It is what we were always meant to do... we’ve abdicated our social responsibility to “others” and should reclaim it both to fulfill our responsibility to each other as humans in community, but also to teach our selves and next generation responsibility, and the capability to create the future we want rather than assigning it to others to do and create for us.
It's an incredibly important and much needed innovation. And it's not just happening in cities. A friend of mine, Katy Allen, who's a professor of Social Work at a regional university in rural Western North Carolina (Western Carolina University) has been working cross-departmentally with a colleague in Criminal Justice to implement a community responder program focused on mental health in a small metro nearby the University. And it's working amazingly well.
They've got social workers responding to calls for minor infractions that were eating up public resources for no benefit, (like vagrancy complaints) and seeing everyone - police, municipality, community members and the folks being called in about - better as a result. The sheriff is, in fact, one of the biggest advocates for the program. You can view a copy of the paper they just published about the program here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/34tthsgushwxw72/Community%20Care.pdf?dl=0
It is a well needed innovation in policing. At the same time in Alameda California however the DA has decided that we are putting too many people in jail and is so destructive police to not even respond to robberies and Theft. I can tell you that Innovation is absolutely not working and massively exacerbating the problem. Well it is true America has way too many people in prison, having absolutely no consequences for socially unacceptable Behavior is not the solution. Perhaps something much shorter in duration but more severe on the Pain Scale would be caning in public making criminals a little more wary of their socially unacceptable Behavior. You don't overcrowd the prisons you don't tie them up for years and years taking them out of the potentially productive Workforce. Just a bit of incentive to be civil.
It is what we were always meant to do... we’ve abdicated our social responsibility to “others” and should reclaim it both to fulfill our responsibility to each other as humans in community, but also to teach our selves and next generation responsibility, and the capability to create the future we want rather than assigning it to others to do and create for us.
It's an incredibly important and much needed innovation. And it's not just happening in cities. A friend of mine, Katy Allen, who's a professor of Social Work at a regional university in rural Western North Carolina (Western Carolina University) has been working cross-departmentally with a colleague in Criminal Justice to implement a community responder program focused on mental health in a small metro nearby the University. And it's working amazingly well.
They've got social workers responding to calls for minor infractions that were eating up public resources for no benefit, (like vagrancy complaints) and seeing everyone - police, municipality, community members and the folks being called in about - better as a result. The sheriff is, in fact, one of the biggest advocates for the program. You can view a copy of the paper they just published about the program here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/34tthsgushwxw72/Community%20Care.pdf?dl=0
This is amazing! I hope this is a cornerstone for future development and expansion.
It is a well needed innovation in policing. At the same time in Alameda California however the DA has decided that we are putting too many people in jail and is so destructive police to not even respond to robberies and Theft. I can tell you that Innovation is absolutely not working and massively exacerbating the problem. Well it is true America has way too many people in prison, having absolutely no consequences for socially unacceptable Behavior is not the solution. Perhaps something much shorter in duration but more severe on the Pain Scale would be caning in public making criminals a little more wary of their socially unacceptable Behavior. You don't overcrowd the prisons you don't tie them up for years and years taking them out of the potentially productive Workforce. Just a bit of incentive to be civil.
I like the idea of community responders! Especially if numbers of situations improve.
Can't wait to see further results. Love this!
It’s a fantastic experiment. I hope the initial positive results have staying power!
A good idea and I hope it works out!