A bizarre chain of events involving a troubled homeless woman sent Portsmouth police searching a home, forcing entry into a residence, responding to multiple disturbance calls, and once again highlighting the challenges posed by untreated mental illness on the streets.
The latest drama began on 10th Street when a man called 911 claiming his neighbor was trying to kill his brother.
According to the caller, people were holding a door shut and refusing to open it.
🚔 POLICE FORCE ENTRY INTO HOME
Officers responded and attempted to contact the resident, but no one answered.
A family member who still received mail at the address arrived on scene and gave officers permission to enter the home.
Police and family members searched the residence but found no one inside.
Investigators soon learned the confusion may have started after the troubled homeless woman allegedly obtained the man’s cellphone from a mailbox.
According to the report, she then began contacting family members and telling them the man was injured, in danger, or possibly dead.
Unable to reach him themselves, relatives became increasingly alarmed.
With no way to verify the man’s safety and after exhausting other options, officers forced entry into the home to conduct a welfare check.
No one was found inside.
Before officers cleared the scene, family members finally made contact with the man, who returned home and learned why police had entered his residence.
Officers also reminded him that he had a protection order against the woman, who had reportedly stayed with him in the past.
His cellphone was returned.
🏠 THE CALLS KEPT COMING
Less than an hour later, officers were dispatched to another home after reports the same woman was on a porch throwing objects, screaming, and causing a disturbance.
Police warned her not to return or she could face criminal trespass charges.
The following day, officers were called to Alexandria House on Findlay Street after residents complained about a woman sitting on a balcony yelling and creating a disturbance.
When officers arrived, they found the woman on the second floor shouting from the balcony.
Residents told police she had been banging on doors throughout the building and did not live there.
Officers warned her that continued behavior could result in a disorderly conduct arrest.
She left the area.
⚠️ A PATTERN FAMILIAR TO POLICE
The incidents come just days after the same woman generated multiple police calls across the city.
As SCDN previously reported, police responded after reports she was harassing teenagers, threatening mental health workers, and making disturbing statements about violence.
She was ultimately trespassed from a local mental health provider’s properties after staff reported threatening behavior.
In other recent incidents, officers were called after she allegedly became aggressive toward someone trying to help her and later after she reportedly harassed people near Kroger and Tracy Park.
🔄 THE REVOLVING DOOR OF CRISIS
For police, the situation reflects a frustrating reality.
Officers can investigate crimes, issue warnings, make arrests when appropriate, and arrange evaluations when legal standards are met.
What they cannot do is force long-term treatment simply because someone repeatedly behaves erratically.
As a result, the same names often appear in police reports again and again, while neighbors, businesses, family members, and social service agencies struggle to cope with the fallout.
❓ THE BIGGER QUESTION
The forced entry on 10th Street may be one of the most dramatic examples yet.
A family genuinely believed their loved one could be dead or seriously injured.
Police mobilized, relatives rushed to the scene, and officers ultimately broke into a home to make sure someone was safe.
In the end, the man was fine.
But the incident raises a question communities across Southern Ohio continue to face:
What happens when a person repeatedly cycles through homelessness, mental health crises, police encounters, and short-term interventions without receiving lasting treatment?
For Portsmouth police, it often means the next call is only a matter of time.