(A) General. The procedures established herein shall be in effect between the period of November 1 through March 31. At any other times when temperatures are expected to fall below 32 degrees Fahrenheit or when temperatures combined with wind and/or precipitation create weather conditions under which exposed persons are likely to experience hypothermia or other serious threats to life or health, the Director of the Department of Human Services or his/her designee shall declare a hypothermia emergency during which time the procedures shall also be in effect.
(B) Police Department procedures. When this policy is in effect, members of the Albuquerque Police Department, will be especially alert for persons who appear to be without adequate shelter. In the event that officers identify individuals in need of shelter, they will take the following actions:
(1) If the shelterless person appears to be unconscious or comatose, officers will request an ambulance and remain at the scene until it arrives.
(2) If the shelterless person appears to be extremely intoxicated or otherwise is clearly unable to provide for his/her own safety, the person will be placed into civil protective custody and transported by police to appropriate medical or detention facilities.
(3) If no medical emergency exists, and there appear to be no grounds for placing the person into civil protective custody, the officer will contact the dispatcher, providing the location, description and, if available, the name of the person in need of shelter. This information will be communicated to an Emergency Shelter Services (ESS) van. The officer need not remain at the scene unless extraordinary circumstances require it.
(C) Emergency Shelter Services procedures.
(1) The Department of Human Services will provide for the operation of an Emergency Shelter Services van which will respond to police or other identification of persons in need of shelter. In addition, the van will periodically patrol areas of the city in which there are concentrations of homeless persons in an effort to locate persons without shelter, and transport those who voluntarily request it to shelter facilities.
(2) If a person without shelter appears to be unconscious or comatose, ESS staff will request an ambulance and remain at the scene until it arrives.
(3) If the shelterless person appears to be extremely intoxicated or otherwise mentally incompetent as set forth in state law and refuses to accept transportation to an appropriate facility, ESS staff will summon police and remain at the scene until officers arrive.
(4) If the shelterless person appears mentally competent, but refuses transportation to shelter, ESS staff will attempt to explain means to prevent hypothermia and provide information about where to obtain assistance or shelter if so desired at a later time.
(5) The ESS van will operate from 8:00 p.m. until approximately 4:00 a.m. or as weather conditions dictate.
(D) Shelter services. Persons served through this program will be transported to existing private, nonprofit shelter facilities so long as appropriate bed space remains available in these facilities. The Bernalillo County Detention Center Satellite Facility will serve as the city's emergency shelter of last resort for adult males. Women and children will be provided shelter separate from adult males, available through the resources or private, nonprofit agencies. During the period November 1 through March 31, the Bernalillo County Detention Center Satellite facility will provide shelter to those referred through other agencies, and to those transported through the ESS van program.
(Res. 174-1986, approved 12-10-86)