Revisiting the Relationship Between Social Work and Law Enforcement

ABSTRACT

Increasingly, law enforcement officers are becoming involved in community roles that require knowledge and sensitivity to social problems beyond their normal training. Social workers can be involved in the training, education, and resource development necessary to prevent incarceration and the escalation of mental health problems officers encounter, especially in the wake of recent terrorist events. Innovative team efforts in the community are elaborated as a product of the inclusion of social work courses in the Administration of Justice major, where officers are instructed in collaborative responses to community crises.

Key Words:

• Prevention
• community collaboration
• social work/administration of justice
• resource development
• crisis intervention