“The city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, is answering calls to “defund the police” by creating a new public safety department that will send unarmed social workers instead of police officers in response to some 911 calls.
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I’ve encountered a few burly men who are social workers. But most of the social workers I’ve dealt with are “little bits” of women like me.
No offense intended, merely the observation of a 60+year-old-woman who taught public school for 38 years.
I’ve done volunteer work with social workers, and they are to a soul, very caring and well intentioned people. Sure, most are liberal I suppose but that’s irrelevant to the job they do, what is more important is that they see the glass as half-full, and each person as redeemable and capable of improvement. You have to have a heart of stone if you aren’t moved by success stories where with their help, a person does turn their life around, which is a wonderful thing. I fully believe there is a need and a role for social workers.
But THIS is not it! It’s like sending a really good lawyer to unclog a drain - except the only injury to the lawyer will be to his pride. I have a buddy who is a retired Chicago cop and he gets all kinds of videos and stuff that he sometimes shares. I don’t know how cops today can do the job (neither does he). The abuse, the non-compliance, the prevalence of drugs and people in drugged states, weapons and how they are used recklessly, and the fact that now women are just as violent and dangerous as men, whereas in the past they were much more apt to comply with police orders.
A long way of saying, this will not end well, especially since they are planning to send them into some very dangerous situations. Cops can ratchet up if necessary - what’s an unarmed social worker going to do when they go on an inebriation call and find the boyfriend waiting behind the door with a knife/
My great aunt was a social worker in St. Louis area many years ago. She was making a call on a client and got hit in the head with a lead pipe.They broke her glasses too. My great aunt wasn’t a Spring chicken at the time. Can’t imagine the dangers social workers would face now.
in my social worker days, I always had to take a cop with me...
On second thought, this might turn out to be a good idea.
We have a gazillion too many social workers already. Having about 188% of them dispatched during a domestic dispute would do a world of good.
Ahhh, yes, but FINALLY all those snowflake degrees will be viable.
They will be getting jobs from the municipalities to ply their trade among the lower-masses like they were taught in kollidge.
@$25K/yr and possible violence visited upon them when responding to a simple domestic dispute.
I, for one, can’t wait.