According to the MV city administration, a newly proposed social worker position will be created within the Police Department with the approval action of City Council. Police Chief Morgan knows of 3 other cities in KY and Ohio and talked to one that has tried adding social workers to aid in police calls in the community. Not a large sampling to discuss.
Why do we need a Social Worker in the MV Police Department? Has a problem been clearly defined? What is the problem? What specific benefits will be derived by hiring additional non-police personnel? What plan has been given to City Council by the administration and MVPD concerning how the legislation will be carried out and how the "social worker" will be used? Specifically, what calls, in what circumstances and in what time frame will the "social worker" respond to calls received by the police? How and in what manner will the "social worker" provide timely assistance to police at the scene?
The City Council legislation states that this new individual will work a 40-hour week, five days consecutive, from Monday thru Friday. There must be some interesting statistics kept by the police that say that the type of call which might value the presence of a social worker happens on the weekday. The legislation also continues to say that this same person will be on-call, any day or time, 24/7.
Has there been consideration given to the new risks to responding police officers, the social worker and the individual needing help on the police call that the social worker now adds to the interaction, such as, distraction of responding officers, the officer now having safety concerns for the attending social worker, potential confusion, delay in making split second decisions? Would you allow your sister, mother or friend to go out at all hours of the night on police calls involving mental health issues, homeless, drug overdoses, suicide, domestic violence?
How many police calls require a social worker on site? Do police call records, statistics or other data indicate that the pending legislation is the best and most cost-efficient way to address "the problem", considering that community support providers and resources, including but not limited to mental health services already exist?
Has the administration searched out those existing services available from local mental health and drug prevention organizations and others including the Knox County Health Dept.? Why won’t the City ‘Contract’ out these services already in place elsewhere within the community instead of hiring more city employees? Each City Council member should ask themselves the following: If I were the CEO of my privately owned company, do I have sufficient information to determine that I have a problem, that hiring this individual and utilizing them in a predetermined job description will I solve the problem and that the problem justifies the cost?
According to the administration all of the salary for this social worker for the remainder of this 2021 year will be covered by grants and a donation except for the cost of approximately $30,000 in employee benefits that will need to be covered by the taxpayers. The funds the taxpayers narrowly approved at the ballot box in the 2017 income tax increase should not be used for non-police and fire services like a Social Worker. What happens regarding future social worker expenditures when the grants and donations don’t continue to come in? The Mount Vernon taxpayers will have to pick up all the expenses.
City Council Members are considering this legislation on Monday April 26. Tap on the link below and you will be taken to the Council Contact Information Page. Let them know your concerns.