TAKING IN EVACUEES: Checks advised before housing strangers

September 8, 2005

Like others throughout the nation, Dwight Wilson has been so moved by the pictures and stories coming out of New Orleans that he is offering his Detroit home to as many as four strangers displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Not only that, as the headmaster of Friends School in Detroit, he is encouraging others to do the same.

Since the deadly storm, more than 1 million people have left the gulf coast and sought refuge in temporary shelters, homes and hotels throughout the nation. In many cases, the victims have put their lives in the hands of strangers and are trusting that they will be safe. Likewise, those offering aid are trusting that the people they help will not take advantage of their generosity.
"It's a risk," said Wilson, 57, who also is offering three tuition-free spots at his school for Katrina victims. "But it's a greater risk to turn your back on people in need."

Still, Wilson said, to be safe, he probably will run background checks on his expected guests.
"I do that when I hire teachers," he added. "I probably should do that to protect my family."
Checking someone's background in such a time of desperation is a sensitive issue. Relief agencies and homeowners say that they do not want to offend or embarrass evacuees already traumatized by a terrible disaster, but they add, they also have an obligation to keep others out of harm's way.

"I would tell people, be extremely careful opening your home to any stranger," said Southfield Police Chief Joseph Thomas, who warned that blind trust should be tempered with healthy skepticism. "Bad people get displaced with good people."

The same caution, Thomas advises, applies to evacuees, who may be even more vulnerable to unscrupulous characters.

"You can be a displaced mother with three kids and move into a house with a child molester," Thomas warned, adding that he is not aware of any reports of this in Southfield -- or anywhere. "I think that when things settle down, when we get everyone sheltered and fed, we're going to start doing background checks."

If people want to do their own background checks, Thomas suggests consulting their local police department.

After the hurricane hit, the cries for help were so urgent, a Federal Emergency Management Agency official said Wednesday, that the agency began moving people -- some of whom didn't have any identification -- to safer areas as soon as possible. They put 225,000 people on buses and airplanes and brought them to cities such as Houston, Salt Lake City and Augusta, Mich., without checking their backgrounds.

"Our concern was to get them out of unsafe conditions," said FEMA spokeswoman Mary Margaret Walker.

But after they arrived, local law enforcement became responsible for checking their identities.
Michigan State Police, the agency charged with providing security for more than 200 evacuees brought to Michigan's Ft. Custer, said it issued identification cards to the evacuees, but has not done background checks.

"Right now, that is not our focus," said State Police Lt. Michael Brown, adding that may come later. Meanwhile, organizations are taking varied approaches to screening evacuees and homeowners.
Carol Dobos, a spokeswoman for Lighthouse of Oakland County, said the organization does not plan to run background checks on hurricane victims, but may visit houses being offered as temporary places for evacuees to live to be certain they are in decent condition.

Dobos said her organization is focusing on providing information to evacuees and donors. The organization is offering two free 1-hour workshops today at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. at 46156 Woodward in Pontiac.

In contrast, however, Operation Share Your Home, a Baton Rouge, La.-based group that formed in the wake of the hurricane, is running background checks on both homeowners and evacuees. More than 15,000 people, including several in Michigan, have offered their homes, said spokeswoman Ellen Davis.

The organization takes applications on the phone or through the Internet at www.shareyourhome.org and puts people together.

Source: http://www.freep.com/news/mich/kevac8e_20050908.htm

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