• Home
  • About
    • Authors
  • Articles
    • Archives
    • Chaplain
    • Crime & Controversy
    • Community
    • Cop Humor
    • Editorial
    • Op-ed
    • Gear & Technology
    • Investigations
    • Laws & Legal
    • Leadership
    • News
    • Officer Down
    • On Duty
    • Tactics
  • Network
    • Illinois Network
    • Minneapolis Network
    • Tulsa Network
    • Wauwatosa Network
    • Learn more
  • Training
  • Officer Privacy
  • Jobs
  • Contact
No Result
View All Result
Law Officer
Law Officer
No Result
View All Result

There will be problems with social workers doing police work

Will your agency participate in the game of Russian Roulette?

social workers

(Pxfuel)

July 13, 2020
Jim McNeffbyJim McNeff
Share and speak up for justice, law & order...

Law enforcement agencies across the country are participating in discussions to “reimagine” the business of policing.

As agencies are expected to “soften their approach” with budgets getting slashed, sending social workers to handle “non-violent” calls for service is a hot topic.

While this might have merit to some degree, one grossly overlooked fact is that many of these calls are potentially combustible; a truth that appears to be missing from the conversation.

One example is the St. Petersburg Police Department. They will no longer respond to “non-violent” 911 calls, such as quality-of-life complaints or mental health concerns,” Law Officer reported.

The department will instead send employees from a newly created Community Assistance Liaison (CAL) Division, which officials described as “a social service agency.” They will respond to 911 calls pertaining to a number of issues, including drug overdoses, disorderly intoxications, suicide crises, panhandling, and more, the department said in a recent press release.

  • AMERICA, WE ARE LEAVING

Beginning October 1, the St. Petersburg Police Department will dispatch a CAL team member (social worker) to the following calls for service:

  • Disorderly intoxication
  • Drug overdose
  • Intoxicated person
  • Mental health crisis
  • Suicide crisis
  • Mental health transport
  • Disorderly juvenile/truancy
  • Disorderly juvenile at elementary schools
  • Panhandling
  • Homeless complaints
  • Neighborhood dispute

While a large percentage of these calls can be handled peacefully, the described situations can also become combustible and unpredictable. To what degree is the agency assuming liability by placing a social worker in harm’s way? To what degree is a social worker willing to put him or herself in this kind of vicarious position? Furthermore, how many times will the social worker need to call for police assistance? St. Petersburg Police Department is willing to take the risk to find out.

social workers
This should not be considered a “non-violent” call for service. Police frequently face severe danger from people strung out on drugs. (Pxfuel)

Sending social workers to law enforcement related calls for service is like having a hospital emergency room open with no physician present. Yet one city council after another is considering this option.

  • WHY THE CAROTID RESTRAINT HOLD SHOULD BE KEPT AS A FORCE OPTION BY LAW ENFORCEMENT 

Many police agencies have created specialty assignments involving sworn police officers dealing with mental health and homeless issues. These programs have achieved tremendous results and should be the model. The personnel involved are sworn officers in possession of tools of the trade, something woke politicians want to eradicate.

One example is the Mental Evaluation Team (MET) of the Long Beach Police Department.

MET consists of sworn officers who are partnered with clinicians from the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH). MET provides additional resources to patrol by responding to and handling calls involving the mentally ill and homeless.

Phoenix Police Department
Mental health subjects frequently become homicidal. (Phoenix Police Department)

This is a short list of problems that unarmed social workers will face when handling the so-called “non-violent” calls for service:

