Domestic violence, elder abuse, and housing insecurity in Los Alamos

Part 3: “They Have Nowhere to Go”: The law-enforcement angle

Published 1/25/2024

Story by Stephanie Nakhleh

Photographs by Minesh Bacrania

This is the third in a series on homelessness and housing insecurity in Los Alamos County. The first two articles can be found here.

Probation officer Monica Schwiner and Police Chief Dino Sgambellone

When I asked Los Alamos Police Department Chief Dino Sgambellone to sit with me to discuss the intersection of homelessness and police, I knew we weren’t going to talk about encampment clearing: homelessness in Los Alamos doesn’t look like encampments, it looks more like couch surfing, doubling up, and living quietly in cars, hoping to escape notice. I expected us to talk about parking lot owners calling the police to clear the lots of overnight sleepers. What I did not expect was to see the probation officer and domestic-violence victim assistant sit at the table with us.

“Usually, my clients are the ones that can't go back home, so either they're couch surfing, not having anywhere to go, or staying with relatives …