AURORA | Aurora’s Regional Navigation Campus, serving people who are homeless, opens in a couple weeks, and in the meantime, officials say the city has been cracking down hard on people camping in public and expanding its diversion program for homelessness-related crimes.
Aurora’s Housing Employment Assistance and Recovery Team, also known as HEART Court, a specialty city court designed to divert defendants linked to a variety of crimes associated with homelessness from traditional prosecution, is expanding its reach as the city readies the Navigation Campus.
“It’s a true diversion program, so it’s pre-plea, pre-adjudication,” said Aurora Municipal Court Chief Judge Shawn Day, who oversees the court. “If the person agrees to participate in the program, they’re removed from the traditional criminal justice prosecution process, and they’re put into a diversion program, and if they’re successful with the program, then their case is actually dismissed.”…