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pyrohydrosmok t1_iqsebku wrote

So interestingly my father was a clinical social worker with a masters in psychology and this is what he did for many years back in the early 2000s.

He went from inner city PES (psychiatric emergency services) to rural psychiatric emergency response. PES is like ER for psych and PER is actually going to the scene.

He was deputized by the county he worked in so technically he was law enforcement. However he didn't carry a gun. Just a holster of thorazine. Dead serious.

Now this was rural. I mean... Amish Country.

So he saw everything from a farmer with PTSD from Iraq trying to blow his brains out in front of his kids to an Amish teenager displaying signs of schizophrenia and driving a car off a bridge.

Pretty interesting and from what I gathered it was effective. He liked the work. People liked him. Wish it was more common.

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shitposts_over_9000 t1_iqvfkkz wrote

It was fairly common as a goal in the 80s and 90s for departments, or more commonly multi-county agencies to try to set these up, but in most jurisdictions they suffered the same problem the big departments' negotiation teams did.

99% of the time by the point you can ensure that the situation is safe enough to send unarmed individuals in everything is already over and in that 1% where it isn't the difference between regular EMTs dog piling someone along with the cops vs an extended standoff while someone tries to talk them into the bus voluntarily they is mostly just a few bumps and bruises.

There are absolutely cases where it makes a huge difference, but they are rare unless the police are putting the specialists at a fair bit of risk.

Simply put, most rural communities will choose another armed officer on patrol over a specialist on call all day every day.

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iluniuhai t1_iqyullp wrote

Once a middle class white lady gets executed during a mental health crises they change their minds. Happened where I live. We have a very nice program here now.

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shitposts_over_9000 t1_iqzxeod wrote

I didn't mean to imply that there were not jurisdictions that still try it despite evidence, just that the majority of jurisdictions have reviewed the numbers and decided their limited funds are more effectively spent on something more able to be used regularly.

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cherry-fiasco t1_iqwrh8f wrote

I'm a crisis team social worker and it's definitely always interesting work. In my city, I feel like one of the hardest parts is working with law enforcement and reminding them that we exist. For the most part, the client themselves or another mental health professional working with them end up being the ones to call us... I do love the job though and would recommend it to anyone in the field.

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