  • Violence erupts without warning. As a result, social workers will engage in force, or be injured, before a sworn officer arrives on scene.
  • Social workers do not obtain the same use of force training, so they will be at a disadvantage.
  • State mandated training should not be reduced if social workers are placed in the role of a “peace officer,” regardless of their categorization as a CAL team member.
  • People with limited law enforcement training have a tendency to over-respond AND under-respond during a crisis. We see this frequently when media personalities go through simulation training. More often than not they kill the innocent person or suffer fatal consequences themselves due to inaction during the training exercise.
  • Many of the situations listed by St. Petersburg could lead to arrest. Social workers are rarely familiar with search and seizure laws, which need to be maintained as they are fluid and constantly changing, … unless arrests are permanently abandoned?
  • Social workers will be in danger without having a sheepdog persona. This is not a knock on social workers, but a reality in the way different personalities are wired. A sheepdog has an awareness of danger; the ability to identify red flags that put people at risk; the genetic make-up that motivates a person to charge forward instead of retreat.
  • Consequently, unarmed and untrained social workers placed in the role traditionally held by a police officer will make them vulnerable to injury and death.
  • There are reasons why we have “divisions of work,” and this is one example.
social workers
An intoxicated person armed with a bottle should not be considered a “non-violent” call for service. (Pxfuel)

Beyond this list of problems is the unrealistic demand that will be placed upon police dispatchers to accurately triage which of these calls is “non-violent” based upon a brief telephone conversation. Is a drunk walking around with a bottle of Jack Daniels passive? How about the boyfriend who just called in the overdose of his girlfriend? What about the unidentified panhandler who has an arrest warrant for felony assault?

The scenario’s are endless.

If this becomes the trend, we are about to see a spike in civilian injuries and deaths in law enforcement. Will your agency participate in the game of Russian Roulette?

– Jim McNeff

 


Share and speak up for justice, law & order...
Tags: Community Assistance LiaisonLong Beach Police Departmentmental healthnon-violent callsoverdosesocial workersSt. Petersburg Police Department
Jim McNeff

Jim McNeff

Jim McNeff is the managing editor of Law Officer. As a Medal of Valor recipient with more than 30 years of experience in law enforcement and the military, Jim brings experience, insight, and a keen perspective to the issues affecting law enforcement. For nearly a decade, Jim has also served the law enforcement community as a writer and editor following the latest news, facts, and figures concerning law enforcement seven days a week, and 365 days a year. Jim is a retired police lieutenant and served a municipal police department for 28 years. Previously, Jim was a crewmember of the National Emergency Airborne Command Post—a presidential support detail. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice from Southwest University, and is a graduate of the esteemed Sherman Block Supervisory Leadership Institute and the Leadership in Police Organizations IACP course of study. Jim is also the author of three police-related books: The Spirit Behind Badge 145, Justice Revealed, and Jurisdiction.

Related Posts

Is Police Mental Health Training Fake?

August 20, 2023
Ray Lewis

Ray Lewis III died from lethal mix of drugs

July 31, 2023

We Have Failed Them

July 28, 2023
San Francisco

Criminal defendants sent for court-ordered psyche evals soar

July 13, 2023
K9 Barney

Police Crisis-Response Dog Calms, Saves Suicidal Woman

June 23, 2023
Taylen Mosley

Missing toddler discovered inside alligator’s mouth day after mother is found stabbed to death

April 1, 2023
Load More

Latest Articles

The Constitution Still Matters

September 23, 2023

A National Outrage!

September 23, 2023

‘Full Hulk Guy’ is permanently banned from golf course after he threatened golfers

September 23, 2023

School ‘equity manager’ charged with embezzling $600k

September 22, 2023

Biden breaks record for border crossings in August

September 22, 2023

Police department disbanded after report showed 1 officer per 50 residents

September 22, 2023
Load More

Weekly E-Newsletter

Subscribe—and get the latest news and editorials direct from Law Officer each week!

[newsletter_form type="minimal"]

JOIN THE FIGHT

BE COURAGEOUS

FIND MORE…

Law Officer

© 2021 LawOfficer.com

LawOfficer.com

  • Home
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Corrections
  • Contact

Speak up for justice, law & order

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • Authors
  • Articles
    • Archives
    • Chaplain
    • Crime & Controversy
    • Community
    • Cop Humor
    • Editorial
    • Op-ed
    • Gear & Technology
    • Investigations
    • Laws & Legal
    • Leadership
    • News
    • Officer Down
    • On Duty
    • Tactics
  • Network
    • Illinois Network
    • Minneapolis Network
    • Tulsa Network
    • Wauwatosa Network
    • Learn more
  • Training
  • Officer Privacy
  • Jobs
  • Contact

© 2021 LawOfficer.com