Police in Cambridge, MA, will begin using social workers to respond to some 911 calls instead of actual cops. This is an idea that has been pushed by some on the left since ‘defunding the police’ became a thing. What could possibly go wrong?
Critics of this type of policy have pointed out that even when police are responding to a seemingly routine 911 call, they never know what they’re walking into. Someone at the scene could be armed, psychotic, or worse.
The Boston Globe reports:
Calling 911 in Cambridge? Soon, the city may send social workers instead of police.It took less than a minute for the crew of five social workers in matching mint-green T-shirts to find people who could use some help.Right outside the door to their Central Square headquarters last month, they found a woman sitting on the ground with a few small bags, taking a rest in the 80-plus-degree heat, and gave her water and snacks. A few steps down Mass. Ave., they chatted with a homeless man who wanted assistance getting an ID.Later, they consoled a woman who walked up to them in tears, asking if someone could pray with her. They obliged.It was just another afternoon for Cambridge’s new five-member Community Assistance Response and Engagement, or CARE, team, which has for months been meeting with some of the city’s most vulnerable.But if all goes according to plan, the team will soon have a more high-stakes task: responding to 911 calls, sent to the scenes of nonviolent, mental health-related incidents handled at present by cops with guns.Four years after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd spurred nationwide protests, the CARE team is Cambridge’s first real try at an alternative to police in emergencies. As envisioned, it would be among the most ambitious such efforts in Massachusetts, because it would respond to some incidents instead of — rather than with — police. The team’s launch has raised thorny questions about when people in crisis actually need the cops, and when a social worker can show up instead.Cambridge Police Commissioner Christine Elow publicly supports the CARE program and said she has met frequently with the team.
Some Twitter/X users are skeptical.
Jazz Shaw of Hot Air comments:
Police receive special training to deal with all manner of emergencies. And contrary to liberal dogma, they don’t show up at the scene with guns blazing. They will always try to talk people down off the ledge (figuratively) if possible before resorting to potentially deadly force. Unfortunately, there are some situations, particularly involving deranged individuals, where force may wind up being the only viable option to keep the community safe.So what do they expect these unarmed CARE workers to do if they respond to one of those calls and everything goes south? Particularly if the maniac they are dealing with produces a weapon, a clipboard isn’t going to be of much use. If one of these CARE workers winds up dead or seriously injured at the hands of some mentally disturbed maniac, the police are still going to have to be sent in to clean up the situation anyway.
Cambridge is sacrificing public safety to virtue signal. It’s madness.
Featured image via YouTube.
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