This is close to what I do as a social worker but the workforce that will be doing this will be mostly female. They will be overmatched in the majority of situations because men are more likely to be the subject of a 911 call. What is going to be the retention rate after the first worker is beaten into brain damage, a wheelchair, coma or to death? For liability reasons they will be limited even when they can fight back. The cops are going to end up going out with these workers on a lot of calls because crazy isn’t predictable and social workers alone have nothing to back up an, “Or else”.
Our small-ish police force (66 uniformed officers) has employed a social worker for about 3 years. Except for one area, the biggest benefit is not saving money, it is improved services for residents. She follows up with residents, ensuring they get the care they need. The exception is mental health evaluation. In the past officers would have had to transport people to the hospital for mental health evaluations, a time-consuming process. Now the social worker can perform the evaluation on-site, avoiding transportation.
1. When you talking about these programs reducing “crime reports”, how are crime reports typically being measured?
2. What is your position on arrest for petty crimes? I know the article is written in a way that avoids taking a firm stance one way or another, but I’m wondering how the costs/benefits shake out for you in this case.
Would be interesting to know individual follow-up data. Were the people who were not arrested initially ultimately arrested later - days, weeks or months? Are they frequent fliers? Does this prevent or merely delay arrest? And if only delay, what are the externalities - costs imposed on neighbors, family members, businesses by the person who is not incarcerated but still antisocial.
West Hollywood already tried to replace much of its police force (which was supplied by deputies from L.A. County Sheriffs) with non-sworn ‘civilian’ so-called ‘Guardians.’ It not only didn’t work, but the very same residents who had voted in the City Council which had run on a platform of defunding the police, were outraged. At least the most vocal of the council members failed to win reelection. I suspect Mamdani is risking a similar backlash.
In the stats on 911 calls, is the denominator all 911/non-emergency police calls, or only those calls that merit any response at all? I understand that only 10%-20% of 911 calls are related to actual emergencies.
This is close to what I do as a social worker but the workforce that will be doing this will be mostly female. They will be overmatched in the majority of situations because men are more likely to be the subject of a 911 call. What is going to be the retention rate after the first worker is beaten into brain damage, a wheelchair, coma or to death? For liability reasons they will be limited even when they can fight back. The cops are going to end up going out with these workers on a lot of calls because crazy isn’t predictable and social workers alone have nothing to back up an, “Or else”.
Cops are civilians. This is just one of the many ways the American discourse on this topic is messed up.
Ooh, ooh, I can answer that for you. No. There, saved you some time reading the article.
no
nah
Our small-ish police force (66 uniformed officers) has employed a social worker for about 3 years. Except for one area, the biggest benefit is not saving money, it is improved services for residents. She follows up with residents, ensuring they get the care they need. The exception is mental health evaluation. In the past officers would have had to transport people to the hospital for mental health evaluations, a time-consuming process. Now the social worker can perform the evaluation on-site, avoiding transportation.
Sounds exactly like the vigilantism they think is even worse than cops
Great piece! I have a couple of questions:
1. When you talking about these programs reducing “crime reports”, how are crime reports typically being measured?
2. What is your position on arrest for petty crimes? I know the article is written in a way that avoids taking a firm stance one way or another, but I’m wondering how the costs/benefits shake out for you in this case.
No version of law enforcement will be any good as long as the law is corrupt. As it is.
Would be interesting to know individual follow-up data. Were the people who were not arrested initially ultimately arrested later - days, weeks or months? Are they frequent fliers? Does this prevent or merely delay arrest? And if only delay, what are the externalities - costs imposed on neighbors, family members, businesses by the person who is not incarcerated but still antisocial.
West Hollywood already tried to replace much of its police force (which was supplied by deputies from L.A. County Sheriffs) with non-sworn ‘civilian’ so-called ‘Guardians.’ It not only didn’t work, but the very same residents who had voted in the City Council which had run on a platform of defunding the police, were outraged. At least the most vocal of the council members failed to win reelection. I suspect Mamdani is risking a similar backlash.
In the stats on 911 calls, is the denominator all 911/non-emergency police calls, or only those calls that merit any response at all? I understand that only 10%-20% of 911 calls are related to actual emergencies.
Denver's crime reductions are IMO not realistic, https://crimede-coder.com/blogposts/2025/DenverStar
I have a feeling arrest declines may be purely due to warrants, not because police are escalating in any substantive number of cases.