Chris Arvayo
Head of Government Compliance Initiatives
Why Stop-and-Contact Data Matters Now More Than Ever
In 2024, 771,480 Americans were unhoused—a staggering 18.1% jump from the year before. Fentanyl fueled 70%-80% of opioid-related deaths, and states like Virginia and Colorado mandate detailed reporting on police contacts that can be used to address these crises. Collecting and reporting stop-and-contact data is essential for transparency, helping agencies understand interactions, ensure fairness, and meet legal requirements. We’re with you—how can your team rise to this? We added Tags to CitizenContact® last month, and early data shows “Unhoused” is already a significant tag—higher in the last 7 days than the 7 days before. This blog shows how to take tag usage to the next level while streamlining data collection and reporting.
Unveiling the Crisis: Homelessness, Drugs, and Mental Health in 2024
The numbers tell a tough story. Homelessness hit a record high in 2024, with 771,480 individuals counted—a single-year increase of 18.1% from 2023 (1). Of these, 36% lived unsheltered, up 14% since 2020, driven by a housing shortage that’s left 12.6 million households spending over half their income on rent (1) Families and seniors bear the brunt. Drug trends worsen the picture: synthetic opioids like fentanyl accounted for 70%-80% of opioid-involved deaths from 2021-2024 (2). Methamphetamine use is prevalent among some unhoused individuals, often employed as a survival tactic, though the majority of homeless people do not regularly use drugs (3).
Mental health deepens the challenge. Research shows 25-30% of unhoused individuals have serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, a trend over the last decade (4). These conditions often intertwine with substance use, making contacts complex.
States like Virginia and Colorado have implemented laws to collect and report stop-and-contact data, focusing on transparency in police interactions. Virginia’s Community Policing Act requires data on all motor vehicle, pedestrian, and investigatory stops, while Colorado’s SB20-217 mandates reporting on law enforcement-initiated interactions—both covering a significant amount of police contacts. These laws emphasize demographics, stop reasons, and outcomes, making stop-and-contact data collection and reporting critical. CitizenContact not only meets these legislative requirements but goes further—adding data points like mental health, drug, and alcohol impairment, alongside features like Tags, Areas, and Groups. This enriched data lets agencies gain deeper insights into issues like homelessness and mental health, especially when paired with the right context.
How CitizenContact Transforms Stop-and-Contact Data into Action
With Tags, officers categorize interactions instantly—think “Unhoused” or “Fentanyl”—while CitizenContact tracks mental health, alcohol, drug, and crisis details, feeding reporting and analytic dashboards with real-time insights on interventions and trends.The Areas feature uses geofencing to let agencies configure hotspots, patrol boundaries, encampment zones, and more, pinpointing clusters like downtown mental health calls to guide deployments. The Groups feature organizes teams—CIT, patrol, or specialty units—tracking performance and service connections in real time. More than tech, it’s a tool to master data, meet and exceed legislative mandates, and deliver actionable insights.
Strategic Steps to Maximize Data Effectiveness
Here are three steps to leverage CitizenContact—perfect for new adopters or users optimizing their setup:
Build Comprehensive Insights into At-Risk Communities
Configure the “Unhoused” tag to track interactions with unhoused individuals, ensuring stop-and-contact data includes key details. Enhance this with Tags like “Service Referral Provided” to log connections to social services, “Shelter Transport Provided” to track relocations to safe housing, and “Repeat Contact” to identify individuals with frequent interactions, signaling potential unmet needs. Pair these with the Areas feature to deploy mental health or outreach teams where they’re needed most, addressing root causes effectively.
Address Critical Behaviors with Targeted Precision
Set up a “Fentanyl” tag to flag suspected use or distribution, leveraging drug impairment data in the contact report. Add complementary Tags like “Trespassing” to monitor related activities in high-risk areas, often linked to drug use, and “Public Complaint” to capture community concerns about drug-related incidents. Combine these with the Areas feature to map drug zones or complaint hotspots, then send CIT, patrol, or proactive policing units to intervene, reducing risks and enhancing safety in the community.
Optimize Operations with Data-Driven Strategies
Use CitizenContact’s reporting and analytic dashboards to review tag trends, pulling insights from your stop-and-contact data. Seeing a surge in Unhoused contacts tagged with Repeat Contact or Mental Health Impairment? Shift patrols or partner with mental health services to break cycles of crisis. Have you noticed Fentanyl and Trespassing Tags clustering in specific areas? Adjust resource allocation to address underlying issues. This mirrors the SARA model (Scan, Analyze, Respond, Assess), tailored to your data.
These steps turn raw data into real results—whether you’re starting fresh or refining your approach.
Unlock Smarter Policing with CitizenContact Today
Stop-and-contact data requirements under state mandates in places like Virginia and Colorado won’t wait, nor will the pressing issues of homelessness, drug challenges, and mental health. With CitizenContact, your agency doesn’t have to play catch-up on meeting these mandates for collecting and reporting stop-and-contact data. New to the tool? Contact us today to see how Tags, Areas, and Groups—plus our added impairment tracking—can transform your operations, ensuring compliance while unlocking deeper insights. Already onboard? Optimize your tags and contact reports now to enhance policing strategies, building on the early success of the Unhoused tag. From challenges to clarity, CitizenContact is your partner in building safer, compliant communities—let’s make it happen.
Cited Works
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (2024). 2024 AHAR: Part 1 – PIT estimates of homelessness in the U.S. HUD User. https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2024-AHAR-Part-1.pdf
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024, December 5). Detection of illegally manufactured fentanyls and carfentanil in drug overdose deaths — United States, 2021–2024. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 73(48). https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/wr/mm7348a2.htm
- Assaf, R. D., Morris, M. D., Straus, E. R., Martinez, P., Philbin, M. M., & Kushel, M. (2025). Illicit substance use and treatment access among adults experiencing homelessness. JAMA. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2024.27922
- Padgett, D. K. (2020). Homelessness, housing instability and mental health: Making the connections. BJPsych Bulletin, 44(5), 197–201. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjb.2020.49
