Paul Bass Photo
Brangi, left, and Sangxayarath make the rounds late Monday afternoon.
Downtown cops Daophet Sangxayarath and John Brangi prepared for the coming blizzard by making sure the homeless people on their beat won’t get caught outside.
“You have a place to stay tonight?” Sangxayarath asked one familiar face by a bus shelter on Temple Street around 4:30 p.m. Monday as the evening B shift began. Compared to Sunday’s 20-degree windy weather, when the officers worked the St. Patrick’s Day, it was a balmy 30 degrees and sunny, a calm before the blizzard.
The man told them he has found a place to stay on Park Street. Brangi handed him a couple of copies of a flyer listing information about shelters and warming shelters. “You see anyone on your way home tonight who’s homeless, give them one of these, so they have a place to stay,” he told the man.
The officers taped the flyer up on a couple of shelters, then resumed checking in on the regulars, people they sometimes have to arrest but always try to help. Meanwhile, they checked in on people’s progress in finding longer-term housing; the homeless greeted the officers as friends and pulled them aside to confide updates.
The officers hadn’t seen Steven Polifka, who said he’s been homeless in New Haven for 12 years. “You told us you had a place to stay,” Brangi said upon encountering him in a group of people on a bench near the corner of Chapel.
“I did. It didn’t pan out,” Polifka said. He was staying with a friend, who subsequently learned his landlord would evict him if he allowed friends to crash.
Polifka said he had a place for the night. The officers handed him the flyers to “to get the word out.”
Richard Coover and two people sitting with him on Chapel assured the officers they’d be sheltered Monday night. Coover said he has been staying at a warming center at Trinity Baptist Church on State Street. He lit up upon seeing Brangi and Sangxayarath.
“They are great guys,” Coover (pictured) said after the officers handed him flyers to distribute and moved on. “They know street people. They would help anybody.”
While they sometimes have to issue them citations when trouble occurs, Brangi said, their mission consists more of working with them, a mission he welcomes.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve arrested them and they hug me,” Brangi said. “They’re good people. They are in unfortunate circumstances. They like to work with us. They know we’re here trying to help them.”