It will work just fine until it doesn't and then the results may be catastrophic.

I think the risk of not having the cop there is greater than the risk of having a cop accompanying the social worker.

The point is, the field is not the appropriate place to be diagnosing and addressing mental health concerns.  There are many reasons why this is a bad idea.

1.  The subject, if in their home or "houseless location", has access to weapons and objects that can inflict injury on the social worker before any police can be called and respond.

2.  The cause of the situation is likely to be still present, meaning no matter what is said, the person is still being influenced by that cause -- might be a person, an animal, ....

3.  If the person has been drinking or taking drugs, no amount of expertise will let the social worker have a logical and long term conversation with the subject.

4.  These situations often happen at night and in areas that aren't the safest.  Even if the 911 reported situation is successfully resolved, the social worker is being placed in an environment in which they can face a number of unrelated risks just for being there at that time of night.


Mental health issues need to be confronted in an environment that can keep the worker safe from all potential dangers, with a subject that's not presently loaded or high, and where the location and time are less risky.

i foresee that rather than resolving the immediate problem, the social workers will more likely try to appease the subject and say whatever they think they want to hear.  It might be the wrong thing to say if the objective is to solve the actual problem, but in order to avoid provoking or aggravating the person further, the worker will opt for short term peace over real and meaningful resolution.

Just my 2 cents.

The competance of the social workers who take this job.

Then again, theres real doctors who say there are more than 2 genders.

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You all are missing the real intent - put the blame on someone else rather than the criminal. It's not the suspect's fault for doing crime - it is society's.

You all are missing the real intent - put the blame on someone else rather than the criminal. It's not the suspect's fault for doing crime - it is society's.

A lot of time the person who is needing a social worker hasn't committed any crime though.

The thinking behind these programs, from what I have seen, is to have someone who is better able to calm someone down and get them help. There are some cops who do just as good a job at this but there are also a lot of cops who are terrible at it and "control" a situation in a way which makes it worse. 

There are good reasons to consider social workers, they generally have more training in mental health issues and due to the fact they are not LEOs, the individual wont see them as big of a threat as an armed police officer who might arrest them. The downside is that though most people can be talked down, there is a certain percent (I would say about 5%) that are not going to be talked down and force will be necessary. This is where a social worker by themselves and unarmed becomes a big risk.