Kentucky police force benefits from hiring social workers
From an article in The Guardian called "The US police department that decided to hire social workers," a path forward can be gleaned. Here are a few paragraphs to provide a sense. The full article can be linked to below.
"In 2016, the Alexandria, Kentucky, police chief talked the city into hiring a social worker – and four years on, the current chief sees the program as indispensable. In 2016 he decided to try a new approach: he talked the city into hiring a social worker for the police department. 'To an officer, they all thought I was batshit crazy,' he said of the police.
The current police chief, Lucas Cooper, said he was 'the most vocal opponent' of the plan at the time, thinking that the department should be using its budget to hire more officers for a force he viewed as stretched thin. But now four years later, Cooper sees the program as indispensable: it frees officers from repeat calls for non-criminal issues and gets residents the help they needed, but couldn't get."
Just recently, a Utah boy with Asperger's was shot by the police after his mother called alerting them to the boy's inability to calm down when she returned to work. Last year, a North Carolina man who called the police for help when he was having a schizoid disorder was killed in his own home because he would not put down a knife when the police arrived.
These are not rare occurrences. People with mental illness may not be sufficiently cognizant to respond to commands, or they may fearful of what is happening. Unless an attending officer is used to seeing and working with people who have mental health issues, it is quite difficult to avoid the use of force when commands are not followed.
In human services agency I was involved with, the licensed social workers used a model called "trauma informed care." This approach let them focus on the traumas that people face. For example, a woman and family who are domestic violence victims have PTSD issues. So, if they lose their house, as well, there are two sets of trauma to deal with.
To be frank, the "defunding the police" movement has chosen a poor choice of words. Too many view it as taking all funding away – the key difference is using more wisely to serve and protect. Hiring more social workers who are licensed to offer counseling will let the police focus on other alleged criminals.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/19/alexandria-kentucky-police-social-workers&lt
This entry was posted in Children's rights, Civil Rights, Crime, Domestic Violence, Family, Fathers, Health, Homelessness, Mothers, Musings, Poverty, Relationships, Women's rights and tagged Alexandria Kentucky police, human-rights, Kentucky police hiring social workers, Licensed Social Workers, The Guardian article, Trauma informed care by Keith. Bookmark the permalink.
5 thoughts on "Kentucky police force benefits from hiring social workers"
Nan Mykel on September 20, 2020 at 10:30 pm said:
Interesting, but the title is a little tricky. Initially I thought it was about taking benefits away from social workers…No problem, really, after I got to reading it.
Keith on September 21, 2020 at 12:17 am said:
Nan, re-reading it, I see the confusion. It reminds me of the book on punctuation called "Bear eats shoots and leaves." Punctuation changes the natuye of the phrase. Keith
PS – I added the word "hiring." Thanks for pointing that out.
silverapplequeen on September 21, 2020 at 10:30 am said:
If people think that "defunding the police" means taking away all the funding, then they should consider "defunding" the schools, the libraries & the social net … which has been going on for over forty Fng years. They CHOOSE to think it's taking away all the funding. They don't have to think like that. They know that's not what it means.
Keith on September 21, 2020 at 12:07 pm said:
SilverAppleQueen, the president looks for props to sell with. "Defunding the police" handed him another prop. So, his base will believe whatever he tells them.
Trump gave us the best reason to vote for Biden. He said if he loses, he will go away. That won't be true, but it is a nice thought. Keith