The Officer Really is Friendly

The Officer Really Is Friendly

John (not his real name) is a 37 years old African American male with a severe traumatic brain injury. His injury occurred as the result of an automobile accident when he was 16 years old and driving home from school.  After receiving several weeks of care at a major trauma center in Houston, he was transferred to the Texas Institute for Rehabilitation and Research (TIRR). Since the accident, he has completed degrees from both a community college and a state university. Twenty years post-accident, he holds down a full-time job at a state employment cent er as a resource room specialist.

John’s encounter with Officer Friendly was the result of an independent living issue.  John rented a small apartment in a large urban apartment complex. There were no special features to serve his particular disability needs. Apartment disability services tend to focus on physical issues. In John’s case, the problem was social screening.  His work with the public brought him into contact with all types of people, including predators.  For a period of time, John had permitted predators to move into his apartment and take over. Some were from the homeless community; others were seeking a place where they could launch illegal activities. Unfortunately, John was unable to say no to their intrusions and, in fact, left them in his apartment unsupervised during the day while he worked and paid all the bills.

John’s caregiver had grave concerns about this situation because the predators were total strangers with unknown histories of violence, drug use, or other criminality. She learned that they were stealing items from his apartment—television sets, telephones, and other electronics were favorites. They had also taken John to the bank to make withdrawals from his account. Occasionally, the caregiver, who was 71 years old, would make surprise visits during the day when John was at work and find and evict the intruders.  The unwanted visitors would leave without argument and wait until John returned from work, then move right back in.  After encountering a “house guest” engaged in an illegal activity, she realized that she would need outside assistance to handle the problem in the future.  A day or so later, the caregiver called the apartment and discovered that John was ill and had not been to work that day. John never missed work, so this escalated her concern. The caregiver responded that she would be there immediately and that the City Police Department had been alerted and would also be coming. Since the apartment was near to the caregiver and a regional police station, both the caregiver and Officer Friendly arrived at the apartment within minutes. By the time of their arrival, all the unwanted guests had disappeared as usual.  John met in the apartment with the caregiver, his dad, the officer, and  the apartment complex security officer . The latter explained that he worked for the complex and the authority of the complex stopped at the door to the apartment. Once a person was admitted into the apartment, it was the tenant’s problem, and the city police had to handle the situation.