Police Social Workers
Social workers in police stations and on police department pay roll? It seems like that could go two ways depending on the person in the position. Personally I would think that working at the police station but being employed by an outside agency would lead to greater community difference.
Many towns in and around the Chicago area employ the use of police social workers. It sounds like a wonderful resource in crisis intervention scenarios. But from the content of the story that I have linked at the bottom of this post, it sounds like they are advocating for police social workers to do services that other community agencies already do.
The issue I have with social workers being employed by the police station is whether they will remain true to their unique social work ethical standards and values. In a working environment, you really want to acquiesce with the workplace culture and I would worry that social workers wouldn’t want to challenge fellow coworkers regarding the different types of work that they do and the level of advocacy they conduct with individuals versus the community as a whole.
In the end, I think it is a great resource opportunity for communities to consider. However, the community needs the money and long term financial stability to be able to hire highly trained workers. Then maybe the social workers will be able to become trainers for the police that they work with in collaboration.
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20160201/news/160209974/