VIDEO: Town Cop Recognized for Work With Homeless

officer Leo Coddington has been recognized as a Crisis Intervention Team Officer of the Year by county officials.

Earlier this year, Dave Cortese, president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, presented a resolution commending Coddington, along with other officers named 2010 Crisis Intervention Team officers of the year.

Coddington, who's been with the local department since June 2007, demonstrated early in his law-enforcement career that he cared enough about the town's small homeless population—about 50 residents—to learn their names, needs and services to help them, said

Many of them have lived in town for a long time with their only connection to care and services through Coddington and other agency officers, Seaman said. 

"It was a surprise to me," Coddington said of the recognition. "I view it as a nice thing, but it's really representative of a lot more people than myself."

Coddington, 36, said his crisis-intervention skills to work with the homeless came from his training at the police academy and his participation in a week-long 40-hour county class to help officers improve ways to deal with vulnerable populations.

But his special sensitivity to the homeless came from his 12 years with the U.S. Army, where he served as a ranger and company commander for the 82nd Airborne Division. He completed three combat tours, giving him a heightened interest in war veterans.

"I saw a lot of homeless veterans in need, initially, when I joined the department, and it was something that gained my interest quickly," he said. "It really snowballed from there." 

Coddington graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in the mid '90s. He then served in the Army until 2005, before joining the department in 2007. During his two-year break from public service, he did a stint as a principal at a private school.

Two of his chronically homeless clients, who lived on the streets for more than 30 years and were diagnosed with mental illness and addiction, have received Section 8 housing vouchers and are now living in local apartments, he said.

Where do the homeless live in Los Gatos? Most sleep under highway interchanges and on the he said, adding that the most effective way to help this population is by getting them into housing and then mental health services, not the reverse, as sometimes assumed. 

He also serves on the Santa Clara County Collaborative on Housing and Homeless Issues, whose mission is to increase the supply of affordable housing and reduce homelessness in the county.