LARGO, Fla. — More often than not, Largo police officer Stephen Malandro spends a lot of his day driving around the city.

“Every day,” he said. “Every day.”

What You Need To Know

  • The city of Largo and the Largo Police Department have a homeless outreach program to help people experiencing homelessness find permanent housing

  • Pinellas County has seen an increase in people needing shelters because of homelessness, according to the Homeless Leadership Alliance of Pinellas

  •  Part of their outreach involves checking in on people daily to see if they're ready to go into a shelter or if they need any resources

As the homeless outreach officer for the Largo Police Department’s Problem Oriented Policing (POP) unit, his job is to be out and about talking with people experiencing homelessness.

“You know, kind of just get to know them,” Malandro said. “’Hey, how are you? Where are you from? How long you were in the area? How can we provide you with resources? What are you in need of?’”

It’s a monumental task he doesn’t take lightly.

Malandro regularly goes to spots where he’s seen people on the street so he can check in on them and see if they’re OK.

“You can’t give up and you got to keep going,” he said. “You got to keep going, right? Yeah, you can’t give up.”

He said it’s important to keep track of people, which has been part of his job with the outreach program for the last two-and-a-half years.

Recently, he’s gotten some help in a major way by teaming up with Largo homeless outreach specialist Todd Nutbrown, who has spent decades in social services and correctional facilities.

“I’ve been dedicated to people going through trouble and adversity my, my entire life,” Nutbrown said. “So that’s been my life passion. I think it’s more of that than the than the paycheck. It’s why I do what I do.”

Pinellas County has seen an increase in people needing shelters because of homelessness, according to the Homeless Leadership Alliance of Pinellas.

City officials say that’s partly why Largo has a dedicated unit to address this issue, and Nutbrown acts as a go-between when it comes to helping people find shelter and housing.

“From Friday evening until Monday morning, I got probably over 48 calls, 38 messages,” Nutbrown said.

It’s not an easy job — both he and Malandro said it can take more than a dozen interactions to convince someone to get off the street and seek help.

“It takes about 14 to 17 different encounters with them to finally get them to change their mind, to accept the resources,” Malandro said.

When Spectrum News joined Malandro and Nutbrown as they interacted with the homeless community recently, they knew the names of each person they interacted with.

One of the people they spoke with, according to Malandro, has talked with them more than a hundred times.

“It’s all about kind of building that bond and that friendship with them so they can trust you to know,” Malandro said. “Yes, I’m a law enforcement officer, but at the same time, we’re here to help.”

He said that’s why they constantly drive around Largo.

“They went through something traumatic ... to get them to this point in their life,” Malandro said. “And, again, that’s why we have to jump in and provide them with said resources to help them out.”

Malandro said the Large Police Department has an additional officer who works during the day to help people experiencing homelessness find resources.

Nutbrown, according to Malandro, has been a huge addition to their team, in part, because he has a great relationship with organizations like Homeless Empowerment Program and Pinellas Hope in Clearwater.