An arrest Wednesday at Parker’s Place Village has resulted in immediate changes to volunteer screening procedures at the Grants Pass low-barrier shelter after a resident who became heavily involved in daily operations was taken into custody on an out-of-state warrant.
Gary Nichols was arrested by Grants Pass Police on August 12 at Parker’s Place Village on a Wisconsin warrant reportedly involving an alleged sex-offender registration violation, according to a public statement released Thursday by Parker’s Place founder Bernard J. Woodard.
Nichols and his wife had entered Parker’s Place on June 22 as members of the first group of 40 people admitted to the newly opened shelter. They arrived as residents seeking emergency housing through the Village’s Safe Beds First program. During the following weeks, however, Nichols became increasingly involved in the operation and eventually served as the Village’s lead volunteer.
Woodard said Nichols helped residents understand and follow shelter rules, worked with people experiencing problems and encouraged compliance with Village requirements intended to help residents retain their beds. He also assisted with intake, assigned rooms and beds when Woodard was not personally handling the process and helped coordinate participation from churches and community members providing Sunday meals for approximately 150 residents.
Nichols assumed those responsibilities without Parker’s Place independently completing a criminal background check.
Woodard acknowledged Thursday that he had relied on Nichols’ previous involvement with MINT when determining how much responsibility he was permitted to assume at Parker’s Place.
Before the Village opened, Woodard said he had regularly seen Nichols and his wife at MINT and understood from conversations with Nichols that they had been involved there for nearly three years. During early planning for Parker’s Place, the couple had also been discussed as possible on-site managers.
Based on that history, Woodard said he assumed that appropriate vetting had already occurred.
“I made an assumption that appropriate vetting had already occurred. I should not have made that assumption,” Woodard said, adding that he was not placing responsibility for the decision on MINT.
Nichols and his wife were not initially admitted to Parker’s Place as employees, managers or volunteers. They entered through the same low-barrier process used for other people seeking emergency shelter.
Under the Safe Beds First model, Parker’s Place does not require identification or extensive personal information before providing someone with an emergency bed. The system was established to move people from tents, vehicles, sidewalks and other outdoor living situations into shelter without requiring extensive intake procedures before admission.
Criminal background checks are not performed as a condition of receiving an emergency bed.
Woodard said the August 12 arrest has led Parker’s Place to establish additional screening requirements when residents or other volunteers move into positions carrying responsibility within the Village.
Effective immediately, background-check procedures are being tightened for volunteers placed in those roles. Parker’s Place will also review background-check documentation and requirements for service-provider personnel working at the facility where appropriate.
The shelter will continue operating as a low-barrier facility, meaning the changes announced Thursday apply to positions of responsibility rather than establishing criminal background checks as a general requirement for receiving an emergency bed.
Woodard also addressed information concerning Nichols’ history that surfaced following the arrest. According to his statement, the information indicates Nichols has a serious Wisconsin conviction dating back approximately 20 years.
The current Wisconsin warrant is a separate matter and has reportedly been connected to an alleged sex-offender registration violation. Nichols has not been adjudicated on the allegation associated with the current warrant based on the information provided by Parker’s Place, and that matter remains subject to the court process.
Woodard said Parker’s Place discourages registered sex offenders from staying at the Village because young people and other vulnerable individuals may be present. The shelter’s low-barrier intake system, however, has not been structured around investigating a prospective resident’s criminal history before providing emergency shelter.
Residents at Parker’s Place stay in semi-private rooms designed for two people rather than large congregate sleeping areas. Woodard said residents generally choose their own roommates. During the approximately 50 nights Nichols stayed at Parker’s Place, he shared a room with his wife.
Following the arrest, Woodard acknowledged that the screening requirements used to admit someone for emergency shelter did not provide the information necessary when Nichols subsequently assumed greater responsibilities.
“I failed to make sure that an independent background check was completed before allowing Gary to rise into a position of significant trust and responsibility,” Woodard said. “I apologize to the Grants Pass community and those in the village and I will do better.”
Operations at Parker’s Place continued Thursday following Nichols’ arrest.
Woodard said another volunteer, identified as Chaney, stepped into the lead volunteer position under what Parker’s Place describes as its “next person up” system. Two residents also left the Village because of rule violations, and the two newly available beds were provided to people waiting for shelter.
The Village has expanded substantially since Nichols and his wife entered with the original group of residents on June 22. Parker’s Place now accommodates approximately 146 to 150 people each night.
According to Woodard, the shelter was expected to exceed 6,000 cumulative person-days and nights of lodging on August 13. The figure represents the combined number of nights residents have spent at Parker’s Place since operations began rather than the number of individual people served.
Woodard said the shelter expects additional issues involving residents’ individual circumstances to emerge as people who have been disconnected from housing and services enter the program. Parker’s Place plans to address those situations as they arise while continuing its existing admission system and implementing the newly announced screening procedures for positions of responsibility.
The August 12 arrest has therefore resulted in a specific procedural change rather than a change to the Village’s basic admission policy. People seeking emergency shelter will continue to enter through the low-barrier Safe Beds First process, while volunteers entrusted with responsibilities inside Parker’s Place will be subject to additional screening.
Woodard accepted responsibility for allowing Nichols to assume his volunteer duties without first obtaining an independent background check and said the Village will apply what it learned from the incident to its procedures going forward.
“My commitment from the beginning has never been that I will always be right,” Woodard said. “My commitment is that I will always try to get it right.”