The Green Bay Police Department is reviewing an interaction between an officer and several homeless individuals after a video of the encounter was posted online.
The video, posted in recent days, accuses police of rousing homeless people in the middle of the night near St. John's Park in Green Bay. It is not clear when the video was recorded. The original post drew more than 500 comments.
Police said the officer's actions in the video are not the department's norm. The department said officers are responsible for enforcing laws and ordinances in public places, and noted that state statute prohibits sleeping next to a roadway, so officers do at times address those situations even overnight.
Capt. Tom Denney said using a squad car public-address announcement and blipping a siren does not really accomplish that goal. He said the normal approach is for an officer to get out and have a face-to-face conversation, so rules can be enforced in a more compassionate way and people can be connected with services they may need.
