Embedding Social Work into a Police Department in the South

Abstract

In 2020, the Fayetteville Police Department (FPD), located in a small urban community in Arkansas, began efforts to develop alternative responses to crisis-related calls for service. The main motivation for this effort was the influx of calls related to crises involving substance use, mental health, and homelessness both before and during COVID-19, although the George Floyd protests during that summer also played a meaningful role. FPD collaborated with the University of Arkansas School of Social Work (UA) to develop an MSW internship within the department with the intent of ultimately creating a co-response program. It is crucial to determine a baseline of staff attitudes when developing a new program or implementing organizational change to assess any subsequent shifts over time. As such, this paper presents baseline data from a survey assessing attitudes among sworn and civilian staff at FPD toward incorporating a social worker into the department. Data from semi-structured interviews provide a deeper understanding of these attitudes along with insight into lessons learned during the implementation of the internship and the eventual Crisis Intervention Response Team (CIRT). Survey results indicated that overall, FPD staff were supportive but somewhat hesitant about the programmatic change, particularly regarding safety concerns when bringing unarmed civilians into the field. Themes from the interviews showed that although there was certainly doubt among FPD staff initially, the intentionally collaborative efforts made by FPD administrators and UA faculty to support organizational acceptance of the program produced early successes. By highlighting crucial aspects of the implementation process and the lessons learned along the way, the results from this study can guide future replication efforts in similarly situated localities.