There have been multiple attacks against Pensacola's homeless. How the community can help.

Crime is a fact of any community, whether it be a small township or a large city.

But can crime be reduced, particularly in a vulnerable group like the homeless community?

Michael Kimberl, director of the Alfred Washburn Center, thinks so.

"If we address their basic concerns, we wouldn't see the crime," he said.

There have been multiple killings and acts of violence in Pensacola's homeless community this year, including a recent incident in which a dog was hit with a machete while protecting its owner from an attacker.

According to Kimberl, he and his organization encounter many homeless people in the Pensacola community who have a "don't ask, don't tell" philosophy when it comes to the violence he sees perpetrated against one another.

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The Alfred Washburn Center is designed to accomplish what Kimberl believes is the stepping stone to people getting out of homelessness.

The Center is a volunteer ministry run through the Society of St. Vincent de Paul to serve the homeless and poor members of the community, and it offers showers, laundry facilities, food and can provide identification cards, according to Kimberl.

An example of the crime Kimberl seeks to eliminate within the homeless community occurred May 5 when Cory Pinkerton, registered in Escambia County Jail as homeless, allegedly attacked a homeless woman behind a Dunkin' Donuts with a machete.

"(Victim) stated that the white male pulled out a machete and started swinging it around in the air and coming toward her," Pinkerton's police report noted.

While swinging the machete, the victim's dog jumped between the attacker and victim and Pinkerton struck the dog multiple times in the head before running away, according to the police report.

The health of the dog is unknown, but the report mentions that animal control would not provide treatment without payment.

Pinkerton was arrested May 31 and charged with felony aggravated assault and felony animal cruelty. As of Thursday he was in Escambia County Jail on $50,000 bond.

"I see so much violence perpetrated against each other," Kimberl said. "They're always sleeping with one eye open.

“The past decade Pensacola is showing us what doing nothing looks like,” he added. "We're seeing punitive measures don't fix issues."

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There have been multiple instances of homicide, violence and preventable deaths within the local homeless population within the last year alone.

In March, two homeless men allegedly beat another with a metal pipe, causing multiple skull fractures for the victim and a stint in the intensive care unit.

In January, three men were attacked in a camp near Palafox and Jordan streets. One man was killed and two others were hospitalized after a man allegedly beat them with a tree branch.

In another tragic incident in January, a woman suffered fatal burns when a portable heater in her tent caused a fire.

Some preventative education services provided by the city include fire safety training and education that Escambia County Emergency Management (ECEM) and Escambia Fire Rescue set up to educate the homeless community.

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According to ECEM Manager Travis Tompkins, homeless people often start fires to keep warm, which causes tents or even other people to catch fire, endangering those nearby.

"It's unfortunately really common," Tompkins said. "We're trying to go over an education campaign."

Part of the education campaign included distributing flyers on June 3 to local community centers and known homeless camps while teaching basic fire safety.

"We try to make sure we provide fire education, particularly to those who live outside," said Davis Wood, ECEM public information and education officer. "We want to make sure we can get to them and keep them safe."

While these services are meant to help and can provide education, Kimberl said he believes it's not enough.

His idea of keeping the homeless community "out of survival mode" is to increase the number of low-barrier shelters in and around Pensacola.

Kimberl said that the definition of a low-barrier shelter varies from person to person, but it essentially means there are few or even no entry requirements to the shelter.

The thought behind this type of shelter is that it removes the need for homeless individuals to worry about basic necessities or meeting shelter criteria, giving individuals the opportunity to focus on upward mobility.

"We need nonprofits to step up and open a low-barrier shelter," Kimberl said, "allow them to come as long as you behave."

The problem, he says, is the cost of infrastructure to build a low-barrier shelter with essential amenities may be too high, but he says that does not stop him from advocating for a shelter that could provide the homeless with basic needs, giving them an opportunity to focus on the future.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Fixing homelessness in Pensacola may start with prioritizing basic needs