Homeless Solutions Inc. is reviewing its security practices after a client of its Hospitality Link program was arrested on drug charges last week outside St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown, said Betsey Hall, president of the nonprofit Homeless Solutions.
“We’re going to look at how we can increase oversight,” said Betsey, who is considering whether security cameras should be installed in St. Peter’s where Hospitality Link has operated since its inception in 2008.
Last Thursday Morristown police arrested Desean Cunningham, a.k.a Shannon Brown, a 41-year-old convicted drug dealer from Paterson, and accused him of possessing 23 bags of heroin near a school (Assumption) and a public building (the town library) with the intention of selling the drugs.
Kathryn “Trink” Schwartz, director of Hospitality Link, said the suspect had been coming to the program for a few weeks. She told MorristownGreen.com she never felt unsafe, and said she was unaware of any illicit activities among clients.
“It’s the first incident of its kind,” Betsey said. “We try very hard to keep it a safe place.”
Hospitality Link provides a warm respite from the elements, along with referrals to social service agencies; access to computers, phones and TV; and coffee and snacks donated by area shops, to day laborers, the unemployed and homeless individuals on weekdays from 8:30 am and 4 pm. A half-dozen churches support the program, which operates in the Friendly Guild Room of St. Peter’s.
“If I thought it was actually a dangerous place, I would close it in a minute,” Betsey said of the program. She said she plans to confer with Trink and the church about what measures, if any, are needed. So far, church officials have not complained about any Hospitality Link clients wandering in the building, she said.
She said it may be hard to afford video surveillance on the program’s $50,000 budget, which does not allow for extra paid staff, either. Volunteers help Trink as much as possible. “We run on a shoestring,” Betsey said.
One of her goals is to secure financial backing from local businesses, she said, because Hospitality Link occupies people who otherwise might be “taking up the space of paying customers” in their establishments.
Last week police said they are vigilant at the Community Soup Kitchen, which attracts as many as 300 daily guests from a wide range of backgrounds to Morristown’s Church of the Redeemer.
Betsey said she would welcome a regular police presence at Hospitality Link, which served about 80 clients last Thursday, according to Trink.
“We are very thankful to [the police] for their efforts to make the community safe,” Betsey said.
This incident sheds some light on the tragic, ongoing problem in Morristown. Some very unfortunate, suspicious characters are already roaming around the church and the library as it is, even without heroin! The town/county/church “social services” are being choked and overwhelmed due to the fact that other towns offer very little. As a result, some very needy and unsavory individuals drift into Morristown to take advantage of the handouts. Hopefully some cameras may help alleviate the situation, but I doubt it 🙁
Install the cameras right away. Most of the people hanging around St. Peters Church usually have outstanding warrants and belong in jail or Greystone already. Hopefully the security cameras will help weed out some of these degenerates. Any solution is a good solution. Theres simply too many of these transient vagrants loitering in and around Morristowns churches, library, the green, etc. Now is the time for change!