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> Require all police to have advanced degrees in ... social work Social workers with arrest powers would be creating a whole new set of problems. How about re

• chongli 4y ago
  I didn't say they should be social workers, I suggested they have a degree in social work. Police encounters with those in mental distress (either temporary due to a crisis or a deeper mental illness such as schizophrenia) frequently end in tragedy. I want to believe that a police officer trained as a social worker would have a much better chance of de-escalation a personal than current police do. The alternative is to have unarmed social workers, untrained in police work, accompany police officers to mental distress calls. This brings with it a host of other problems including, but not limited to, the possibility of the social worker being injured or killed in an altercation with an armed person in distress.
  • teakettle42 4y ago
    A police officer trained as a social worker is going to bring with them a whole new set of preconceptions and biases. Giving social workers arrest powers does not seem like an improvement to me.