Down and Out in Broward County

The draft policy encourages officers to use alternatives to arrest. But Capt. Dave Geyer, day-shift commander for the downtown district, acknowledges that there really is no alternative. In fact, half a dozen people now sleep in an empty lot across from police headquarters.

"Nobody is leveling with the public," Kever says. "People think we've got a new 200-bed shelter and that's the end of the struggle. That's not even the start."

Despite Willis' repeated relapses, his mother still buys him shoes and bus passes and holds out hope that he'll clean up like his brother, who quit heroin cold turkey. But she won't take him back home. "There's nothing I can possibly do for him anymore," she says. "Now he's got to do it on his own."

Still, she thinks often about her friend's daughter, a homeless woman who was murdered a year ago, and gets frightened if Willis doesn't call every few days. "It could have been [Ray]," she says. "I pray that nothing happens to him."

Less than a week after entering the new shelter, Willis took the Tri-Rail to Miami Beach on his day off and drank six daiquiris while trying, unsuccessfully, to pick up a woman at a beach bar. He managed to get back into the shelter that night without detection. But he felt guilty afterward and talked about his "little relapse" at his next 12-step meeting. "I won't do it again anytime soon," he vowed.

Mike Jefferson, after entering the Intensive Residential Treatment program, did not respond to attempts to contact him, and the staff would not confirm or deny that he was still there, because of confidentiality rules. When Willis is asked whether he thinks his friend will achieve sobriety this time, he shakes his head. "He likes drinking too much," he says. "He still talks about the good times."

Asked how he would rate his own odds for successful recovery, Willis thinks for a moment and looks away. "It varies, but today I feel it's 70 percent," he says.

Only 70 percent?
"To me, today, that feels like a lot."

Contact Harris Meyer at his e-mail address: Harris_Meyer@newtimesbpb.com