2024-01-23 19:52:39
This Wednesday, King Philippe will visit the “Herscham team”. This is a team from the Brussels Capital-Ixelles police zone, which specifically helps the homeless. The work of this team of police officers is complex. We followed them during their tour among the poor.
“Team Herscham” is the name of a team from the Brussels Capital-Ixelles police zone. There are five of them working in this department created in 2003. Every day, they go to meet the homeless.
Their mission has several objectives. One of them is to help these people carry out their administrative procedures, to obtain papers, income or housing.
“We have his contact details, so when we return to the office, we will contact social services and we will talk regarding his case.“, explains agent Pascal Godard, alongside a man sleeping near the Gare du Nord.
Sometimes they also have to ask homeless people to move. This is the case today at the Brussels-Luxembourg station: Mohammed has set up his cabin made of cardboard and blankets in front of an emergency exit. “This, here, is not okay. That’s ‘too much’“, addresses agent Chris Vandenhaute to him.
We are social workers, because we help people find the right path, but we also remain police officers
Mohammed has been living on the street for 2 years. Even if he has to change his place to sleep, he appreciates the help of the police: “The first time I saw the gentleman earlier, he chatted with me and directly called the social SAMU and tried to find an accommodation solution for me“, testifies the homeless man.
Police officers who also have a social role: “We wear both hats. We are social workers, because we help people find the right path, but we also remain police officers“, admits Chris Vandenhaute.
Besides, for this job, you need to know how to juggle languages. During our filming, Team Herscham meets homeless people from different countries.
Suddenly, there is urgency in their tour. Franco is Croatian and very old. He seems in bad shape. The Herscham team therefore decides to call an ambulance.
In 5 years, the team has seen the number of homeless people increase from 4,000 to 8,000 people in the Brussels region.
This Wednesday, Team Herscham will have a meeting of a completely different kind: that of King Philippe himself.
Team Herscham
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