themselves during most of the year, snow, ice and 5-degree weather can cause that money to dry up, leaving homeless with few options but to dumpster-dive for food.
Though food banks and soup kitchens exist in Moses Lake, they aren't available all hours of the day and sometimes aren't possible for a homeless person to fully utilize (raw meat presents particular challenges for a person without a way to cook).
Further, some people, including the individual Francis helped Sunday, are unwilling to utilize traditional services due to paranoia caused by mental illness, Francis said. But when traditional services won't do the trick, there remains small, personal acts of charity, as with a hot meal and coffee.
"In my view, that's what real police work is; you take care of your community," Francis said. "Even if the gentleman is homeless or obviously suffers from some sort of mental health issue, your job is to take care of everybody in your community."
