“There is no law against mental illness,” says Cambridge Police Department spokesperson Frank D. Pasquerello.

Massachusetts law stipulates that a police officer may commit an individual suspected to be mentally ill to hospitalization against his or her will only in an emergency situation—if the officer suspects that the individual is a hazard to himself or herself, or to others.

As in Okyere’s case, police officers ordinarily have an opportunity to interact with the Square’s homeless population only through criminal offenses—making for an awkward relationship with the local homeless population.

“The police in general have not had the best track record in dealing with homeless issues,” Catalano says.

Police departments’ inability to intervene unless summoned is distinctly at odds with the belief that “early intervention is the best prevention,” common in recent homeless initiatives, says Cambridge City Councillor David P. Maher. Maher is familiar with many local homelessness concerns because of his day job at the Cambridge Family and Children’s Service.

Between the beginning of 2001 and the end of 2002, when data was last released, homeless individuals in Cambridge have been taken into custody 251 times, comprising 10 percent of the total number of arrests.

But according to Catalano, most significant crimes attributed to homeless locals are committed by a mere handful of individuals. The majority of the homeless population avoids encounters with law enforcement, he says.

To complicate the matter further, Harvard Square lies at the convergence of three different police jurisdictions. The Cambridge Police Department holds primary jurisdiction for the streets and most commercial and residential buildings in the area. The MBTA Police preside over the Harvard Square T stop. HUPD is responsible for Harvard Yard and all of the University’s buildings in the Square, including the Holyoke Center where Okyere used to spend much of her time.

That means a call from Au Bon Pain alerts a different agency than a call from a storefront a few feet down the block. And as a result, no centralized force exists to identify cases of homeless need and to ensure that individuals have access to the help they need.

Off the Streets

Maher notes that Cambridge, particularly Harvard and Central Squares, has a large population of homeless individuals compared to the rest of the Boston area.

But he says this does not mean that struggling individuals receive less support in Cambridge than elsewhere—although local activists agree that demand for homeless services far outweighs supply in the Boston area.

Many can only find shelter for the night under the overhang of the Coop or inside an ATM—a direct result, Maher says, of poor funding for the programs and facilities that provide alternatives.

Ameliorating the situation for local homeless individuals will require effort outside an expansion of shelter facilities, according to Maher.

“There’s typically a wait for beds,” he says, “and realistically, I don’t know that I see a lot of expansion opportunities for beds at this time.”