Many factors contribute to the homeless problem on Indian Creek Trail.
"Problems with mental health, problems with addictions, its problem with the lack of affordable housing," Captain Todd Marckx with the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department said.
Today, police teamed up with social workers to help.
"The police department is not equipped to provide the basic needs of the individuals, but social services agencies are well equipped to do that," Captain Marckx said.
This effort comes after a series of assaults in which homeless people were attacked along the trail.
Prosecutors have charged Warren Holcomb--who himself is homeless--in one of the cases.
During today's intervention, police discovered eight homeless camps. Six were along the trail maintained by the city's parks and recreation department and two on private property.
"We will work with both private landowners and the Kansas City Parks and Recreation to clean up the trash that's on the property," Captain Marckx said.
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Police and social workers also encountered six homeless people. Two of them welcomed the help and that's considered a success.
"The more chance that we have to interact with them the more trust we can build with them and hopefully that trust leads them to receiving services from the agency," Captain Marckx said.
The police department and social workers plan to follow up on what they found on Friday.
Over the past six years, the amount of people living on the streets in the metro has fluctuated.
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Since 2011, the numbers overall have started to drop off.
A headcount earlier this year put the number at 184.
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Andres Gutierrez can be reached at andres.gutierrez@kshb.com
