I've lived on the sidewalk and dealt with the dehumanization involved in that. It's certainly ugly. But I've also seen people who are legitimately terrifying for good reason. Like, randomly pulling a knife in a Starbucks while arguing with someone who isn't there terrifying. Both of those situations require empathy, but the latter maybe also requires someone with a taser in case guy decides to get stabby. Personally, I'd rather that someone not be a cop, but the options are kind of slim in that department.

It's not all one or the other.

Pointing fingers at one another in outrage on the internet probably won't be the thing that helps though. Go buy somebody lunch.