Lodi officer works at helping homeless
Standing at 6-foot-9, Officer Ryan Holz walks with a calm sense of confidence that makes him the ideal choice for the Lodi Police Department’s community liaison officer.
A veteran of the department for almost 13 years, Holz now applies the experience he gained as a school resource officer to address some of the issues facing the city’s transient population. He especially enjoys meeting the people who make up the transient community and finding new ways to help them, such as helping them find a job or place to live, or even reuniting families.
“Everybody’s got a different story. I like learning as much as I can about them, and coming up with solutions specific to their problems. Just last week, a mom cried as she thanked me for bringing her daughter home,” said Holz.
Holz met with Kristofer Green on Friday morning at the softball complex on Stockton Street to see if he could help with the transient’s medical issues. Green, a Lodi native, left the city for Sacramento in 2000 to find a job as a carnival worker.
When his gallbladder burst in 2006, he had issues with several doctors in the area that left him with a deep distrust for doctors.
Green returned to Lodi in 2014 to see his childhood doctor for an infection in his knee, but after over a month in the hospital, he was told that he would not be eligible for knee replacement surgery until he found a permanent place of residence.
Since then, he has been living on the streets of Lodi, where he says he has been robbed repeatedly.
“After getting my wallet and bank card stolen, I got to thinking that maybe it’s time to find a program. This is not my life, and I’m going to get my life back. I have trouble asking people for help, but I decided to give Officer Holz a chance,” said Green.
Holz lets Green borrow his cell phone to call somebody to try and find help for his medical problems, and even charges Green’s phone in his patrol car, and asks him if he has had any luck getting disability benefits. Green has had some trouble with this, but he stays positive and continues to persevere with Holz’s help.
“I’m just glad you trusted me to do this,” said Holz, who made plans to meet with Green at the Salvation Army later that day and help him get to Manteca to find a program that can assist him further.
While Holz’s new position may be rewarding, it is not without its challenges, much like any job. Some transients do not want his help, he says, and he sometimes has trouble finding time to contact all of the various organizations that serve the homeless population, such as the Salvation Army, and finding out how to help get people into their programs. Although these challenges can be stressful, Holz is confident that things will start to run a little more smoothly once he has settled into his new position.
The community liaison position truly is a new one, said Holz. The department created the position earlier this year, and Holz was selected on July 3 after expressing interest and interviewing with his superior officers. Holz already has several ideas to help address the needs of both the transient community and the Lodi community as a whole, such as finding ways to help some of the homeless get job references and partnering with local businesses to provide them with jobs.
“These ideas are still in the beginning stages, we’re trying to find out if they will be feasible and sustainable for the long term,” said Holz.
For other officers interested in becoming community liaisons, Holz advised them to have patience and compassion.
“If you want their respect, you have to earn it by treating them as individuals. Some are homeless by choice, but others aren’t. You need to listen closely and see what you can do to try and help them,” said Holz.