A Social Worker and an Officer

A social worker and a cop were putting up a backdrop…

This might sound similar to the old joke, “a social worker and a cop go into a bar,” and the actual situation which prompted it is similarly humorous. As a social worker embedded at a middle school, part of my job is working closely with our School Resource Officer (SRO). Let me begin by saying I adore working with the one I’m assigned with. His rapport with the students is solidly firm but friendly and I don’t worry that if the unthinkable happens he will freeze in place. He’s actually pretty bad-ass.

In more and more situations, social workers are being paired with law enforcement officers even outside the school setting. Street outreach historically has paired them and as jurisdictions look for solutions to mounting social problems this pairing is coming up often. I believe it will continue to grow as mental health services begin to be pulled back from officers who have been assigned these duties out of necessity rather than appropriateness. I can tell you as someone who has worked as a street medic/crisis worker taking calls from police and with police, officers are thrilled to have us take over that realm. It’s a phenomenal partnership providing better services to community members, freeing officers to do law and order things and saving tax-payers money. Many people wonder how these pairings work. Let me give a few examples of how my position supports and is supported by my law enforcement partner.

Helping Hands and the Sandy Hook Promise

One of the main responsibilities of my school’s SRO is to facilitate a group of students called Helping Hands. This group focuses on cultivating leadership, increasing a positive school culture and environment and reducing bullying. Our group follows the Sandy Hook Promise curriculum and each month has a theme and accompanying activities. We have done anti-bullying campaigns, facilitated a HappyGram exchange and participated in two weeks dedicated to inclusion and peer-support: Start with Hello and See Something Say Something. We just finished the latter which included a student directed PSA, Toilet Talk fliers challenging students to identify their trusted adult and an Instagram booth with a signed pledge to say something if they see something. Early evidence shows the campaign is working as three separate incidents in our district have been reported and handled because our students saw something and said something. My role is to co-facilitate this group weekly and help coordinate the curriculum. This partnership works out well because our SRO has been at the school for many years and has established a relationship with the students. My position is brand new but allows me to provide the mental health side of the equation. I also can lead the group when my SRO has to handle law enforcement matters.

Mental Health Intervention

Another important part of our partnership is my availability to handle mental health interventions, either in the moment or on-going. My SRO knows what is going on much more than I do. He is privy to information about students who are engaging in risky behavior, those making bad choices in peers and risk getting involved in more serious behaviors and those who are struggling because their home environment is dysfunctional. He knows who has been a suspect and who has been a victim. With this information, he can refer students to me for one-on-one support and intervention. Many students come to him because he has established himself as a trusted adult. He then makes a warm handoff to me identifying another trusted adult they can rely on. Research indicates that of all the resiliency factors that affect positive outcomes for adolescents it is the presence of just ONE trusted, supportive adult that makes the largest difference. Our partnership allows our students to have not just one but two. It also allows for a choice if a student prefers one of us over the other. It’s a comfortable tag team and highly effective.

Different Perspective

This is probably my favorite area of our partnership because it has come up several times recently. Even though I have decades of professional experience in public safety, I have clearly floated into the mental health field with the unique perspective of a social worker. Last week, my SRO and I were leaving his office when I noticed two tiny dice on a table. “How cute are those,” I said to him. He stopped and took them. “Why’d you do that,” I asked. He looked at me and explained that the kids gamble with them and that they were contraband. I realized it never even occurred to me that the students might be using them inappropriately. I just thought about how cute they were as little objects of fun. We laughed at my Pollyanna perspective. On the other hand, we have had numerous conversations where I remind him of the good in the world-people, places and things. Like many officers with two decades of experience under his gun belt, he has been so exposed to the negative 1% that he has lost sight of the positive 99%. I can help remind him of that side of the fence.

So back to the initial statement about a social worker and a cop putting up a backdrop. My SRO and I were in charge of putting up the Instagram booth backdrop for See Something Say Something week. Our art teacher and her students had created this wonderful painted 8x4’ thick cardboard backdrop which was broken into four pieces for portability. We were tasked with figuring out how to attach it to the brick wall outside the cafeteria. We discussed a number of options; none of which would work. We consulted with our maintenance man. We talked and talked and talked and talked both looking at the backdrop then looking at the wall. We laughed at our inability to come up with a solution. Then, it occurred to us that maybe we could use something heavy duty to stick it to the wall. Something like the utility Velcro I had used to fix my husband’s bulletproof vest. My SRO offered up command strips which at first I had no idea what he was talking about. It sounded like so much law enforcement jargon where tactical, bulletproof and command were pre-fixes to normal things just to make them palatable to officers. He explained they were used to put up picture frames in dorm rooms. It was a great idea and we got some. That backdrop looked amazing and the students loved the Instagram challenge that came from it. The pledge banner was covered in signatures of students and staff dedicated to safety. And, once again, a social worker and a cop, together, came up with a positive solution to a practical problem.