Just off West Davis Street near Walton Walker in Southwest Dallas is a homeless encampment out of sight, but it has now received increased attention from Dallas Police. Sgt. Silver Valencia leads Dallas PD’s new Homeless Outreach Team. The team of six is now four months into a six-month pilot p rogram, an initiative under Chief Daniel Comeaux to identify encampments across the city and get a headcount of people experiencing homelessness. “We want to offer every individual in these camps an opportunity to better their situation,” Valencia said. Valencia says his team has been visiting camps and speaking with the individuals several times and working with the Emergency Management Crisis Response, Code Enforcement and US Marshals. All of this happens before the Dallas PD takes up enforcement. “It’s building that rapport is one of our main focuses when we initially come in now,” Valencia said. His team also comes across those wanted by the law. Tuesday, the team took two people into custody who had active criminal arrest warrants. Altogether, the team has taken more than 100 people into custody who either have warrants or refuse to leave the encampment. ...read more read less