[Bartkusa]

>> call a shelter or the related police station and ask how many assaults they have had reported in the past year.

• If assaults happened in shelters, why would the shelters ever tell you?

• Why would anyone ever tell the police? I can't imagine the homeless victims would want the police MORE involved in their lives.

• Even if someone told the police about an assault at a shelter, would they bother to investigate, or keep records? Police have incentives to reduce crime stats, which isn't the same as reducing crime.

[helb]

> would they bother to investigate, or keep records

They absolutely would[1] here (central/east Europe). Is it different in the US?

[1] I run a local news site and we get these kind of stories all the time. Not just press releases from state or municipal police, but messages from the people themselves.