Quote:
Originally Posted by jimjamuser
Thanks for that link.....Cahoots was VERY good.
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They still are. But they can't work in a vacuum. They work WITH the police, not against them, and not instead of them. They are an adjunct. The Police Departments are supposed to be part of civil and social services of any municipality. They are -not- supposed to be a military or quasi-military branch of the municipalities. But because of violent crime, they have less opportunity to appropriately train, and not enough resources to appropriately respond, to "all things." They CANNOT and should not be expected to be all things to all people.
These days, you don't call the fire department to get a cat off a roof or tree. You call the animal rescue organization. The fire department isn't being paid to rescue cats from trees and rooftops. Nor should they be. They need to focus their energy on fires and other serious life-threatening emergencies.
The same should be said for the police. You don't call the cops when your neighbor is having a heart attack, you call an ambulance. Why would you call the cops when the same neighbor is having a nervous breakdown and throwing his empty beer bottles at the walls of his own garage? Better to call a social worker. Or even better - call 911, and have 911 dispatch the social worker with police backup "just in case" the guy starts aiming those bottles at the social worker.
That is risk reduction, and efficient job specialization. A person experiencing emotional trauma is not likely to respond positively to a uniformed cop with his gun out banging on the front door. But they might respond positively to someone dressed neatly in plain clothes, unarmed, who offers an ear on the front porch with a bottle of spring water and a few fresh orange segments (for example).
The cop can be in sight, up the road. Or he could be standing on the sidewalk at the end of the driveway. But it's the social worker who would make the first contact.
This can reduce (and has proven effective in reducing) the potential for violence against - or by - police officers in stressful situations.