Combining and Giving More Training To Police Officers and Social Workers

The paper expounds on police training where military-style academic focuses on the deployment of force and law. The irony is that these officers are put in a society where they have to act as social workers, mental health counselors, conflict mediators, neighborhood patrollers, low-level law enforcers, detailed reporters, traffic controllers, and sometimes in a span of one shift. Therefore, the police officers are often overwhelmed with these duties leaving a small portion to deal with violent crime. This article expound on the mismatch between service delivery and training from a more qualitative manner than quantitative. I will use it to explain whys police alone are not suitable to help mental health cases and why more training is necessary.

Reference 4

Kratcoski,, P., & Edelbacher, M. (2019). COLLABORATIVE POLICING (3rd ed.). CRC Press.

The book expounds on the essence of collaboration between the police and the community. The authors also expound on various ideal collaborative programs between police and academics, professional practitioners, and community agencies. Therefore, the police need to understand community policing by incorporating practitioners interested in implementing and establishing community policing initiatives. Thus giving social services to the community to interact freely with them, thus offering alternative solutions. The book chapters are both qualitative and quantitative. I consider it to be a valid source due to the currency and reputation of the authors, and I will use it to expound on some collaborative programs and the viability of training both police and social workers on matters policing.

Reference 5

Lamin, S., & Teboh, C. (2016). Police social work and community policing. Cogent Social Sciences, 2(1), 1212636. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2016.1212636

This article discusses the services provided by the social workers, which has always been the key part of policing. Also, the authors acknowledge the police training that attempts to provide social services. This quantitative study based on Minnesota police finds that the best solution for the crisis is to ensure social service police in cases involving mental health, substance abuse, and domestic violence. The two departments, both the police sector and social worker, collaborate to service victims of crimes and law enforcement against offenders. Therefore, I agree that more social workers need to collaborate effectively with police agencies to respond to domestic violence mental health crises. I will use this article to back up my thesis that police and social workers should be trained in collaborative strategies.

Reference 6

Patterson, G., & Swan, P. (2019). Police social work and social service collaboration strategies one hundred years after Vollmer. Policing: An International Journal, 42(5), 863-886. https://doi.org/10.1108/pijpsm-06-2019-0097

The article is a systematic review that examines police social work and social services collaboration strategies set up to address social problems. From 83 articles, the review finds that interpersonal violence was the most common social problem that needed to be addressed by collaboration between social service agencies. The practical implementation of the police officers is the first responder to this wide range of social problems. Therefore, a collaborative strategy is a significant endeavor to be implemented. I will use this source to gather more information about the collaboration and training of both police and social workers.

Reference 7

Rincon, S. (2021). Social Worker’s Professional Skills Complement Police Department Services. Inside St. Charles. https://insidestcharles.com/2021/07/28/social-workers-professional-skills-complement-police-department-services/.

The article explores police officers’ educational attainment on having social service skills to understand how they can handle hostile situations differently as their education design tends to be more reactive. Rincon’s thesis is that police lack some skills needed to offer social services, which social workers should complement. The article addressed a range of other service providers’ education. Its continued training fosters public satisfaction and trust by increasing critical thinking skills and understanding the diverse population. This article is more of biography for Rincon, where her experience as a professional social worker working closely with the police department makes her arguments valid. I will use this article to gain more insights into the deficit of social skills in police and the need for collaboration and training.

Reference 8

Soto, M. (August 20, 2020) Social Workers Are Rejecting Calls For Them to Replace Police. https://theappeal.org/social-workers-are-rejecting-calls-for-them-to-replace-police/

This source shows why social workers do not want to be involved with police calls. It shows how race is important with the social worker and the officer and subject in question. This is similar to my topic, and honestly, it is applicable. We need to know the demographics of who is helping who. I think it is important if social workers are going to be a part of law enforcement. You cannot have all-white social workers in a dominated African American community or vice versa. Also, you cannot have all males dealing with females, and it just does not work. I feel this article is more qualitative, and I will use it to gain insights into the challenges that face collaboration between police and social workers.

Reference 9

Wood, J. (2021). The US police department decided to hire social workers. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/19/alexandria-kentucky-police-social-workers

The article talks about how the police chief is overwhelmed with sending their officers to respond to cases which they lack skills and time to handle. This is because they do not offer a long-lasting solution and therefore are called to solve the cases repeatedly. Therefore, when the social workers are incorporated, the police will be left to deal with potentially menacing cases. The article also reports that a third of all police calls in Kentucky were not criminal – instead, they were mental health. This article will help me build on my problem statement, which is that police do not have the skills needed in mental health cases, leading to negative consequences, such as panic, shooting, or escalated tension due to misunderstanding the mentally ill person. 

Reference 10

Zippia the Career Expert (September 9, 2021) Licensed Social Worker Statistics and Facts in the US. https://www.zippia.com/licensed-social-worker-jobs/demographics/

This article refers to every social worker in the US and if they are male, female, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, their ages, how much they get paid, their degree level, what languages they speak, where they are located, and where is the highest demand. This is absolutely a quantitative reference. This study is very applicable as it will show the numbers needed that will support my research. I am confident with these results as it was just updated in September of this year. I was shocked that Prince George’s County, MD, has almost the same LSW as LA County, CA. I will use this article to explain the viability of collaboration between police and social workers based on racial distribution within communities.